How do I replace the stupid Windows XP dog assistance search with the classic Windows 2000 search?

Question

How do I get search in Windows XP back to the way it was in Windows 2000, in one step?

What is the easiest way to do this?

Solution 1

You can download Windows XP Powertoys and disable the search, but here's an easier way:

Copy this text into a text file: disable-search.reg (Only the extension matters)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState]
"Use Search Asst"="no"

Then double-click the .reg file and say "Yes" when Windows asks you if you want to enter that into the registry.

As an alternative that Michael Kohne pointed out, you can simply delete the "Use Search Asst" key entirely.

This will restore Windows 2000 classic search for the current user only.

Solution 2

You can click 'Change Preferences' and select 'Without an animated screen character' to remove the dog. To get the more Win2K-like behaviour (ie jumping directly to the 'Search for files and folders' dialog), set the 'Change files and folders search behaviour' preference to 'Advanced'. This effectively saves you the trouble of having to click 'All files and folders'.

Solution 3

I prefer using the command line:

Open cmd.exe (Start > Run > "cmd"), and enter:

reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState /v "Use Search Asst" /t REG_SZ /d "no" /f

To get the dog back (and return registry to original state), enter:

reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState /v "Use Search Asst" /f

Comments

[Admin]

get a copy of windows 7 ;)

[Admin]

Or... get a copy of Windows 2000. As usual, I don't see any reason to upgrade Windows if you must have it in the first place.

[Admin]

That dog must die

[Neil]

Oops, I meant how would one get it back to the way it was in Windows 2000... I've updated the question.

[Michael Kohne]

To revert to old behavior you can either set the value to 'yes', or you can remove it entirely.

[Polsy]

Updated my answer with the additional preference change to skip the initial 'what do you want to search for' dialog.

[Stephen Jennings]

+1 for not directly editing the registry.

[Neil]

This gets you almost there, but you have to either edit the registry or download Windows Powertoys and click the classic search option. Editing the registry is easier because it takes about 10 seconds and is unambiguous.