Problem With Search Assistant

[Robert]

I am using Windows XP Pro SP2. I have all of the latest Service Packs
installed. I have a problem with search assistant that prevents me from
"stopping" searches. When I start a search for a file such as
"ccupdate.exe", I will get some results returned. Then it appears that the
search hangs up in a particular location. The location that it hangs up in
is not always the same. Further, when I click the "Stop" button to quit
searching, it appears as though the machine is still trying to search. The
only way to get the search window to close is to click the red "X". Once I
have done this, I notice that my hard drive activity is still very active
(almost solid). I ctrl+alt+delete and look at the processes tab.
Explorer.exe shows about 30% CPU usage. The only way to fix this is either
shut down the PC or kill the "explorer.exe" process and restart is by doing a
new task "explorer".

I hope someone can help. This problem is driving me nuts. I have googled
till I am blue in the face and still have not found any help. I have
re-installed search assistant by clicking install on the "srchasst.inf" and
that did not help. The search will work if I browse to the specific folder
that has the file in it. I just seem to have a problem when I search my
entire hard disk.

Thanks for any help you can give,

 

[nass]

I am using Windows XP Pro SP2. I have all of the latest Service Packs
installed. I have a problem with search assistant that prevents me from
"stopping" searches. When I start a search for a file such as
"ccupdate.exe", I will get some results returned. Then it appears that the
search hangs up in a particular location. The location that it hangs up in
is not always the same. Further, when I click the "Stop" button to quit
searching, it appears as though the machine is still trying to search. The
only way to get the search window to close is to click the red "X". Once I
have done this, I notice that my hard drive activity is still very active
(almost solid). I ctrl+alt+delete and look at the processes tab.
Explorer.exe shows about 30% CPU usage. The only way to fix this is either
shut down the PC or kill the "explorer.exe" process and restart is by doing a
new task "explorer".

I hope someone can help. This problem is driving me nuts. I have googled
till I am blue in the face and still have not found any help. I have
re-installed search assistant by clicking install on the "srchasst.inf" and
that did not help. The search will work if I browse to the specific folder
that has the file in it. I just seem to have a problem when I search my
entire hard disk.

Thanks for any help you can give,

Hi Robert,
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

The Explorer.exe process may unexpectedly quit when you try to search for a
file in Windows XP or in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900004

Go through these Cleaning steps:
1... First, try to clean up your caches, Internet files and delete cookies
by doing this:
Click Start >> Control Panel >> Double click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options.
On the IE properties windows you will see these Tabs:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs |
Advanced
Under General Tab clear your History, Internet Files and Cookies.
Then click on Advanced tab and scroll down to under the Browsing Option:
[&] Browsing
[ ] Enable Third-Party browser extensions (Req Rest) uncheck this box.
Then click on Programs Tab and click Manage Add-Ons and Disable all non
Verified Add-Ons (You should Renable them later one-by-one and see the
culprit and update it or remove it.
How to manage Add-Ons:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883256
Scan for malware from here:
SuperAntispyware - Free
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html
RootkitRevealer v1.71
By Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovich
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/RootkitRevealer.mspx


Run a scan from here on-line:
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx
Download Avast Cleaner (offline scanner) from here:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-virus-cleaner.html

Lots of tools to download and disinfect your machine (offline scanner):
http://www.bitdefender.co.uk/site/Downloads/browseFreeRemovalTool/

After the scan run disk cleanup on your drive.

Reboot your machine and see if the issue resolved, if not please proceed
with the next step:

= You may have a bad RAM try to test your RAM by running Memory test by
downloading this tool and unzip it and make a floppy or CD/DVD and run it on
Reboot.
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp.
You may need to reposition/reset the RAM sticks in their slots.
Have a look in the Event Viewer for error messages(X) that can shed some
light and post it back in your next post by performing the following and also
the System File Checker (SFC) sfc /scannow:
Open a Notepad, customize or minimize to the taskbar as you will need it
later for this step to copy the error message on it.
Open a run command and type in:
eventvwr.msc click [OK] you will get the Event viewer control Panel.
click on each of these:
Application
System
Security
Look in the right Pane/window for error message with red (X) or Yellow
exclamation mark /!\ , double click each one to get more info about the
causer.
On the Event error properties message you will see:
Up Arrow
Down arrow
Two pages
Click on the two pages to copy the error message then bring up the Notepad
you opened earlier and right click on the first line and select Paste from
the list, this will paste the error message on a Notepad.
Please don't duplicate the error message one of each kind will be sufficient.
HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us
HTH.
nass