Search Companion opens if you double-click a Folder or Drive
Problem:
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been having an annoying problem with Windows XP at work. When I would double-click a drive or folder, “Search Companion” would start and the drive or folder wouldn’t open. My only option was to right-click the drive or folder and select “Open”. This might not seem like a big deal, but it’s surprising how many times you actually click on a drive or folder during the course of a working day! Anyway, after a quick search on Google, I found the following quick fix:
Click Start, Run and type this command:
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll
There was also a manual Registry Fix:
To fix the problem manually, open Registry Editor and navigate to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Directory \ shell
-and-
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Drive \ shell
In the right-pane, locate and click the (Default) value
Click Modify on the Edit menu
Type the word none in the Value data box, and then click OK
Exit Registry Editor.
I chose the former and it worked like a charm!
References:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321379
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321186
Apparently this usually happens if you’ve edited the File Folder or Drive via the Folder Options File Types dialog, in order to add a context-menu item such as “Command Prompt here”, “Print Directory” feature for folders or drives. I don’t recall ever doing this, but I thought I’d throw it out there for anyone who’s interested.
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