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Disable Windows Desktop Search integration in Windows Explorer

Recently I installed Windows Desktop Search 4.0 because Windows Updates advertised with it. It comes with a nice list of improvements:

  • Bug fixes - most of the reported bugs seen since Windows Vista RTM have been fixed.
  • Rollback Recovery - your search index will roll back to the last known good state if an error occurs instead of being rebuilt from scratch.
  • Windows software updates for Watson errors
  • Faster previewer updates for Windows XP
  • Improved performance when indexing Exchange in online mode - less packets and less RPC calls are made, which means less load on the server. Plus, no local cache (.ost)
  • Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes
  • Support for Group Policy settings (Search.adm/Search.admx) has been extended and improved, including per-user policies.
  • An add-in for indexing redirected "My Documents" files (32-bit)

However, this version integrates the same way in Explorer as previous version. It replaces the 'Search' pane of Windows Explorer. Follow the steps below to fix this:

  • Start Registry Editor by running regedit.exe;
  • Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Desktop Search\DS;
  • Set ShowStartSearchBand to 0

You don't have to reboot. It applies immediately.

Hope this helps

Print | posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 2:39 PM |

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