I have been cleaning an fellow employee's computer - it was loaded with
spyware and viruses.

I believe I have it clean but when I click on Start and Search - the box
pops up but it is blank.- except for the little dog - I can't search for
anything. There is nothing on the left hand side but the dog and on the main
section of the box is blank as well. Up in the left hand corner it doesn't
even say search or windows search it just has a file folder.

Do I still have a virus - or did I delete an important file???

Please help.

Shanny wrote:
> I have been cleaning an fellow employee's computer - it was loaded with
> spyware and viruses.
>
> I believe I have it clean but when I click on Start and Search - the box
> pops up but it is blank.- except for the little dog - I can't search for
> anything. There is nothing on the left hand side but the dog and on the main
> section of the box is blank as well. Up in the left hand corner it doesn't
> even say search or windows search it just has a file folder.
>
> Do I still have a virus - or did I delete an important file???
>
> Please help.

Since we can't see the computer or know what you deleted, we can't
answer your question. Here are my general virus/malware removal steps
below. If you didn't do that sort of preparatory work and scanning, then
you can't be sure the computer is clean. If you did that level of
scanning and you are really sure that the computer is
virus/malware-free, you can try and reinstall Search. Or the unnamed
viruses and/or malware may be damaged the operating system too badly to
save. There is simply no way for us to know. If you are not skilled at
what you are doing, perhaps you should take the fellow employee's
computer to your IT Dept. or, if you don't have an IT Dept., a reputable
local computer professional. This will not be a
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place.

A. General malware removal:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware

Include scanning with David Lipman's Multi_AV and follow instructions to
do all scans in Safe Mode. Please see the special Notes regarding using
Multi_AV in Vista.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Multi-AV - instructions
http://pcdid.com/Multi_AV.htm - download

You can also check to see if there are targeted removal steps for your
malware here:
Bleeping Computer removal how-to's -
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum55.html

When all else fails, run HijackThis and post your log in one of the
specialty forums listed at the first link above (not here, please).

B. Reinstall Search:

First try:

Start>Run>cmd [enter]
regsvr32 jscript.dll [enter]
regsvr32 %Windir%\srchasst\srchui.dll [enter]

If that doesn't work, reinstall by looking in the hidden Windows\inf
folder for the srchasst.inf file, right-click and take Install.

C. Other options:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
How-To
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...alling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Shanny wrote:
> I have been cleaning an fellow employee's computer - it was loaded with
> spyware and viruses.
>
> I believe I have it clean but when I click on Start and Search - the box
> pops up but it is blank.- except for the little dog - I can't search for
> anything. There is nothing on the left hand side but the dog and on the main
> section of the box is blank as well. Up in the left hand corner it doesn't
> even say search or windows search it just has a file folder.
>
> Do I still have a virus - or did I delete an important file???
>
> Please help.

Two things to try:

Windows XP Search Problems
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_search_probs.htm
[Courtesy of MS-MVP Doug Knox]

Click Start, Run, type SFC /SCANNOW, click OK. If any files are damaged
or missing, they'll be replaced. You may need to reboot afterwards so
damaged files will be replaced.

--
Joe =o)