"Search" function does not work AT ALL in Windows XP

[Guest]

My "search" function used to work, but now it doesn't anymore. For example,
today I wanted it to search for any document with a .cfm ending, but I kept
seeing the eyeglass running on and on. Then I tried search for a *.doc file,
which I have many of: I tried searching for last week, last month, all or any
of them, but to no avail. When I got frustrated waiting for the eyeglass to
stop, I closed the search program and everytime I got a message saying
"Program not responding." No duh!

Does anyone have a clue about why the search function could suddenly be
disabled?

Thanks for the help

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please try the following link to Kelly's web site:

"Why doesn't Search work?"
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Malke]

My "search" function used to work, but now it doesn't anymore. For
example, today I wanted it to search for any document with a .cfm
ending, but I kept
seeing the eyeglass running on and on. Then I tried search for a *.doc
file, which I have many of: I tried searching for last week, last
month, all or any of them, but to no avail. When I got frustrated
waiting for the eyeglass to stop, I closed the search program and
everytime I got a message saying "Program not responding." No duh!

Does anyone have a clue about why the search function could suddenly
be disabled?

Thanks for the help

You haven't given us enough information to answer the "why did this
happen" question. It would be smart to do a scan with your
full-featured antivirus, making sure you have a current version (not
earlier than 2003) and that the virus definitions are updated. I would
do the scan in Safe Mode. If the computer is clean, try reinstalling
Search:

Enable the ability to see all hidden files and extensions from the
Folder Options applet in Control Panel. There will be three places.
Then look in the hidden Windows\inf folder for the srchasst.inf file,
right-click and take Install.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the help. I went to Kelly's Korner via the link you posted and
follwed the instructions. So far, so good until I got a request to insert the
operating CD. I managed to pull out my original Windows XP operating Cd,
which was fine, but then further along, there's a message requesting that I
insert the Windows XP Service Pack 1 Cd, which I obviously don't have since
the way I got Service Pack 1 was through Windows Automatic Update. So now I'm
stuck and it won't install the file. Any suggestions about that? I don't have
Windows XP service Pack 2, haven't updated to that one. Too scared that it
will create more problems after reading about everyone's problems with it. I
already have enough problems with my computer to solve as it is. Thanks for
the help.

 

[Guest]

You're right, I didn't give an explanation as to how this happened, because
I'm not entirely sure how this happened. It could have been a number of
reasons, but it would take me a long time to go into them. The most recent
thing that happened was that my computer kept shutting down after I
uninstalled (manually) and re-installed Norton System Works 2004 (after
having installed a bunch of Windows updates -- including Service Pack 1, but
not Service Pack 2). After looking into Event Viewer, I found there were
always the same 4 reasons listed for why my computer was shutting down. After
doing the uninstall, re-install listed above, I got it down to only 1 error
message each time, and that error message was still related to Symantec
apparently. So I called Symantec and that had me take out from the Registry
the file that Symantec was looking for but couldn't find. That seemed to
prevent my computer from shutting down every 3 minutes to shutting down
randomly ever 20 to 30 minutes. Go figure! However it still shuts down
unexpectedly with no warning, no error message, no nothing. In fact it could
shut down any minute while I'm typing this e-mail.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, but because I was scared of my computer shutting down in the middle
of posting this e-mail, I decided to post it so I wouldn't have to start all
over again, so I'm continuing now. Like I said, there was only one item
described as an "error" in the Event Viewer and it seemed to be related to
Symantec -- even after I'd gone to all that trouble to uninstall, reinstall,
which didn't make any sense to me. Symantec couldn't figure it out either and
they wanted me to go through the whole entire process again -- crazy-- which
I refused to do cause it had taken me so long to do it the first time. That's
when they suggested I delete this file from the registry. Ever since then
I've noticed some strange things: the Event Viewer no longer records an error
when my computer shuts down. Whereas before the time the computer shut down
was recorded alongside with the reason, now not even the time the computer
shut down is being recorded, let alone an error message, so now I don't even
know why my computer is shutting down --ie. if it is still shutting down for
the same reason as before, but that since the file is no longer there, and it
can't find it, it just can't record it. That doesn't make any sense.

The other strange things are: 1) my bookmarks in my browser now stop at "S"
in the alphabet, whereas before they went all the way to "Z," so I seem to
have lost a lot of bookmarks. 2) The search feature doesn't seem to work
anymore.

I went to Kelly's Korner to follow the instructions there and went to the
Windows\inf folder. I located a srchasst file. It didn't have a "inf"
extension on it, but I'm guessing that's OK because it's in the "inf" folder,
but don't know enough to know if that's right. Then I inserted my XP cd, and
then happened what I described in my previous post: got a message wanting the
cd with Windows Service Pack 1, which I of course don't have, so then my
search file has not been installed.
3)when I was doing the above, and went to the Windows folder via Explorer, I
noticed there were hundreds of $uninstall files (in blue lettering instead
of black lettering). I don't know if that means anything, but I'd never seen
them before.

Thanks for your help!