File search in Win2K IE Fails

  • Thread starter Thread starter dp
  • Start date Start date
D

dp

I'm trying to fix a Windows2000 installation. It's running IE 6, and when
we go to "find files", in explorer, we tell it we want to search the C
drive, and then no matter what you type in there, it can't find it. Type in
valid files, files that don't exist, doesn't matter it can't find anything.

Anyone have a clue why the search feature of Win98 Internet Explorer search
would break? Seems like other IE activites work just fine, navigating the
file tree, executing programs, and other tasks. Only the search from
within IE doesn't work.

Help!

-BrianDP
 
Spyware (like Browser Helper Objects, etc.) frequently plays havoc with
search functions in IE. Try Spybot Search & Destroy. Clean the machine.
If no joy, reinstall MSIE.
 
Yeah, we run spybot on that computer regularly.

Re-install IE? How do you go about doing that anyway?

-Brian
 
Okay, after looking at this more, it looks like it's not Internet Explorer
that is screwed up, but it's somehow the file manager. The search that
doesn't work is the search when you go "start/search/For Files or
Folders..." That is the one that is broken. Actually, it works
intermittently. Sometimes it works just fine, usually right after you
reboot the computer, and then after a period of time it stops working.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

-BrianDP
 
Internet Explorer is God in the UI. It is actually what is behind Windows
Explorer and all its variants (like the Printers folder, Control Panel, all
of it). 9 of 10 times something is hosed in an Explorer-related utility,
it's MSIE.
 
How do we diagnose which thing it is? I've looked and taken everything I
can out of the startup group. This machine was overloaded with spyware, and
it caught a virus at one point. It also went through a bout where it had
ZoneAlarm try to get removed, and then that thing started acting totally
nuts and wouldn't get us get to the net or anything. I think I have that
all straightened out. I told the guy, "Look, a re-install is about the only
way we're going to squash this for good."

-B
 
With that many other problems (and unknown left-overs from potential virus
infection), I'd reformat and rebuild, brother. Tech Net has good articles
on reinstalling MSIE. There's no diagnosing it other than knowing that
freak explorer problems are almost always IE.
 
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