uninstallation of windows desktop search

[badgolferman]

How do I uninstall the Windows Desktop Search program? There is no
entry for it in Add/Remove programs applet. I find the program to be
utterly useless regardless of which specific folders I tell it to
index. I cannot trust its results and am forced to use third-party
search utilities to find files with specific keywords.

 

[Daave]

How do I uninstall the Windows Desktop Search program? There is no
entry for it in Add/Remove programs applet.

There should be. Is the box next to "Show updates" checked?

I find the program to be
utterly useless regardless of which specific folders I tell it to
index. I cannot trust its results and am forced to use third-party
search utilities to find files with specific keywords.

You're not the only one who has experienced this.

 

[badgolferman]

There should be. Is the box next to "Show updates" checked?

I have enabled the "Show Updates" option but there is still no entry
for that program. I do have the Indexing Service *Disabled* in
Services.msc. Does this have an effect on it not appearing?

 

[Jose]

How do I uninstall the Windows Desktop Search program?  There is no
entry for it in Add/Remove programs applet.  I find the program to be
utterly useless regardless of which specific folders I tell it to
index.  I cannot trust its results and am forced to use third-party
search utilities to find files with specific keywords.

It depends on which version you have.

Version 3 did not show up in Add/Remove, version 4 does (or is
supposed to).

Make sure Show updates is checked in Add/Remove and look for it there
first.

Either way, it is still just KB940157 and every installed KB should
have an uninstall to go with it, so click Start, Run and in the box
enter:

%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe

Click OK and the uninstall will run for KB940157.

Or, navigate to the folder and double click the spuninst.exe to launch
it.

Reboot.

This is what happens when you click Remove from Add/Remove programs
anyway...

 

[Daave]

I have enabled the "Show Updates" option but there is still no entry
for that program.

Look once more under "Windows XP - Software Updates." If it is Windows
Search 4.0, it should be KB940157. If still no luck, have a look at this
thread:

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...c-82f6-ba1a8875c1a7=en&cr=&sloc=en-us&m=1&p=1

I do have the Indexing Service *Disabled* in
Services.msc. Does this have an effect on it not appearing?

I don't think so, but maybe. Hopefully the instructions in the above
link will help you.

 

[badgolferman]

Look once more under "Windows XP - Software Updates." If it is
Windows Search 4.0, it should be KB940157. If still no luck, have a
look at this thread:

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...c-82f6-ba1a8875c1a7=en&cr=&sloc=en-us&m=1&p=1


I don't think so, but maybe. Hopefully the instructions in the above
link will help you.

Before I read your response I found this site that pinpointed my
problem and the solution:

http://www.davidarno.org/2008/08/22/how-to-remove-windows-desktop-search-...-revisited/

It appears the original installation package did not exist on my
computer anymore and hence there was no prior installation for it to
revert to. I downloaded the Search 4.0 package from the provided link,
extracted it to the WinNT directory and ran the command line
uninstallation routine. That did the trick! Thank you for the
responses.

 

[Daave]

Before I read your response I found this site that pinpointed my
problem and the solution:

http://www.davidarno.org/2008/08/22/how-to-remove-windows-desktop-search-...-revisited/

It appears the original installation package did not exist on my
computer anymore and hence there was no prior installation for it to
revert to. I downloaded the Search 4.0 package from the provided
link, extracted it to the WinNT directory and ran the command line
uninstallation routine. That did the trick! Thank you for the
responses.

YW, and I'm glad to hear you got rid of that obnoxious beast.

 

[badgolferman]

YW, and I'm glad to hear you got rid of that obnoxious beast.

I am now trying to decide between Copernic Desktop Search and Google
Desktop Search.

 

[Jose]

I am now trying to decide between Copernic Desktop Search and Google
Desktop Search.

I am curious - I just use the built in XP search but have played
around with the Desktop Searches only long enough to understand how to
remove them.

What do you search for that the built in search will not find and why
do you need to search for things often enough to "need" some
specialized search tool in the fist place?

What doesn't the built in search do that the others

I don't generally lose email, files, attachments in the first place,
so I don't see the value.

Are things being lost/misplaced often enough that some third party
tool is needed to find them?

 

[badgolferman]

I am curious - I just use the built in XP search but have played
around with the Desktop Searches only long enough to understand how to
remove them.

What do you search for that the built in search will not find and why
do you need to search for things often enough to "need" some
specialized search tool in the fist place?

What doesn't the built in search do that the others

I don't generally lose email, files, attachments in the first place,
so I don't see the value.

Are things being lost/misplaced often enough that some third party
tool is needed to find them?

These are valid questions and I will try to answer them. I need the
indexing power of search tools for two reasons. I maintain a private
joke list and each joke is a separate text file on my computer. I have
at least 3,000 such files and you can probably imagine I can't remember
every single joke I have already distributed to my recipients. When a
new joke arrives and I like it, I need to determine if this joke has
already made it to my distribution list. I search on a particular
keyword and view the available list that appears. The other reason is
I have tons of e-mail and document files with information I use in my
daily job that have cryptic file names that don't fully describe their
contents and often times I must find relevant information for a task I
am performing. Normal search tools only key on file names and that is
not enough for me.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Post such questions here instead:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdesktopsearchhelp/threads

 

[VanguardLH]

I am now trying to decide between Copernic Desktop Search and Google
Desktop Search.

I haven't tried Google Desktop for quite awhile (not since it became obvious
that it was interfering with the use of my host, a problem reported by many
other users). As for Copernic, their free Home version is nice EXCEPT it is
adware! I can't stand seeing the rotation through ads in the preview pane.
If you watch the network connections, say by using TCPview, you will see
Copernic making repeated and periodic connections to outside ad-content
sources so it can show them in the preview pane. This is blatant adware
because it shoves it right in your face.

If you want to use Copernic's Desktop search but don't want the ads then
you'll need a 3rd party firewall that can block any outbound connection
requests from their DesktopSearch.exe process. Some of the ads are
extremely annoying, like animated or jiggling ads designed to draw your eyes
away from actually USING the search program. Some ads are simple text with
perhaps a little bit of coloring, but some are jiggling around inside the
preview pane, rotating, flashing, or otherwise trying to demand your
attention to them. So if you like an adware-supported program and really
enjoy seeing the spam they deliver then Copernic Home is for you.

I'm not sure if the addition of a 3rd party firewall (to provide outbound
blocking not available in the Windows Firewall) is okay with you to be
included in your installation of Copernic or if you don't care that their
product is adware (and over which they don't exercise content control over
those ads, either, to ensure they don't interfere with the program). I'd
use Copernic over Google's or Microsoft's offerings except the adware crap
is intolerable.

 

[HeyBub]

How do I uninstall the Windows Desktop Search program? There is no
entry for it in Add/Remove programs applet. I find the program to be
utterly useless regardless of which specific folders I tell it to
index. I cannot trust its results and am forced to use third-party
search utilities to find files with specific keywords.

Just don't use it.

 

[Mrosen7542]

I find a program called "Everything" Search to be excellent and extremely fast. Here's the link:
http://www.voidtools.com/