Deactivate windows search xp

WDS should not have installed itself. What were you doing when this occurred and do you recall how the installation started? Bill Connors. I went online primarily to find out HOW to use it, as I found the brief instructions both miniscule and deficient. I know many of these technology websites are valuable but I am loath to follow the instructions of a non-Microsoft, non-professional to amend my computer.

Clearly, many users have been trying to address this issue. Some users asked you for a direct contact email and you have not, to my knowledge, provided any. Unless you dropped off the face of the earth, got a promotion in spite of your dismal performance in this arena, or moved on to greener pastures although in this economy, I cannot envision any greener pastures than Microsoft , I hope you will respond to this flurry of cries for help on this WDS issue, YOUR issue and YOUR responsibility.

If this is no longer your bailiwick, perhaps your successor will step up to the plate. I will give you approximately one week to respond and I will include my actual email address for a personal response if you are brave enough.

Carol Meixsell. Remove it. There is a dialogue advising certain programs may not work correctly without it. I ignored it. This should save some boot up time. I did write a very long and explicit note regarding this problem. I was having the problem on my notebook but a couple of days later when I went to update my desktop, I was alert to the situation and paid very close attention to what I was selecting to update.

I found that the unwanted addition was called "Search 4. When I updated my desktop computer, I didn't select that and, glory be, I didn't get the obnoxious little bar. Now that I KNEW what the program was called and wasn't afraid I was going to accidentally delete something to do with my regular Search, I then went back to my notebook and found Search 4. I selected it to be removed and it is now gone. Unlike the previous instructions about jumping through some convoluted hoops, I figured it out for myself and it WAS easy but "IT", and looking for answers about "IT", and writing forum notes about "IT" took an unacceptable amount of my valuable time.

I wonder if MS realizes or even thinks of the time they cost those of us out here who aren't experts, who are just trying to get their work done, before they implement something with inadequate documentation or conflicting nomenclature. Carol Meixsell carol. I think a pretty important thing to work on would be making Windows Search 4. There's only two good reasons why a program would be released like that, to keep people from wanting to uninstall it and use something else, or if it was just put out there early without being actually ready for release.

I uinstalled anyway. After a full index of all my HDs, Windows Search 4. The option to enable this doesn't appear to exist. I figured this program was being released as an upgrade to the existing search function, but I have much more success with the old one. I've had my own issues with this as well, taking nearly 2 months without it actually ever functioning properly.

That is After reading through this thread, I wonder if I would be better off doing a complete wipe and reinstall of XP. I am amazed how difficult you make to uninstall this program which sneaked into getting installed somehow on my laptop.

I am not a specialist to go through a complex operation shown above to remove this program. I may have to hire a specialist and pay to get rid of this nuissance unless someone can find a user friendly way for common people to get rid of this.

It is taking a big part of the bottom bar on my laptop and I will be happy to get rid of that long button Search Desktop atleast. I am frustrated to see this code. You'll then start to see the following errors popping up under event viewer:.

Windows will configer components; click Finish and close all. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Windows Desktop Search Development. Beal 3. Sign in to vote. Thursday, March 16, PM. Tuesday, March 21, PM. Batman - - , where is the instructions to remove this software that does not work.. Sunday, March 19, AM. Tuesday, March 21, AM. To uninstall Windows Desktop Search, use the Uninstaller package from the following locations for the following versions: Version Location 2.

Proposed as answer by kdouglas10 Monday, October 1, PM. Saturday, March 25, PM. Bill, I installed WDS. Tuesday, March 28, AM. Tuesday, March 28, PM. Wednesday, March 29, PM. Beal, I'm sorry to hear that you don't find WDS a useful tool. Proposed as answer by jerryallen7 Thursday, October 1, PM. Regards, Brent. Regards and many thanks, Brent. Thursday, March 30, AM. Hello mr. Sunday, April 2, AM. Sunday, April 2, PM. Monday, May 1, AM. Thank you in advance for your help!

Friday, July 7, PM. Saturday, July 29, PM. Thanks for the instructions. I needed to remove Windows Desktop Search and reinstall it. I was playing with one of the other seach engines and it seemed to have whacked the user interface for WDS. All is running correctly now. Thanks again,. Saturday, September 23, PM.

I attempted to uninstall WDS because I like the old windows search method. However, none of these file addresses exist on my computer.

Version Location 2. Tuesday, October 31, PM. Friday, January 12, PM. Brandon , I believe the subject line here includes the word "Simple", I have yet to see a single post that appears simple. I repeatedly had to try to get the machine going again via reboot I decided that I had to uninstall so I went to the control panel, found the item in the uninstall utility, and selected remove.

Thursday, February 8, PM. I still don't understand how to uninstall WDS Is there no simple way to do it. I really slowed down and messed up my laptop. I clicked on the button in my Outlook and follow the instructions. Please help me get rid of this POS. Tuesday, February 13, PM. Here is how it goes: 1. Saturday, February 17, PM. It seems to be problem in XP SP2. Sunday, February 18, PM. I had the same trouble.

I am not very technically minded so none of the solutions in the forum were much use to me. However, I noticed that a couple of replies said that it always comes with the uninstall option.

Not really true, although I'm sure it was intended to be included. I went to the Microsoft website again and downloaded the latest version of MDS. Lo and behold! When I went to "Add and remove programs" there it was! I removed the program in the normal way without any problems - easy! Now let's see if my computer speed gets back to normal. Wednesday, March 7, PM. Monday, March 12, PM. WDS includes an uninstaller that is fully tested and built using the standard Windows Update package technology.

WDS fully uninstalls everything that it can, however every uninstaller on Windows is unable to delete files or registry keys belonging to users other than the one who initiates the uninstall. That is part of the designed Windows security model, though it does have the unfortunate side effect of some completely benign, but no longer needed registry keys to be left in the registries of other user accounts who have run WDS. Thanks again for the instructions. Wednesday, March 14, PM.

Wednesday, March 21, PM. Tuesday, April 3, PM. I just want to comment on the attitudes displayed in this thread, because they are very telling.

A large number of people have posted here with the problem that WDS will not uninstall. Interestingly, despite the evidence from these people, most of whom are probably normal intelligent PC users there has been a consistent lack of help from many of the MS certified respondents who really should be the ones helping out. Here are the facts: 1: WDS does include an uninstall feature. Many, many sensible, intelligent an competent users cannot seem to get the uninstall feature to work.

So far I have failed to do it. Wednesday, April 11, PM. KneeWax, I had to chuckle at your post. Had to ask Thursday, April 12, AM. Which remains on the machine, and running. This is the problem that I have encountered and awful lot of people seem to be having.

Or perhaps in haste I didn't write it too well, in which case, my apologies. My mistake. For anyone still struggling with the WDS removal, Coyette's instructions in Post 3 are the only ones that worked for me. Finally, I have got rid of the thing, which was my main aim. Thursday, April 12, PM. I had to ask It was a lb gorilla in the room Glad you got it handled! I'm with Jeff I would happy to pass this info along to the setup people.

Wednesday, April 18, PM. Excellent work Coyette - worked a treat - finally I am rid of this malware - cheers. Saturday, May 19, PM.

I had the same issue recently. Hope this works for anybody out there getting this issue. Tuesday, June 5, PM. Same here. What is up with this? Thursday, June 21, PM. Re-installing didn't help make the uninstall program re-appear. I didn't see the uninstall anywhere.

Where did the uninstaller go? Are you SURE there is an uninstaller even when it gets "stealth installed" by pressing that button in Office ? That would seem to be a Bad Idea. I am very unhappy with WDS. Sheesh guys! It has cost me hours installing utilities, searching, trying to figure out how to be rid of this software. Nothing personal, but it really slows me down, and I thought I had a fast machine! I finally broke down and I'm using the method described by coyette, above.

I say again, sheesh! Shame on Microsoft for this one. This has cost me hours. Friday, June 22, AM. Is there a way to force the installation to create the install directory? A switch? Anyone any ideas? I believe this is why it is not creating the uninstall on some computers. Thursday, July 12, PM. Wednesday, July 18, PM. No more WDS on the machine. Uninstalled on the other machine and no more WDS. Your Mileage May Vary. Tuesday, July 24, PM. Friday, July 27, AM. I tried to remove WDS using add and remove programs and after the widows XP wizard goes through its list I get an error message - The handle is invalid.

Tuesday, July 31, PM. Hello, Same problem here. Or has someone found another way of getting rid of it? Thursday, August 2, PM. Friday, August 3, PM.

Wednesday, August 8, PM. Thursday, August 9, PM. I couldn't possibly agree with you more! I got annoyed with Office telling me how I had to have this program installed to get the full benefits of their suite.. I've removed virus's from computers that are times easier to get off. You owe me 3 hours of my life back. Tuesday, August 21, AM. Thanks for the link to the download! That worked. Kinda funny that this is a MS site but no moderator offered this up to any of us!

Friday, August 24, AM. Please help Sue. Saturday, August 25, AM. Thank you so much for posting that uninstall folder MRashed!! I finally got rid of wds. Saturday, August 25, PM. It did make a bit of difference to the speed but not a lot and I am still having trouble when opening items. Please can you help Sue. Thanks for your link, MRashed! Friday, August 31, PM. Saturday, September 8, AM. Saturday, September 22, AM. I just wanted to download a gallery picture from MSN spaces and ended up with this unwanted wds hoggin my system.

Thank you Microsoft, once again! Fortunately with the help of the people here of course not of the moderators I just got rid of it. Monday, September 24, AM. Friday, October 19, AM. Sunday, October 21, AM. The guy two posts up uses lots and nothing, that's great.. Wednesday, October 24, AM.

Then half of the applications I hade runnings shut down but nothing more happen, that by the way lost me some hours work!! Next I restart the computre hoping that windows dekstop search would be removed and I would have the previous version where I can search in files and all in all like way better then this new uggly lacking search engine. But nope! How do I get ridd of this annoying new search? And whey did it close down half of my applicatiosn?! Wednesday, October 24, PM. Thursday, October 25, AM.

Thank you MS for making my IT life a little more like hell. Only fing updates and patches. So how in the he11 did this search thing get installed?! Why can't they right click it and have an option to not show it..

Please kill yourself, Junk. Thursday, October 25, PM. Friday, October 26, AM. Thanks you so much Mohamed! You just made my day a lot nicer. I really hate the windows desktop search and had no idea that getting rid of it would be such a hassle. Monday, October 29, PM. Tuesday, November 6, PM. This post was more useful than all the others before it, without exception. Worked very well. Plus the bonus of learning about the Unlocker! Wednesday, November 7, AM. Connors, I am a system builder and a Microsoft partner.

DHaff, Systems Engineer. Wednesday, November 14, PM. I may be misinterpreting some of the posts. Where do I go from here? Friday, November 30, PM. Hopefully you can help. Thank you for share the information. Monday, December 17, PM. The Item to remove is hot fix KB after you click chow all updates. Hope this helps. Wednesday, December 19, PM. Sunday, December 23, PM. This is not true.

Monday, January 14, AM. It did install itself on my PC as well without asking! Wednesday, January 16, PM. Friday, February 1, PM. Hi, I tried all of those methods but I can't find any uninstallers anywhere at all. Not in the add remove programs, in any of the updates folders and not in the application data folder..

Is there a way to disable it from being the default search tool? However, it is recommended to turn off the feature of Windows Search indexing if you don't use it often. Sometimes, it might become the culprit of your computer's slow performance. If you discover that it is one of the causes of your computer poor performance, you can boost the running speed of your computer by turning off the Windows Search service.

By the way, turning off this feature does not mean that Windows Search won't work at all. You'll still have access to search. But the truth is that searches will take longer to finish.

Don't know how to turn on or turn off Windows Search service in your Windows 10 computer? You can use a tool to do that for you. You can make use of one of its powerful functions called " System Service " to manage various system services on your computer conveniently in order to speed up your system.

The software provides an intuitive interface to you, so it is easy to use. Step 1. Best Smartwatches. Best Gaming Laptops. Best Smart Displays. Best Home Security Systems. Best External Solid State Drives. Best Portable Chargers. Best Phone Chargers. Best Wi-Fi Range Extenders. Best Oculus Quest 2 Accessories. Best iPad Air Cases. Awesome PC Accessories. Best Linux Laptops. Best Wireless iPhone Earbuds. Best Bluetooth Trackers. Activation is a protection mechanism implemented in Windows 10 and earlier versions against piracy.

When activation is successful, usually it indicates that your copy of Windows is genuine. There may be times when you need to deactivate your copy of Windows 10 in order to transfer your license to another PC. Here is how you can deactivate your copy of Windows In this article, we will see how to deactivate Windows 10 by uninstalling the product key. Additionally, we will see how to install another product key instead. To deactivate Windows 10 by uninstalling the product key , you need to do the following:.

Windows 10 will become deactivated. You can visit the Settings app and check out the "Activation" page and check the activation state. It will look like this:. After you deactivate Windows 10, you might be interested in clearing the product key from the Registry so it cannot be viewed with special apps and scripts.

Please keep in mind that if you reach the online activation limit, e. To install a new product key, you need to type the following command in the elevated command prompt:. We have a nice article which covers this process in detail: How to change Windows 10 product key.