search companion not working

[Harnic]

I had been creating new restore points before every new installation, so that was my initial thought... to restore to a previous point where everything worked. My restore settings have been left at their default maximum as I have 2 large drives & back up anything of importance to CDs or DVDs. Whatever happened after the "Hotfix" Kb890175 and Microsoft's Antispyware program (both were installed on Jan 12) also caused my system restore utility to delete all restore points! One of the most annoying aspects of this series of events is that it's system wide, all accounts on my computer are affected, mine, the guest acct & Admin as well, so I can't even fall back on creating a new account to solve it. The "slash & burn" technique I spoke of earlier (format & reinstall) is fast becoming my best option. I'll check your site out Bill, & thanks again for your insight... if nothing else you've shown me how much more there is to learn!
Harry.

[RetiredGuru]

Well Harry, sorry I couldn't help you. From working on hundreds of pcs over several years I can unfortunately assure you that Microsoft's ability to put you into an unhappy frame of mind in unlikely to change in your lifetime
In closing, I would suggest that you consider modifying your backup protocol to include an automated daily imaging of your good "unique config" to a bootable CD. The initial setup will cost you a little time (to acquire the knowledge of "how to do it properly") but you will definitely appreciate the end result AND you need to do something to fill the void left by the absence of our national sport, eh
Fred Langa has an excellent summary of the entire philosophy and process at http://www.langa.com/backups/backups.htm
Happy computing!
Bill

[Harnic]

No sweat Bill, I very much appreciated your assistance. I have been at this "battle" with Microsoft since at least DOS 3 days too & enjoy a good mystery. It's reassuring to know that at least one of the laws of nature still hold true (the one about Microsloth's inability to make a reliable OS) in these fast changing days. I have, through sometime painful experience, learned to partition my large drives keeping anything that makes an entry in the registry (like operating systems, programs, etc.) on C:\ drive, & everything else is catalogued on the virtual drives with backups to CDs or DVDs. Consequently my "slash & burn" repairs to Windows are fairly painless & only cost a few hours. I have learned now not to rely too heavily on "Restore" points, and no windows updates will be applied to my PC until they have been out for at least a month so I can watch the dust settle first! I hate to admit it to the world at large, but I am very much enjoying my leisure hours without our "national sport"! Talk about blasphemy eh? Thanks again Bill, it's great to have someone at your level of expertise to "talk" with on here.
Harry.

[tsrivi]

Hey man!
I've got the solution for you... it's a mix of some solutions which i've seen across the net...
I had the exact problem u did: installed the microsoft antispyware, runned it sometime and then when i tried to start > search - only that F***** wizard popped up and NOTHING...
Then, i searched for, like 3 hours, for a solution until i finally came across one (or maybe more)...
Here it is:
1. start > run > regsvr32 /i C:\Windows\Srchasst\srchui.dll
2. start > run > regsvr32 /i urlmon
3. regsvr32 jscript
4. right-click windows/inf/srchasst.inf > install

VOILA, YOU GOT YOUR BELOVED SEARCH COMPANION BACK!!!!

P.S
Don't be mistaken... even if u tried some of the above, bot not in this order, it won't do the magic... do it exactly as said...

HOPE I HELPED!!!

[Harnic]

Thanks tsrivi, I ran all the commands in the order you suggested, got all sorts of encouraging responses after each re-installed... unfortunately even after a reboot, my search companion comes up blank. I have all the normal File, Edit, etc menus across the top, the Tool bar buttons: Back, Forward, Up, etc, but the search window on the left & the results window on the right are still blank & the search companion has no name in the title bar or down on the task bar. It was a good try & leads me in a new direction. I've decided to hang in there with this until I solve it so if I run into it on a customer's PC I'll have a fix for them! Thanks again for your effort. To everyone else, beware fo "free" offerings from microsloth!

[RetiredGuru]

Harry - as you know, Search Companion uses XML.
1. Did you open the XML files to see if there was anything "strange" therein?
2. If your firewall is configured to prohibit IE from accessing trusted and/or internet zones you might try temporarily giving it full permission to do anything it wants and see what happens (?)
Bill

[RetiredGuru]

>I've decided to hang in there with this until I solve it so if I
>run into it on a customer's PC I'll have a fix for them!
Okay Harry - if you insist on being stubborn about this - ROFL - I rechecked some notes I made during past crusades! Here are a couple of URLs that MIGHT you some ideas or at least save you a little time searching for a solution at the source of your discomfort:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;831430
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;816665
and fwiw inasmuch as you are (wisely) using an alternative browser, you might consider temporarily restoring IE as the default and then try this
http://tomcoyote.org/xpsearch.php
That's about it - I'm tapped out
Have fun in your pursuit!
Bill

[Harnic]

LOL! Thanks Bill... I call this persistance, my wife says I'm just plain old stubborn! There's a solution to every problem & usually finding that solution is a combination of tenacity (I like that term!) & blind luck... I did allow IE full access to the net through my firewalls, with no change. I'll keep you posted on here of any progress I might make.
Harry.

[Harnic]

Ha! I beat it! XP's Search Companion is still toast, but I found a better search program at: http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransa...aspx?page=home Works great! It even puts a link in the Start /Search menu. We rely heavily on other browsers & email clients, why not search "companions" too? Maybe microsloth should take a hint here... develop the basic operating system & leave the tricky parts to the experts!

[RetiredGuru]

"tenacity" wins another one!
"leave the tricky parts to the experts!" and thereby give people like you, Harry, the opportunity to shine? Right! LOL!
Congratulations. Think about adding Gavrila Martau's "Total Uninstall" - a free utility - to your arsenal to track the next M$ (or other installer's) offering.
Happy computing!
Bill

[Harnic]

I know for a fact I don't fall into the "expert" category Bill! I am however luckier than a lot of folks when it comes to problem solving due to that "tenacity" thingy (Damn I like that label!). I'll check out Gavrila Martau's offerings... thanks. I'll drop you an email soon with a few additions I believe deserve to be on your great tips site. Catch you later buddy!

[magdalena]

thanks! i have been trying to recover IE and my search companion for the last week. had to download netscape to be able to google the "navcncl" error i was getting and to find out where my search companion went. i have been running spybot, adaware, cw shredder, and hijackthis till i was blue in the face and all i managed to do was lose my computers ability to communicate with my printer. so i gave up on attack from the hijacked browser angle and searched "search companion missing" this was the first thing i ran across took 2 minutes to end a week of hair pulling. i registered here just so i could reply my thanks!

take care
mags

[spazz]

After installing sp2, like many others I lost the use of Window's search files and folders. Finally I found the solution on another forum. Add a subkey to the registry to prevent the feature from depending on the companion and it's missing files.

This solution involves editing the registry. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, go to this thread: http://www.short-media.com/forum/sho...d=1#post241762 and download the file nodog.zip. (approximately 11 posts down the page). After unzipping, double-click it and click Yes when prompted. It will automatically add the subkey to the registry. I recommend backing up the registry before proceeding. Instructions can be found at Microsoft. It's not very difficult!

To manually add the key to the registry:
Open the registry editor by going to Start>Run and typing "regedit" in the dialog box (without the quotes).

After backing up the registry! navigate to the folder, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\CabinetState.

With the CabinetState folder hilighted, go to Edit>New>String Value.

Rename the new subkey to "use search asst" (without the quotes). If the new subkey is not hilighted you will have to right-click and select "Rename" or hilight the subkey and go to Edit>Rename.

Double-click the new subkey or hilight it and go to Edit>Modify and enter "no" in the Value Data field (without the quotes), then click OK.

Close the registry editor.

This screenshot shows the new "use search asst" subkey and its data value "no".


Now when you go to Start>Search, you should see this interface:


It's nice to have this feature working again!
If you're still having problems you can try the program I used and plan to keep using in conjunction with Window's search. It's FREE and called Copernic Desktop Search. It has some great features that are worth trying. You can find it at http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/

I hope this helps.

[magickmunk]

I have read throughout all of these responses and have tried every method posted to resolve this problem. Unfortunately the issue still remains....

Shortly after I purchased my PC installing windows XP home. Possibly around the same time I installed some Uniblue software Registry Booster2. Don't know that it has much to do with the missing search feature. Just a guess as to where the problem originated.


Problem Stated:
The search button is missing from the start menu. In the start menu items: under the advanced tab in Customize start menu, the search box is no where to be found. Also in windows explorer when I click the search tool bar nothing happens.

So now what?

No I will not go through the hassle of re-installing windows I have too much hard drive space in use.

Can any of you super smart kind folk help me resolve this?

Would be very appreciated.

thanks,
sam