Search input dialog has disappeared from Search Companion

[John]

My brother's computer has a problem in that if you click to search the hard
drive, the search companion opens and the animated character appears, but
the rest of the box is black so you can't enter any search terms or options.

Can anyone tell me if there are any files I can look for that he may be
missing or something? He has kids so it's possible that something got
deleted that shouldn't have. Maybe I can send him the files from my XP
machine. Otherwise, can the search be downloaded and reinstalled somehow?

Thanks!

 

[Elmo]

My brother's computer has a problem in that if you click to search the hard
drive, the search companion opens and the animated character appears, but
the rest of the box is black so you can't enter any search terms or options.

Can anyone tell me if there are any files I can look for that he may be
missing or something? He has kids so it's possible that something got
deleted that shouldn't have. Maybe I can send him the files from my XP
machine. Otherwise, can the search be downloaded and reinstalled somehow?

Thanks!

Windows XP Search Problems
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_search_probs.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Doug Knox]