Here is how to uninstall the Microsoft Desktop 4. This makes finding these things much easier. Sure it includes an uninstaller, but clearly lots of people are having difficulty with it. One thing I've learned is to listen to my users. If a lot of people tell me something, then there's something to it, even if the users aren't using exactly the right language.
To the WDS team, who seems to be truly in love with their own product, it probably seems unthinkable that anyone would even want to uninstall WDS, but they do.
Microsoft seems unwilling to provide this. I have accidently installed Google toolbar or desktop before and it is easy to uninstall. Try it sometime. If Microsoft really wants to compete with Google they have to be as user friendly as Google, instead of trying to be like big brother and trying to force stuff on you and make it difficult to remove.
I disabled the WindowsSearch. I can't see anyway around it. It looks as though the old ideal where F3 provides a file search is replaced with the less effective, over-bloated copy of search called WDS. I am trying everything I can to keep it from running on my systems because, as from my tone, it is not something I like having on my system.
If a future release of Windows comes out, I am hoping they either improve the search tool or provide a way for use to use the older, less bloated file search engine that has been on every copy of windows since nt4 came out perhaps earlier, I don't remember if 3.
When XP came out, it became more difficult to configure the F3 button to work properly until one learns that searching with F3 is and Advanced search feature apparently Microsoft did not want people searching for files? That's my take anyway. It is one new feature that Microsoft has come out with which has not only become a huge disappointment but moreover, a huge reconfiguration nightmare.
We are still curious to understand better the circumstances where this can happen - we know this can happen with certain registry cleaners but if people are experiencing this problem for another reason we 'd like to know the details.
It is very much not the search team's desire to make Windows Search hard or impossible to uninstall. This will make the installer believe no Windows Search 4 is on the system. Let me if this works for you or anyone else. I think this may be a bit simpler than some of other methods people have detailed on these forums.
I don't want it, and I want my old search assistant functionality back by default. I only have a Default key value not set and a Version key I don't have a clue how it got installed on my machine other than through XP Service Pack 3.
I looked for the WDS in add remove and then did the Reg search and uninstall but.. Then noticed the Windows Search 4. To remove the lastest version of Windows Search 4. Back to the old search. Worked a treat, the file name was slightly different but your post was several years ago. I had a situation where I was stuck with 3. I could not upgrade to 4. I came to the conclusion that being 3.
After deleting the key because I only found the first one I reinstalled version 3. My machine is back to good old search. I hope that works for other people out there so you don't have to spend 3 hours searching and trying stuff like I did.
Don't forget to reboot your machine afterwards just to make things "official", lol To the creators of this feature: I love Microsoft, I really do, but I think I will stick with Google for Search functionality, at least for now In my case my problem with the tool was not speed even though I did notice some change but the intrusiveness of it.
I have news for you Bill! WDS also installed itself on my laptop without my authority - it just appeared one day! I also will be glad to see the back of it. As far as I am concerned there is too much unsolicited software junk sent out by many companies. I do not want extra add-ons, registry cleaners, video converters, automatic updates etc. If I want them, I'll go looking for them. That includes SP3, which is documented on the web as causing all sorts of problems.
I spend a lot of time removing all this garbage from friends and customer registries aft it slowing down their PC's. Never had this problem with DOS. My mottos is 'don't fix something if it aint broke'. Peter Scott wrote:. It's not listed as a either a stand-alone program nor as a KB update.
I think Microsoft definately needs to get their programmers together and create a more user-friendly uninstall option for this product as there are a lot of people that are struggling with this issue. I'm lucky as I clone my hard drive very often so that I have a very simple and fast restoration process if something goes awry and in 10 mins I'm back to where I was prior to the installation.
I don't have the registry entries listed in my registry and I have no easy uninstall option. I'm not interested in spending the next week or two looking for a solution so I'm simply going to back up my files, reclone from my most recent image and copy my files back over - 10 mins tops and Windows Search 4 is gone forever - never to be tried again.
MS Search 4. Which has made it very slow. We want to remove MS Search 4. Tried to reinstall wds 4. Now how do you uninstall and update that you did not select. Or at least give us a step by step manuel uninstall. There is a problem here look at all of the posts! We need to get this problem not issue fixed. You can get the missing uninstaller from here. I cannot locate the original link that led me to this, but I tried it and it worked perfectly on my production servers. I'm sorry but I experience the same.
Whithout any notification I know of my laptop is slowed down to it's minimum performance by Windows Desktop Search. In one hour it reads 2 Gb of data which must also be checked by the virus scanner. You are right but it did! Don't know ask windows update. The simple DOS based utility programs of about through had that capability, and then, ever since "Windows Explorer" appeared, finding a file by its extension became "outlawed".
Who makes such decisions? Mr Grinch? Dear MS, I own my computer. How much do I have to pay you to get permission to use my computer? Ever wonder how much. There is no info about lead programmers, project managers, etc. It has all the feel of a.
No one wants to be responsible for it. You need a degree in computer science to may be, just may be, figure out how to. Never mind that with web technology. That would have been nice, but never mind.
It boggles the mind. Like it or not. This can be good or bad. Pretty Bad, if bad software gets pushed down the pike in this manner. Bad, if security updates come in. Can also be good, if a security update indeed prevents your computer from catching a really vile virus, trojan, rootkit,. Also, good, if the update really, I mean really, fixes something without destroying something else.
This is another gamble, because you don't know for sure whether some program will do what. At least this method gives you the opportunity to look at each update's info on the MS website. Sometimes you might find it affects only. At other times you find notices about how the update makes the internet disappear, and.
Excel might explode and Word withers into a woolly ball and dies. Then you might do well to wait for. Another thing is that the WDS update did not mention that it would remove or destroy the "old Search. If I uninstall. Note: This post contains no code sample. I am using plain English, which is easy to misunderstand. Not the case - everything works fine, even better that I expected. As soon as I gert rid of WDS Outlook asked me again same question: if you wand higher speed you must download an update.
First - WDS does install itself without prompting with various auto updates and Office install. This is the kind of thing that gets Microsoft sued again and again. If you think there was a huge settlement because of trouble uninstalling IE, wait for this one.
Second - the fact that it's hard to uninstall and is a memory hog is simply because it's a Microsoft product. Microsoft assumes you are running a brand new machine with Office and nothing else.
It's no wonder that every week I get a notice that there is a critial system update needed. Who knows what else they are hiding on our machines? There should be a way to just turn it off, but there isn't.
Each time I boot I must snooze it - which still leaves processes running. In a perfect world there would be a system config file you could run and with simple checkboxes pick what features you want and don't like IE, WDS, etc. I find that impossible to believe as you did not store the installation data in the correct folder but rather decided to hide it in a Windows Update folder and treat Windows Search 4. I gave it a chance.
I really did. It's much faster, less boated, much more intuitive, and doesn't decide it's gonna do things in the background that I never told it to do.
In the off chance I might need to search for an email? Guess what. That's already built into Outlook Express and works fine and doesn't require that I feel like I'm suddenly running Windows 95 on a This has to be the biggest disapointment I've ever seen from MS and I'm one of your fanbois!
Treating it as one is the root of all the problems we are having. If I wanted my computer to run like this I would just throw it down the stairs myself. I don't really need you guys to do it for me and call it an update. Hi Folks -. I wanted to get back to you with more information and guidance around the Windows Desktop Search WDS issue and the results of our investigation today.
As you know, Windows Desktop Search was published last February 07, as an optional update that was only applicable to systems which had WDS previously installed. Unfortunately, in revising this update, the decision to re-use the same update package had unintended consequences to our WSUS customers.
Namely many of you who had approved the initial update package for a limited number of machines, had Tuesdays' WDS revision automatically install on all clients because of the expanded applicability scope and because by default, WSUS is set to automatically approve update revisions.
We sincerely regret the inconvenience this has caused and extend a sincere apology to all impacted customers. For those of you who want to uninstall the WDS update revision released Tuesday of this week, this can be done via. This option will leave some software on the machine, but the invocation effectively removes WDS 3.
I want you to know we are working now to correct the issue and have temporarily suspended the distribution of the Windows Desktop Search through WSUS. The current package will remain available through the Microsoft Download Center.
We will make a new package available for WSUS in the near future, but not as an update revision, so that you can rely on predictable update behavior with auto-approval settings. We are also working on improving our internal publishing processes to ensure this does not happen again in the future. Again, our sincere apologies for this publishing process error. Bobbie Harder. Tom Waitman wrote: You can get the missing uninstaller from here. I having been looking for ways to uninstall WDS also.
I don't like what I have found so I did some investigating on my own. What I have done works for me.. I didn't uninstall it, I just disabled it. First I disabled it from the startup group. I did so by using the program Autoruns. Find the service called Windows Search and right click it, select properties. In the startup type box, use the dropdown menu and select Disabled. From here I had to restore the old way of searching because I would still get the windows desktop search dialog box but it would tell me that the service is not running.
Start Run and type regedit. The program still exists on my computer but it is not loading or running any background processes and I am performing searches the old way again. TO: T. Beal Anything I don't like on my system, I use a utility like Process Explorer to find out where it lives. I then rename the directory. I then reboot the system, in case it has any open files to the directory.
I then run my favorite registry cleaner to get rid of the offending program for good. In my case, I use Norton Win Doctor.
These steps work with any installed program you want to get rid of permanently. Doug C Haman. Are you really serious? Still wondering if WDS works? Should I keep on? How could these developers sleep at night with at least 50 million pissed off users? I had the same situation Bill.
I consider myself a concious guy and I can not remember any situation that I fully knowingly had installed your WDS. I work with computers for over 20 years and I think I know what I am doing. No programm of any origin, especially by such a well known name as MS should be designed to "somehow" install itslef and later not be able to be unistalled. There is no way I can remove this product.
Do not know how it got on there in the frist place - which also makes me nervous. I can disable it, but it seems to sprng right back!! Posted by AuntieCarol. Beal question. Before we start working on this I have several questions:. 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? When the thing has leaked some degree of resources, attempts to open further Internet Explorer windows either display corrupt non-functioning windows or display nothing at all. When it leaks more resources, Outlook Express cannot even reply to an e-mail message, asserting a false reason that there isn't enough memory. When it leaks enough resources it stops popping up focus stealing dialogs, and instead it makes a ringing sound like a doorbell every 10 seconds until I reboot.
What a monopolizing pain. Typically 1GB are in use at any time, and around 1GB are in use when Outlook Express can't reply to an e-mail message due to not having enough memory. So memory is not the problem. Both PCs have several tens of gigabytes of free disk space as well. One PC has a few gigabytes of e-mail but the other has less than one gigabyte of e-mail stored in their Outlook Express identities directories.
Try to search for a computer. That's right, virtually the only search function that ever used to work has now been removed from Windows. The context menu entry hasn't been removed, only the functionality has been removed. Use google to locate and download the installer from Microsoft's server. EXE is the installer. INF file in this same folder contains all of the install instructions.
The trick to uninstall this app is to launch the uninstaller spuninst. INF file. Safely ignore the warning that removing this KB may impact other apps. Rest assured; you are safe to uninstall Windows Desktop Search. It's a general warning but not applicable to this particular uninstall. That's it.
CPL press enter -- and look for Windows Search 4. My problem was: 1. Sometimes I wonder if MS is under instruction to intentionally cause millions of wasted man-hours. Removing the protected View in Office sorts some out, but other files on a fileshare are all marked as corrupt. Opening up n another machine is fine. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Windows Desktop Search Development.
Sign in to vote. Monday, April 9, PM. I want to totally remove Windows Desktop Search, not just turn off the toolbar for it. Besides the CPU processing it wastes while indexing, it does not even search in the areas I want looked most of the time, since I am NOT looking in the documents areas that it does index.
I want to get totally rid of it! Saturday, November 17, PM. Anybody out there have some better answers? Tuesday, November 20, AM. Yes, that can be very intimidating to see all those security fixes that might be affected. I just uninstalled "Windows Desktop Search 3. I just ran WindowsUpdate and all was fine there. Tuesday, January 15, PM. Sunday, March 16, PM. Wednesday, November 5, PM. Dave Wood. Thursday, November 6, PM. If anyone can figure out how to get rid of it for good, please let us know.
Jim Lancaster Dallas, TX. Monday, November 17, PM. So my three-step guide for removing WS4 from XP goes like this: 1. Check Add Remove Programs and try and uninstall there. Wednesday, November 19, AM.
Thanks again, Jim. Wednesday, November 19, PM. Thursday, November 20, PM. Tim 0. Thank you Friday, December 5, AM. Now here are the reasons why this piece of ship-it needs evacuation. Looking for a way to improve search in Windows XP? Lookeen can help you out. Here are some things you can try to fix your Windows XP search problems. When a search tool on a computer gives you trouble it can be a frustrating problem to have.
If, for some reason, the desktop search seems to work, but only brings up irrelevant files then you have a different problem on your hands—one that is still solvable. It will just take some customization for it to find the correct files.
If you change some of the settings in the Content Indexing Service, you can have all file types indexed. What happens if your search stops working completely? This is important because it means that you no longer receive security updates or any kind of technical support. Microsoft advises that all users try to upgrade to a more recent version of windows, so that their computer is not at risk.
There are some known issues with trying to install a search engine in Windows XP, so you really need to check that the software you download is compatible. What happens is that the system will still try to use the basic Windows XP Search Engine, and not the new installation. There used to be a program called Reroute XP Search, which could be used to change the search link from the Windows XP search engine to the third party installation, however it is no longer available to download.
If you are running a newer version of Windows, then Reroute XP will not work anyway.
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