Internet Explorer Searches

[Dennis Marks]

Does anyone have any idea why all address bar searches go through
auto.search.msn.com even if they finally end up at Google.com? Sometimes
there is no response probably due to volume and I have to go to Google.com
directly to do a search. Is there any way to do a Google search directly
from the address bar without going through Microsoft?

BTW: I know I can add the Google search bar.

 

[Sharon F]

Does anyone have any idea why all address bar searches go through
auto.search.msn.com even if they finally end up at Google.com? Sometimes
there is no response probably due to volume and I have to go to Google.com
directly to do a search. Is there any way to do a Google search directly
from the address bar without going through Microsoft?

BTW: I know I can add the Google search bar.

You can use TweakUI for XP to set up "direct address bar searches at a
specific search site." After setting it up you would type the name of the
search engine and your search criteria. In other words typing:
google this is what I want to search for

Would bring up the google web page with the "what I want to search for"
already plugged into their search box. Not quite what you were asking
(setting a default search engine) but a close workaround. If interested,
TweakUI for XP is one of the power toys that can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

 

[Sharon F]

Does anyone have any idea why all address bar searches go through
auto.search.msn.com even if they finally end up at Google.com? Sometimes
there is no response probably due to volume and I have to go to Google.com
directly to do a search. Is there any way to do a Google search directly
from the address bar without going through Microsoft?

BTW: I know I can add the Google search bar.

Ah, never mind. It used to work. It's been a while since I've used it. Just
tried it now and not able to get it functioning. Sorry.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

Does anyone have any idea why all address bar searches go
through auto.search.msn.com even if they finally end up at
Google.com? Sometimes there is no response probably due to
volume and I have to go to Google.com directly to do a
search. Is there any way to do a Google search directly from
the address bar without going through Microsoft?
BTW: I know I can add the Google search bar.


--
Dennis

Disclaimer: The above is my opinion. I do not guarantee it.
Be sure to back up any files involved and use at your own
risk.

This worked for me:

Open Internet Explorer.
Click on View -> Explorer bar -> Search.
This should bring up the Search bar in the left hand side of
the window.
Click on the Customize button.
This should bring up the "Customize Search Settings" dialog.
At the bottom click on the "Autosearch settings" button.
In "Customize Autosearch Settings", click on the down arrow in
the box under "Choose a search provider for address bar
searches".
In the box, make sure Google sites is selected.
Make sure "Just display results in main window" is selected.
Click OK twice.
Click on the X in the Search bar to close it.
Enter your search term in the address bar and hit enter.
You should now be taken directly to Google with the results of
your search displayed.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Alfred J. Vereecken]

Hi all, I was trying to follow the procedure as outlined by Nepatsfan.
However, if I click on the down arrow in the box under "Choose a search
provider for address bar searches" I see only one option "MSN", Google is
not mentioned. How can I get Google in the option box?
Thanks for a possible reply.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

Hi all, I was trying to follow the procedure as outlined by
Nepatsfan. However, if I click on the down arrow in the box
under "Choose a search provider for address bar searches" I
see only one option "MSN", Google is not mentioned. How can
I get Google in the option box? Thanks for a possible reply.

It would appear that the only way to see search providers other
than MSN listed in that box is to make English the primary
language used with Internet Explorer. I have no idea what the
total impact changing this would have on your internet
activity. One thing I did discover is that if a web site is
available in multiple languages you would see the English
version if you typed in the URL. For example, now when you go
to www.google.com you see the page displayed in your native
language. If you change the preferred language to English, you
would see the English language version of Google displayed.

How to change preferred language in Internet Explorer:
Open Internet Explorer and click on Tools on the toolbar at the
top of the window.
Select Internet Options from the menu.
On the General tab, click on the Languages button.
Click Add.
Select English (United States) [en-us] from the list.
Hit the Move up button.
Hit OK twice.

Go back and follow the procedure I outlined in my earlier
response. You should see a number of options listed along with
MSN.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Alfred J. Vereecken]

Hello Nepatsfan, thank you for your elaborate & swift reply. I will give it
a try.

 

[Dennis Marks]

There seems to be 2 varieties of the search box and I can't seem to be able
to switch them. When I open view/explorer bar/search or click the search
button I get a pane with the heading "What are you looking for?". If I click
"change preferences" and then "change internet search behavior" I am able to
set the default search engine to Google. When I now enter something on the
address bar a drop down box gives a "search" option. When I click it the
search goes to Google.com but if you look in the lower left corner of the
screen you will see that it first goes to auto.search.msn.com. Why?

I have seen the options given by Nepatsfan below in the past but I don't
seem to be able to get there now.

 

[Nepatsfan]

I finally had a chance to dig a little deeper into your
question. Sorry to say that I don't have a solution to your
problem. If you haven't done so already you might want to post
your question to one of the Internet Explorer newsgroups.

Internet Explorer 6.0 General Discussion
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser

Internet Explorer General Discussion
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general

If your interested in what I did find out, keep reading.

At first, I wasn't seeing anything to do with
auto.search.msn.com. It wasn't until I tried to search from the
address bar on a computer that had a slower connection that I
saw it. Sure enough, when I searched from the address bar,
http://auto.search.msn.com/response.asp (followed by the search
terms) would flash in the status bar at the bottom of the
screen before going to Google. I tried this on another computer
and obtained the same results.

I tried changing the way IE searches from the address bar. I
tried changing a number of different registry entries related
to internet searches. Nothing I did changed this behavior. I'm
starting to think that this is somehow either written into
IE's code or buried deep within some cryptic registry
key. Basically, I'm stumped.

Since I've got a broadband connection and hardly ever search
directly from the address bar, this isn't that big a deal for
me but I can see as how this would have a negative impact on
those with a dial-up connection.

While researching this subject on the net, I couldn't find any
articles that even hinted at how to change the way address bar
searches are conducted. The only interesting items I found were
posts by a couple of conspiracy theorists who see this as some
big scheme by Microsoft to collect info on web searches done
through search engines other than MSN. FWIW, here's what I
found:

http://text.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12375936~mode=flat

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,10912985~mode=flat

FWIW, the options I referred to in the Search bar are available
by selecting "With Classic Internet search" right after you
select "Change Internet search behavior". Click OK and close
Internet Explorer. The next time you open IE and display the
Search bar it will be the one I described in my earlier post.
You can also make this change with Microsoft's TweakUI
PowerToy. Changing this registry value from yes to no
accomplishes the same result:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Use
Search Asst

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Nepatsfan


%[email protected],