Vic's Registry RoundUp and DOS Den
~~Vic
Ferri, Win Tips and Tricks
How To Remove the Windows XP/IE Search Assistant and Restore the Windows
2000 Search Interface
If you're using Windows XP, and prefer the old style search tool that was
used in Windows 2000, here's how you can bring it back.
And let me tell ya, I'm sure you would have wanted it back during
the early days of Windows XP when this search assistant was actually
spying on you and calling home to daddy. Really??
Read this for details:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24815.html
To get rid of the Search Assistant:
1. Close all open Windows and programs, then click Start>Run, type
in regedit and press Enter to launch the registry edotor.
2. Make your way to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
Explorer \ CabinetState \
3. In the right hand pane for CabinetState, create a new STRING Value
and name it "Use Search Asst" (without the quotes)
4. Double-click your new string value and for Value Data, type no.
To restore the 2000 Search view to Internet Explorer.
1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet
Explorer \ Main \
2. Do the same as you did above - in the right hand pane create a
String Value named Use Search Asst. Double-click it and enter no for the
Value data
3. Exit the Registry and refresh to see the change. If the change
doesn't show, reboot instead.
If you ever want to return to the XP default Search style, just change the
No values you entered to Yes. Alternately, you can delete the whole key and
Windows will recreate the default on reboot.
Extra! - Remove all your autocomplete
search entries from the Search entry box.
Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru
Click the ACMru key to expand it and delete all the sub keys under it.
The sub keys will have numbers for names - i.e.: 5604.
You can see your auto complete search entries in the right hand pane.
By the way, ACMru stands for Auto Complete Most Recently Used.
Vic Ferri owns the very popular
WinTips and
Tricks and
Registry Answers. Subscribe to either and receive free Windows and Registry
Tips. He is also in charge of the
Printing Tips pages at Linda's Computer Stop. Vic has also created a program
which allows you to Lock & Hide desktop folders in Windows 9X/ME.
Read more and get the free demo here. And, he now offers a service to
convert PowerPoint presentations to .exe files which can be viewed on
computers which do not have PowerPoint installed.
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