Start menu search options

When I click on >start >search......there are no options listed to search for; ie. files or folders, people......etc. I had them when the system was installed but now they are gone. Does anyone know how to fix this problem? I have been searching everywhere for the solution but can't find anything. Thanks.

 

Lets try the simplest solution first. If it doesn't fix your problem, post back.

Click the Start button, click Run, type regsvr32 oleaut32.dll, click OK. Reboot and see if you are cured.

 

Hi Newt,

Thanks for the instructions. A year and a half ago I was using Windows ME on another computer and had the same problem. So I joined a group in MSN aimed at Windows ME problems. I posted the problem and a kind soul there gave me a zip file called findextensions to use. I used it and it fixed my problem. However I didn't save the file. Well this time I hunted down that thread and found and used the same fix for Windows 2K and it worked. I'm hanging on to this little fix since it is only 998bytes. But I will also make a note of your fix and add it to my repair files. Thanks for the information.

 

On a related note...
How do I get rid of things on the "Search" menu? RealPlayer added "For Internet Audio/Video ", and there are also the "On the Internet" and "People" selections. I don't want to use the Search tool to "search" for ANY of these! I just want to search my local drives for "Files or Folders ", period. So how do I remove the other choices from the "Search For" function?

 

Awk - I think maybe we've been bitten by settings again. I had my start menu set to classic and saw a list of searchy things when I clicked on the search part such as Printers, Files & Folders, People, and a few others. Yuck. Changed to the default for XP-pro and got taken immediately to the Windows Explorer style seacch screen.

I used "change preferences" to tweak that a little to specify I only wanted a couple of boxes where I could tell the PC what to search for. Ace - that may be what you want.

But for me, easier to use the classic start menu and install Agent Ransack for my PC searches. Faster and more options than Windows has. And since I'm basically pretty lazy, Agent Ransack lives on my Quick Launch bar so I can use a single click to open a search window.

 

What do you mean by "setting your start menu to classic "? I'm running Windows 2000 Professional, and there doesn't seem to be any such setting on my start menu. Nor can I find a "change preferences" option anywhere. What am I missing here?

 

Well this has certainly turned into something lively. I'm with Ace on this one Newt. What are you talking about?

And Ace, I can sympathize on the real audio problem. I too have search on the internet for audio and video. And I uninstalled real player as soon as it served it's purpose. However, my seearch options were gone before that happened. Imagine my surprise to find that real player option in there. So when I applied the fix I got my search options back however, on the internet for audio and video is still there.

Any suggestions Newt on how to get rid of that?

Routerqueen

 

Router queen

Here is your fix!

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;222029

more info on same: http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBD/tip1700/rh1734.htm

ACE

Newt has XP. XP comes with this yucky interface. No normal start menu like 9x and 2k. But XP has a setting to use classic view to make XP look like 9x or 2K.

So only XP has that setting!

Mike

 

Thanks Mike. I followed the instructions and Real Players "On the Internet for Audio and Video" is gone from the search options.

Routerqueen

 

And I followed the instructions, and got rid of everything I didn't want on my Search menu. Thanks!

 

Just a case of my having forgotten which forum I was posting in. 2K does not suffer from the classic vs. fancy layout. Sorry for the confusion.