Re: Search Assistant Not Working Right - More curious...

Hi all..

Here is another curious/strange behavior. Last night when I made my last
report, all was as it should be and working well. I closed IE and made no
other changes to any settings.

Just now, I opened the IE and checked the Search and Customization and it
had changed back to just the two choices and Loading.....

So....as I reported previously here that there seemed to be a method to the
on -again-off-again madness, I closed IE, went to Start>Search>Change
Preferences>Change Internet Search behavior>and saw that it had changed back
to With Classic search instead of the With Search Companion I had changed it
to that last time. ???

Then I selected the With Search Companion, closed the Search and opened IE.
The Search Companion window was there as it should be.

Then I closed IE, reopened Search from the Start menu, and went to Change
Preferences> Change Internet Search behavior>reselected the With Classic
search, closed Search and reopened IE. There is the panel was the normal
search window, the Customize tab and grayed out Next button. When I clicked
the Customize button, there were the normal 3 choices and all related list
boxes, all worked as it should.

I checked the laptop and the same change up had happened there even with the
machine turned off, and with the same set of steps necessary to restore the
normal Customize window.

Dang! This is really confusing! How the heck can we determine what is
causing this when there seems to be a gremlin in the works making changes
all the time? Here is another aspect. I turned off the laptop, although,
it was still plugged in to the power supply. I did not turn off my desktop,
although, all programs were closed. Thus, I did not have reboot, or
re-logon the desktop, but, did the laptop. Neither situation seemed to make
any difference.

The only thing that I can think of at this point, and it may be off the mark
by a mile, is that it might have to do with the opening and closing of IE,
although, I did open and close the IE several times while testing last
evening and there were no changes that took place on closing that I could
tell.

However, at this point, I *can* make the normal Search Customize choices and
selections available by doing the steps that I outlined above, and all do
work as they should. At least at this point. While it is a round-robin
effort, at least they do work for now, and hopefully, a step closer to
finding a workaround.

Perhaps Anna could test the steps that I posted here and see if they work
for her as well.

Hope this helps.

Jan :)
MS MVP - Windows IE/OE [DTS/AumHa]
Smiles are meant to be shared,
that's why they're so contagious.

Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
How to make a good newsgroup post:
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"Jan Il" <abuseSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23XWah$TTGHA.6084@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all :-)

"Jim Byrd" <jrbyrd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Ol1yQkJTGHA.776@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Jan - Well, the single common element you describe is core IE
exclusive
of SP1 or 2. Here's my full "fix IE" post - maybe something in it will
suggest something:


There is no direct Repair function for IE6 in XP. Here are some
alternatives:

First try this courtesy of MVP Ramesh Srinivasan:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm

Then try each of the following:

1. If you're on XP SP2, try the following suggestions from KB 870700,
here:
How to troubleshoot problems accessing secure Web pages with Internet
Explorer 6 Service Pack 2, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=870700#9
first. Don't worry that your problem isn't specifically secure-page
related - these extracted below are general fix steps for the most part.
Check to see if your problem remains after each:

a. Turn off the pop-up blocker
Internet Explorer SP2 includes the ability to block pop-up windows. This
new
feature may block some Web pages. To turn off the Pop-Up Blocker, follow
these steps:

1) On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options, and
then
click the General tab.
2) Click the Privacy tab.
3) In the Pop-Up Blocker section, click to clear the Block pop-ups check
box.
4) Click Apply.
5) Click OK.

b. Delete the contents of the Temporary Internet Files folder
If a copy of the Web page is in the Temporary Internet Files folder, the
page may not display as expected. To resolve this problem, you must
delete
the contents of this folder. To do this, follow these steps:


1) On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options, and
then
click the General tab.
2) Click Delete Cookies, and then click OK.
3) Click Delete Files, and then click OK.
4) Click Clear History, and then click Yes.
5) Click OK.

c. Third-party browser extensions
Some third-party browser extensions and add-ons may interfere with how
Internet Explorer views certain Web pages. To turn off these extensions,
follow these steps:

1) Click Start, right-click Internet Explorer, and then click Internet
Properties.
2) Click the Advanced tab.
3) Click to clear the Enable third-party browser extensions (requires
restart) check box.
4) Click Apply.
5) Click Ok.
6) Start Internet Explorer, and then try to reproduce the issue.

OK...here's the last update thus far. After running the IEFix on the
laptop, there was no change in the status of the Search window situation.
Thus, I proceeded with the next 3 steps above: a) no change, b) no change,
c) unchecked and then closed IE. I went to the Start>Search> and the
clicked the Change Preferences>Change Internet search behavior>selected
Classic search>selected my search engine and clicked OK. Then clicked on
Search the Internet. When IE opened and the Search panel opened, the word
Search was on the top of the search bar. Clicking the Customize button
opened the customize window and there were 3 choices and two list boxes,
as there should be. In this window the first selection, Search Assistant
is now selected. I can change the selections and new list boxes appear
for each different choice selected as they should. I can change the
choices and selection, however, I must close and reopen IE after each
change for it to take effect. All appears to be working as it should,
with the
exception of the Next button, which remains grayed out.

However, I don't think that we can look at what has transpired here as a
possible solution until at least 24 hours without change has occurred, as
things continue to change on and off as a matter of course in this problem
for the past week or more. So I won't know if it is a good fix or not
until some time has passed. But, at last now I am able to make changes,
which I was not able to do before, even when it appeared that things were
normal.

I did not proceed with the other steps below at this point, in order to
see what will happen in the next 24 hours.

I hope this helps.

Jan :)


d. Reset the Security Zones to the default settings:

1) On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options, and
then
click the Security tab.
2) Click Internet, and then click Default Level.
3) Click Local Intranet, and then click Default Level.
4) Click Trusted sites, and then click Default Level.
5) Click Restricted sites, and then click Default Level.
6) Click Apply.
7) On the Privacy tab, click Default, and then click Apply.

2. Then you need to go (as an Administrator) to Start|Run and type "sfc
/scannow" (without the quotes and notice the space between the c and the
/.)
Have your XP CD handy and be prepared to go get a cup of coffee - it
takes a
while. This will do the same thing as Repair IE6 for XP but a lot more,
that is find any corrupt system files and replace them. It does NOT,
however, re-register the various software components, and you will need
to
do this manually using regsvr32.exe if any are shown as replaced
in
Event Viewer|System.

Be aware that under certain circumstances (Win2k before SP4 - see mskb
814510, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q814510)
sfc
can erroneously overwrite (restore over) previously installed files from
certain "hotfixes" which will then need to be re-installed. This may
also
apply to XP. To check for this, after running sfc, open a Cmd window and
enter "qfecheck /v /l:c:\" (without the quotes). If you don't have
qfecheck
installed, it can be obtained for XP here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=35468 and for
Win2k
here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=35470 A
version stated to be common to both is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=155C7C58-102E-47B0-A12A-BFAB8CFCCC03
Further information about qfecheck is
available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282784/EN/



3. Another alternative for just IE6 repair if you don't have IE6 listed
in
Add-Remove Programs, then in Start|Run then enter

"rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE6Maintenance"

without the quotes, exactly as shown (it's case sensitive), and select
the
appropriate entry. More detailed info is available here: Description of
the Internet Explorer Repair Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q194177 (You
may
have to re-install Sun Java JRE if you had it installed afterwards, BTW.)



4. If you find that you need to do a re-install of IE6 then you can
consider the following:

1) Insert the Windows installation CD in your CD-ROM drive.
2) Click Start, and click Run.
3) Copy the command prompt below in the Open box (exactly as shown - it's
case sensitive), and click OK. (Assumes %System% is installed in Windows
on
your C:\ partition. Change as appropriate for your particular
situation.)

rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132
c:\windows\inf\ie.inf

4) It will display a "File Needed" screen, click "Browse.." and browse to
<CD-ROM drive>\i386, (where <CD-ROM drive> is the drive letter of the
CD-ROM, For example, D:).

5) Click Open, click Ok, it should begin reinstalling Internet Explorer.

(NOTE: It has been reported, courtesy of Steve Wechsler, that if you're
on
Windows XP Pro SP2, it may prompt you for some files that it cannot find
in
the WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder, which you'll then need to
browse
to. It's thought that this may apply to XP Home also. The specific
files
are iexplore.exe which actually IS in the i386 folder, mswrd632.wpc
, which is located in the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\TextConv folder, AND, INSTALL.IN_ , which will be located
on
a slipstreamed XP Pro CD in the i386 folder and also located in the i386
folder on an XP Pro SP1 disk. So, copying the 2 files above to the
WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder should allow you to be able to
repair/reinstall IE on an SP2 system by right clicking ie.inf in the
WINDOWS\inf folder and selecting Install or using the rundll32.exe line
given above.)


5. Lastly, here is a link to a MSKB article about re-installing IE6/OE6:

How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in
Windows
XP (Q318378)
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=kb;en-us;Q318378

--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/



"Jan Il" <abuseSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eBxxQUJTGHA.736@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|| "Jim Byrd" <jrbyrd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
|| news:%23z$5iZITGHA.2088@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
||| Yeah, I agree Bear - looking at the rest of the thread something's
clearly
||| out of kilter beyond a normal .reg reset. I wonder if a
Tools|Internet
||| Options|Programs| "Reset Web Settings" or a Repair IE:
||
|| The one thing that gets me is that is it not limited to one type of
OS,
it
|| seems to be affecting them all across the board, and yet, not all
Users.
And
|| it comes and goes. So....how the heck do you nail it down? It does
seem
to
|| be Internet generated, but, why not all Users?
||
|||
||| "3. Another alternative for just IE6 repair if you don't have IE6
listed
||| in
||| Add-Remove Programs, then in Start|Run then enter
|||
||| "rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE6Maintenance"
|||
||| without the quotes, exactly as shown (it's case sensitive), and
select
the
||| appropriate entry. More detailed info is available here:
Description
of
||| the Internet Explorer Repair Tool
||| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q194177
(You
may
||| have to re-install Sun Java JRE if you had it installed afterwards,
BTW.)"
|||
|||
||| would work, or has this already been tried somewhere along the way?
||
|| IIRC, somewhere along the way in one of the threads here or the AumHa
forum,
|| I or someone else did recommend doing a repair, and AIRC it did not
resolve
|| the problem. I am really pretty sure at this point, given that I am
|| experiencing the same situation as the OPs that is it not a problem
with
the
|| PC's, program or update. We are not all using the same OS, firewall,
AV
or
|| other such programs, the only link is IE. However, there too, is a
|| difference, as some only have IE6 SP1, and some of us have IE SP2.
????
||
|| Jan :)
|| MS MVP - Windows IE/OE [DTS/AumHa
|||
|||
||| --
||| Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
||| My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
||| http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/
|||
|||
|||
||| "PA Bear" <PABearMVP@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
||| news:OJ0vqjHTGHA.4976@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
||||| It didn't do what "Anna" wanted it to do when she tried it from my
post in her
||||| thread at Aumha Forums, Jim. I think "something" definitely has
changed. --
||||| ~PA Bear
|||||
||||| Jim Byrd wrote:
|||||| Hi Jan - Did you try my .reg file on this?
||||||
||||||
|||||| Download and run:
|||||| http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/RestoreSearch2.REG to
restore
|||||| your default Search functionality and reset your prefixes. You'll
||| have
||| to
|||||| manually re-select any Search Customizations you may have had,
however.
||||||
||||||
|||||| "Jan Il" <abuseSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
|||||| news:%23mlBiTwSGHA.424@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
||||||| As of this time, the Search has changed back to it was earlier
this
||||||| morning. None of the Customize settings will work, and everything
just
||||||| hangs up again.
|||||||
||||||| Hope this helps.
|||||||
||||||| Jan :)
||||||| MS MVP - Windows IE/OE [DTS/AumHa]
||||||| Smiles are meant to be shared,
||||||| that's why they're so contagious.
|||||||
||||||| Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other
readers.
||||||| How to make a good newsgroup post:
||||||| http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
|||||||
|||||||
||||||| "Jan Il" <abuseSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
||||||| news:ekJn4orSGHA.1728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|||||||| They just now changed here, or at least within the last hour. I
see the
|||||||| same search list I did a few days ago when I first checked it
due
to
|||||||| Anna's post. It then changed the Customize to only two
selections,
Search
|||||||| Assistant and Use one search service. No list boxes, and when I
||| tried
||| to
|||||||| select one of the choices, they would not work. When I clicked
OK,
it
|||||||| just brought the search list up again, and all that was in it
was
the
|||||||| search window and the GO button.
||||||||
|||||||| Now, I see the same Search window in the panel, but, the
Customize
||| is
||| as
|||||||| it was before.
||||||||
|||||||| Hope this helps.
||||||||
|||||||| Jan :)
|||||||| MS MVP - Windows IE/OE [DTS/AumHa]
|||||||| Smiles are meant to be shared,
|||||||| that's why they're so contagious.
||||||||
||||||||
|||||||| "PA Bear" <PABearMVP@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
|||||||| news:%23knrsXjSGHA.4616@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
||||||||| Check again today and see if things have changed at all. They
have here.
||||||||| Why? I have no idea.
||||||||| --
||||||||| ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
||||||||| MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Security, Shell/User)
|||||||||
||||||||| PA Bear wrote:
|||||||||| See these recent threads: http://snipurl.com/f05w
||||||||||
|||||||||| Yes, Search Assistant has changed. No, we don't know how or
why.
(This
|||||||||| may
|||||||||| have something to do with it:
|||||||||| http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/260821_msftads25.html.)
No,
|||||||||| there
|||||||||| doesn't seem to be a way of getting the old Search Assistant
back.
||||||||||
|||||||||| Steve Horrillo wrote:
||||||||||| I notice the Search Assistant isn't working right anymore.
"Next" is
||||||||||| now
||||||||||| greyed out and will only let me use one chosen search engine.
||| This
||| has
||||||||||| happened on my XP as well as my Win 2000 machine. What's
wrong?






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