IE6 – how do I restore default search engine? (IE 6)

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IE used to use MSN or some other MS sponsored search engine when I would type some word in the address bar. Now,… when I do that, Yahoo does the search and presents the results. I did D/L Yahoo companion and that may have replaced the MS search feature.

My question is – how can I restore the default search capability? I tried going into tools-interent options- advanced and restored defaults but that did not affect the search.

Thanks for any help.

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Here’s how in IE5.5. Not sure if it’s the same or different. If you choose the top option button, you have a lot of control over different types of searches, but fewer choices of search engines.

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Hi

Click on Search / Customize / Autosearch settings, and you get several choices of address bar searches.

Sadly for me, Google.co.uk (as opposed to Google.com) is not one of the choices(!) – if your preferred search site is not to be found, you may want to set it as your home page.

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Don’t be sad, go to this page and be happy!

Make Google Your Default Search Engine

Sorry, spoke too soon, even if you change the urls to .co.uk URLs, the results don’t seem to be UK specific:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain]
“Search Page”=”http://www.google.com”
“Search Bar”=”http://www.google.com/ie”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerSearchURL]
“”=”http://www.google.com/keyword/%s”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerSearch]
“SearchAssistant”=”http://www.google.com/ie”

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Hmmm… I am not sure that takes over the “Search from the Address Bar” function. I think the Google changes only modify the Search Explorer Bar (or Explorer “Pane” or Explorer “Band”) — the part of the Window on the far left!

I believe the Search from the Address Bar function is set through the Customize “Autosearch Settings”. Google is now on this list!! It was not there a few months ago. Progress.

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Oh, sorry, I looked completely past “address bar” in the original post. Those seem to be hardcoded.

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That is what we initially thought. But they are not hard coded. This is not what you might think. Hang tight and I will prove it. Those boxes (Customize Search Settings and Customize Autosearch Settings) appear to come from your machine — probably in some .dll or something, right? Wrong!

They are actually HTML files loaded on to your computer from ie.search.msn.com (207.68.176.189). Microsoft has complete control over these on a minute by minute basis! They can add Google today and remove it tomorrow. Very intriguing, eh?

Want proof? Simply close IE and disconnect your Internet connection. Open IE and try and get those boxes. It won’t happen. Alternatively, you can use Zone Alarm to stop all access or enter ie.search.msn.com into a Host file with a loopback address (127.0.0.1). If you cannot access that site, you will not get those dialog boxes!

Want more proof? Here is a fraction of the capture capture data coming from 207.68.176.189:

* 69 63 6B 3D | 27 45 6E 67 | 69 6E 65 43 | 6C 69 63 6B [ick=’EngineClick]
* 28 74 68 69 | 73 29 27 20 | 6E 61 6D 65 | 3D 63 68 6B [(this)’ name=chk]
* 45 6E 67 20 | 20 24 44 79 | 3D 27 61 6C | 74 61 76 69 [Eng $Dy=’altavi]
* 73 74 61 27 | 20 74 79 70 | 65 3D 63 68 | 65 63 6B 62 [sta’ type=checkb]
* 6F 78 20 69 | 64 3D 22 77 | 65 62 5F 64 | 65 66 61 75 [ox id=”web_defau]
* 6C 74 5F 61 | 6C 74 61 76 | 69 73 74 61 | 22 20 73 65 [lt_altavista” se]
* 6C 65 63 74 | 3D 22 73 5F | 77 65 62 5F | 64 65 66 61 [lect=”s_web_defa]
* 75 6C 74 22 | 3E 3C 6C 61 | 62 65 6C 20 | 66 6F 72 3D [ult”>AltaVist]
* 61 3C 2F 6C | 61 62 65 6C | 3E 3C 62 72 | 3E 0D 0A 3C [a
..Lycos
..Exc]

This shows some of the AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite choices being downloaded!!

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Which all goes to prove that evenif you’ve got a firewall set up (I use Tiny/Kerios personal Firewall) ‘THEY’RE OUT THERE…..

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mwahahahaha!

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As much as I hate to give up control over anything, I guess it’s logical to do it that way because search engine URLs and forms change all the time, and this is the only way for MS to be sure that it won’t break 3 months (days?) after release.

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What does Microsoft have against Google?

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Google will get the ad money and MS

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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