David Moisan's IT

I saw this problem recently:  I, like most IE 8 users, use multiple search providers in IE, all of them with their icons that appear when selected.

The search provider icons for several providers, including Bing, my default, were missing and showed only the generic magnifying glass icon.  Restarting IE didn’t help nor did rebooting.

I found a simple workaround to fix this but I first want to explain search provider internals in some detail.

In Internet Explorer, a search provider is an XML document with a a specially-coded URL based on the OpenSearch specification.  IE comes with Bing as its default search provider; users can add more providers.  In the screenshot, you can see I have Bing, which is defaulted, Google, Wikipedia and WolframAlpha as my providers.

Providers are stored in the user’s registry under HKU:\<user SID>\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer.

Each Search Provider is listed under a GUID;  DefaultScope is a string value with the default provider listed.  It points to Bing’s entry in this case:

Most of the values are self-explanatory.  Of particular interest in my problem is the FaviconPath and FaviconURL string values.  Let’s say the Bing icon is missing.  Its path is C:\Users\davidmoisan\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Services\search_{533B8DE4-C0F4-4C0F-ABA8-79A79086865C}.ico.

Here are all my search icons.  They are in c:\users\<userprofile>\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Services\:

Note the filenames are of the form search_{GUID}.ico.  With that in mind, I fixed my problem the hard way:  I found an Bing icon elsewhere on my system, copied it to this directory, renamed it to match the filename in FaviconPath and restarted IE.

It worked!

(This explains why there are multiple instances of a few icons in the screenshot above.  You will normally have just one icon per each provider, but the extra icons aren’t hurting anything.)

However, a much easier solution that I recommend for regular users: 

1. If you have more than one provider, and the provider with the missing icon is not your default provider, click on the search bar drop down and select Manage Your Providers.  Right-click on that provider and select Delete.  Close the window and try to re-add that provider.  Its icon should reappear and you are done.
2. If you only have one provider, or if the provider with the missing icon is your default provider, click on the search bar drop-down button and select Find More Providers.  Add a search provider from the screen that comes up (any provider will do.)
3. Click the search bar drop-down and select Manage Search Providers.
4. Right-click on your new provider and select Set As Default.
5. Select your old provider, right-click it and select Delete.
6. Close that window and click on the search bar to select Find More Providers. 
7. Find and re-add your old provider.  Its icon should re-appear.
8. If desired, go back into Manage Search Providers and re-select your old provider as the default.

This problem may also be caused by a recent security update, KB974455, and its later update KB976749, which was released to Microsoft Update last week.  I first noticed this problem after applying the latter update, but I can’t confirm that either update caused this.  If you do install the updates, install 974455 first before installing 976749;  installing 976749 without the former update may cause IE to stop working.

In my case both updates were already on the machine in the correct order.  I might never know how the icons disappeared but now we know how to make them reappear.  Happy searching!

So, Windows 7 is out and has been for a week.  I’ve been running it for exactly two months today.

I like it and I’m encouraged by the Windows development process, something that can’t be said for Ubuntu.  (It doesn’t help that its latest release has problems with recognizing multiple SATA drives.)

I’ve had no problems that I could attribute to Windows 7 specifically;  I did have Windows bluescreen on log off, but that appears to be due to the UltraVNC server I had running.  (My HDTV antenna, and the TV card that it feeds are in different rooms, so I use a Windows Mobile PDA with a VNC client to adjust it by viewing the signal strength app through the desktop.)  The bug code I got (Bug Check 0xEC: SESSION_HAS_VALID_SPECIAL_POOL_ON_EXIT), is very specific as to the cause—any driver related to win32k.sys, atmfd.dll or rdpdd.dll, in other words any remote access hooking DLL such as VNC’s.  No new version of UltraVNC has come out so I’ve gone on with my life.

It has been otherwise very uneventful over the past few months.

The one thing I should have learned over 3 years of using Vista, is how the IT press used the “Vista Failure” meme to keep itself going.  If you got a Vista machine this past spring, like one of my friends did, you’re probably doing OK. 

It’s a good thing for the IT press that people have reported boot loops when installing Windows 7.  I just wish, in my universe, pundits like Randall Kennedy and Loyd Case would sweep streets while the likes of Mark Russinovich do reporting.  If Mark were reporting on this, it’d be fixed!  Good for the pundits, “Seven S****!”, not so good for the people affected.

At least Windows 7 has given me more time for games!

Seen recently at SATV.

My lull is over, too soon.

My friend and contractor Leo is splitting the space in Engineering so that the server is secure and separate from other activities in the room.  Engineering is where members file in to check out equipment and return it.  There’s already a workstation on the bench that staff will use to process equipment reservations, seen at the very lower left of the frame.

I will have “my” own chair, shelves and file cabinets;  currently, all of our software disks, cables, paperwork and etcetera are scattered around the building, no surprise since we have been a Windows shop since 1998 and I have been at this job since 2000.

On the top shelf of the server cart, you can see the cable snake I made up, which will replace the snarl of cables there now.  We’re planning on getting managed and monitored power strips from Server Technology

We still are figuring out some details.  We’ll also need a printer for reservations.  We have a lot of work to make our reservation software work yet, so there will be no more lulls for me this year.

Still, for the first time, I have a real office!

It’s been too quiet.   We had a big Patch Tuesday, but it went very uneventfully.  Sal and I were supposed to review our equipment database so we could import it into our new LOB software, Facil, but he’s been under the weather.  My server room is being done over—but not quite yet.

So, quiet.

The highlight of the week—honest—new computer wallpaper from Ponyo, which I saw a few weeks ago and loved.

I promise to come back with real news, tips, or if nothing else, more game screengrabs.