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Help - Search does not work any more

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rayik

Member
Joined
May 2, 2002
Win xp pro sp2. Search no longer functions at all. In any problems (ie6, windows explorer, word), clicking search results in a window that is just blue in color. No way to enter anything.

Don't know how to repair this. I tried windows file checker but that didn't do anything (putting in the win sp2 disc and running sfc / scannow).

Any suggestions? I'll rather not reinstall (but will do it if necessary). Thanks for the help
 
Did it tell you it didn't recognize the sfc command or just give you a list of commands?

you need to type it just like this:

sfc /scannow

If that doesn't work, and your search functionality is broken across your entire system then you have had some problems with that machine that have left it pretty busted up I think.

You could attempt to repair the current installation, or reinstall fresh would probably be best.

It also helps to troubleshoot if you can explain what caused something to happen? Search doesn't usually just stop working... Are you using any modified windows themes or anything like that?

What you are saying is that if you press windows+f, a search window will not open that you can use?

If you can, take a screen shot of this problem. Press print screen key when it occurs then open mspaint.exe and select paste then save and post the result here. ;)
 
I.M.O.G. said:
you need to type it just like this:

sfc /scannow

That's what I did. It took about 35 minutes to run. Heard the CD spin every now and then but no messages given. IE6, which also had not been working, did get fixed (it wasn't "connecting" to any web sites before).

I.M.O.G. said:
If that doesn't work, and your search functionality is broken across your entire system then you have had some problems with that machine that have left it pretty busted up I think.

Yes, search is broken across the entire system. I agree, I think win is broken.

I.M.O.G. said:
It also helps to troubleshoot if you can explain what caused something to happen? Search doesn't usually just stop working... Are you using any modified windows themes or anything like that?

No modded themes. As to when it stopped working, I don't know. Neighbeors computer and all she knows is it doesn't work.

I.M.O.G. said:
What you are saying is that if you press windows+f, a search window will not open that you can use?

A search window will open, but the entire window is blank. Just the blue bar on the top (that you use to drag the window around). Nothing else, no toolbars, no address line, nothing. I think the blue color is just the default background color.

I think win is messed up and probably needs to be reinstalled. I was hoping I was wrong and someone could clue me in on what to do.
 
Ok, so basically the user is joe sixpack for this computer.

You need to obtain all windows updates, update all virus definitions and run a scan, then follow the malware warfare guide in my sig, and if you are lucky, the system might be recoverable as is.

Chances are its hacked to crap by infections, but since its someone else's system it might be worth trying to recover what is there.
 
I.M.O.G. said:
Chances are its hacked to crap by infections, but since its someone else's system it might be worth trying to recover what is there.


LOL. The owner is a senior who is very computer illiterate. She has a cable internet connection so she can stay up on her email. Gets over 300 emails a day. Lots of forwarding of jokes.

One thing she told me was that norton av keep bugging her to renew. Then one day it stopped reminding her. She also noticed that it wasn't running anymore (no icon on taskbar). She thought that it not running was a good thing because she no longer had to click no to those renewal reminders.

Machine is used on occassion by son-in-law who puts kazaa on it. Machine is kept on all the time and is connected with cable internet.

Between massive email and kazaa and 24/7 hook up on cable, it's lucky it even works.

I'll follow your link and try it for practice. I've just about convinced her to reformat and reinstall win. Thanks for responding.
 
Log on to the computer by using an account with administrative privileges. Click Start | Run | Type...%systemroot%\inf, and click OK | Locate the Srchasst.inf file, right click and select "Install". This reinstalls the files that the Search Companion requires.
 
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