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

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

Hi Jim :-)

Hi Jan - Did you see my post from yesterday concerning anti-malware
protection programs which might be causing the reversion of the
setting(s),
and my reply to Anna today on that subject?

Yes...and I have checked. The only programs that I have installed are
SpyBot S&D, SpywareBlaster, and AdAware and WinPatorl. I disabled, and even
uninstalled them and tested as well, but, it made no difference. I use
F-Prot AV, the paid for version, not the free. I don't have any 3rd party
toolbars, popup or ad blockers installed, and only use the Windows firewall.
I'm also behind a router.

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/



"Jan Il" <abuseSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uXIES3dTGHA.1236@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|| Hi Anna ;-)
||
||| The steps seen to work as you stated, except when I open search in IE
and
||| select customize, then select search assistant, I am not given any
choises
||| to select the search agents that I want. The other two choises seem
to
||| work as they should. Next button is always greyed out for me. So far
||| today I am given three choises when selecting customize search from
IE.
||| This site describes what I am looking for. I feel like I am going in
||| circles with this.
|||
http://www.internet-explorer-tutorials.com/best-search-engines-choices.html
||
|| Thank you for testing to see if the steps worked for you as they did
for
me.
|| I think at this point, we seem to have similar results from the various
|| tests and fix suggestions, as well as individual tests, as to what does
and
|| does not work on both ends. I don't know if that means anything or
provides
|| any help, but, it does seem to indicate that there is a sequence of
events
|| that will re-enable the Search to work as it should. It would appear
that
|| for some reason, the normal sequence of events is being disrupted
somehow,
|| somewhere.
||
|| But, at least we do know how to make it work again from within the
Search
|| functions, for a while anyway, until it somehow gets changed again,
except
|| for the grayed out Next button. It would be good to know if anyone
else
who
|| has posted with the same problem might also have had the same results.
||
|| Me...I ran out of circles 2 days ago! I'm on lopsided ovals now. :-)
||
|| Thanks again for you time and help for do some backup testing. I really
|| appreciate it. :-)
||
|| Bear? Jim? Robert? Any more suggestions? I don't have any idea
where
to
|| go from here.
||
|| Jan :)
|| MS MVP - Windows IE/OE [DTS/AumHa]
|| Smiles are meant to be shared,
|| that's why they're so contagious.
||
||
||
||
|||
|||
|||
||| "Jan Il" <abuseSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
||| news:eusx2McTGHA.6084@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|||| 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
fi
x
||||| 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?




.

Quantcast