I am running XP at home, with SP2 installed.

Until yesterday, everything was fine, but suddenly, when I try to search a folder using the search option in Windows Explorer, the search window which appears is not a window to search that folder, but is the window to search the root. As if that was not enough, the search window is completely unresponsive - clicking in any option gives no response at all. It will sometimes allow me to close the search down, but usually I have to kill it using task manager.

I use search often - so has anyone any ideas how I can get it back?

I've reinstalled my OS, my virus protection and firewall are both up to date, and spybot finds no spyware on my system.

Thanks

Most likely cause: Search was jacked by spyware/adware
Most likely fixes: Try in this order, but I suggest eventually getting them all.

All Freeware.

Hijackthis
http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip

Ad-Aware
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE...ubj=dl&tag=top5

Spybot S&D
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Least likely cause:
Another possibility is a network drive, CD-ROM, etc. Open My computer and see if there are any drives there with a red X on them. If so, and you know it's 'cool' to remove, right click and remove it.


Other possible causes:
Full Moon
Solar Flare
Terrorists


Links Googled by...
- Zhoul