Search Google from address bar 1

[bdee1]

until recently i have IE all set up so if i wanted to search google, i could just type my search terms into the address bar. and just the other day it stopped working.

now if i type "coldfusion into the address bar for example...

it takes me to

http:///? coldfusion

which obviously gives me a page not found error.

i have verified my autosearch setting. i tried going into tools internet options advanced and making sure "do not search from address bar" is not selected.

i tried reinstalling IE6 and nothing seems to fix this.


can anyone help?

 

[HHohn]

Does this happen to be a Windows 2000, NT or XP box?

If so, here's what I found. I login under user1, I can't use the autosearch from the address bar. I logoff, log back in as administrator, and I can use the autosearch function just fine.

MAKE SURE TO EXPORT/BACKUP THE WHOLE REGISTRY BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THIS!

So, here's what I did to correct the problem.
1> Log in as administrator.

2> From the administrator login I export the Internet Exlplorer key from HKCU\software\microsoft\Internet Explorer to C:\temp folder name IENew.reg.

4> Log off adminstrator and log back in as user1.

5> From the user1 login, I export the entire Internet Exlplorer key from HKCU\software\microsoft\Internet Explorer to C:\temp folder named IEOld.reg for backup purposes.

6> Delete the Internet Explorer key from HKCU\software\microsoft\Internet Explorer.

7> Merge the IENew.reg file I save under the C:\temp folder.

Voila! I was able to use autosearch like normal again.

Warning: replacing the entire Internet Explorer key did have a drawback. Anything that was integrated for use with IE was no longer functional, ie I had to re-install my Google search bar and a couple other softwares to re-integrate them into IE. A minor inconvience when I'm so used to being able to use the address bar for searching.

Y'all are thinking, "but you had the Goole Search bar right there the whole time." But, old habits die hard sometimes and I just couldn't get over not being able to search from the address bar.

By the way, this solution might even work from PC to PC. But, I haven't tested that theory.

 

[Neoprimal]

I have this exact same problem. 1/2 of it is my fault.

I installed netzero to quickly get online while out of state on the weekend....Netzero forces it's own autosearch in there (address bar autosearch) and it was REALLY annoying. I uninstalled it and everything and the search was left behind - I went into the registry and like an idiot proceeded to remove any entries having to do with netzero.

Since then, my address bar search no longer works with the exact same results as the originator of this thread.

Is there anything less drastic that a mass key merge?

Maybe just look through carefully and change some settings....I dunno.

If anyone comes up with a 1 or 2 key change, let me know.

I have far too many IE addins and such to just delete the whole thing.

 

[desimal]

You might want to try to install Yahoo Messenger and that will replace Netzero search with Yahoo. Then you can re-edit your settings back to google, and uninstall yahoo.

Thats if you dont want to try that regfix above.

 

[Neoprimal]

The messenger or the companion?

 

[Neoprimal]

desimal, by your inspiration I found THE surefire fix.

the yahoo installation didn't do it for me, but then I tried installing the msn toolbar and that fixed it 100 percent.

Thanks alot.

bdee1, if you didn't do all that registry stuff (and don't want to), try installing the msn toolbar n' see if that helps. Make sure you make it install the msn search for the default search.

If you already have the toolbar, uninstall it...restart your PC and install it again.

 

[ie6user]

Hi,

Best guess is that the URLSearchHooks setting got clobbered (that's the hook that eg. TweakUI uses to define its search prefixes)...

just reset

[tt]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
"{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}"=""

[/tt]

and it should work again? (at least that did it for me when I foobar'ed my searches..)



---
saybibi();
//john
#include <stddiscl.h>

 

[ie6user]

(oops.. should have added: ofcourse HKLM could also work instead of HKCU - just grab whatever you're comfortable with)

---
saybibi();
//john
#include <stddiscl.h>

 

[bcastner]

Let me add to iet6user comments above about possible CLSID issues:

This can be tough to resolve, so review carefully any CLSID issued as a browser helper: reset the Search settings. Click the Search button in the toolbar > Customize > AutoSearch Settings > Select a provider from the list. Open Internet Explorer > Tools > Options > Programs > "Reset Web Settings"

Reset Search using the fix available from here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/RestoreSearch2.REG

Finally, examine all CLSIDs:

http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm

 

[TheDoctor950]

I had the EXACT same problem, I found two things to make this work quick and easy.

1. Make a notepad file and copy and paste this in -

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
"{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}"=""

Save it as Barfix.reg or rename the text file with a .reg to make it a registry key. This was the easy part, finding this was the hard part.

Go get this -

http://www.igetnet.com/downloads/NLNuninstall.exe

Run it and it seems to pull the latest update out.

Hope this helps, I was very annoyed by this and thanks to everyone who gave solutions above. This is a great site!
---TheDoctor

 

[porter843]

I have had this annoying NetZero issue and the apparent hijacking of my autosearch, but I FOUND the culprit. Apparently Internet Explorer allows for autosearch and that is what pops up on the left if you click the search Icon. This is changed by your choosing the search engine you would like to use.

The second problem is this NetZero thing. This is well hidden in the registry and here is how to fix it:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\United Online\SrchStr

(Default) REG_SZ "

http://my.netzero.net/s/search?r=autosearch&query=%"

double click (default) change the Value data to the search engine of choice This is normally where you would find about blank.htm but you can put anything in there as NetZero has.

Hope this helps

 

[jdplus3]

TheDoctor950 is correct. This elegant little fix worked immediately on two computers for me. I posted the fix on Usenet (Google) for all to see (with a reference to this page).

Thank you.

 

[Sniper308]

I'm having the same problem and can't fix it. I have XP Pro. "Doc" or "Porter," could I call one of you guys and get walked through this or something?

Also... I tried the "regedit4" fix... but, WHERE do you save the file????????????

I joined just to get this answer. This is the only thread that seems to, perhaps, have a handle on this exact problem. I've tried so many registry edits and everything else... I just can't get it working.

Please help.

Thanks.

Russ

 

[bcastner]

Save the file anywhere. Make sure the file ends with a .reg extension.

Then double-click to merge the contents with your registry.

 

[Sniper308]

I don't understand "double-click to merge the contents with the registry."

I saved it to the C: drive. All that happened when I double-clicked it just now was that it opened up. Then I saved and closed it. Then I tried a test search on the address line and got the usual result -- nothing.

Russ

 

[bcastner]

The file must have a .reg file extension.
Notepad by default will place a .txt extension on the file, and this will not work.

 

[Sniper308]

I saved it as barfix.reg, yes. It even has a little icon of a "Rubik's cube" registry item, just like all the other registry items.

Russ

 

[bcastner]

Does the file look exactly like this in notepad?
REGEDIT4 <== first line
<== blank line
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
<==blank line
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
"{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}"=""

 

[Sniper308]

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
"{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}"=""

---------

Yes, that's what I have. I just copied and pasted from the post on this thread. It is saved as a registry key on my C: drive. I still can't search from the address bar.

Russ

 

[Sniper308]

If it helps, when I type a search like "help me" on the address bar and hit enter, the status bar indicates (lower left of my screen) "Opening

http://help

me" -- just before I get the nasty page saying I can't get there from here, et cetera.

Russ

 

[Sniper308]

Sorry, it's actually "Opening page

http://help

me" that appears. Forgot the word "page" in my last post.

Russ