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

Jim, when I first noticed this problem, I had SpyBot search and destroy
immunize and Norton antivirus running. I now have added Windows Defender
as suggested at AumHa forum. I have used the first two programs for several
years.
Anna.

"Jim Byrd" <jrbyrd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eli0UZdTGHA.1576@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Jan - What types of "background" anti-malware might you be running that
normally "protect" such settings? SpywareBlaster, Windows Defender,
Windows
Anti-Spyware, SpyBot S&D Immunize, etc.? (Windows Defender is what I
might
suspect as a Beta) You might try disabling any such, one at a time, to
see
if there's any effect.

--
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:eusx2McTGHA.6084@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|| 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:
|| http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
||
||
||
|| "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?




.