Windows Help & Advice - UK (2020-04)

(Antfer) #1

WINDOWS HELP HARDWARE FIXES SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INTERNET TIPS


Windows
SEARCHBOXISBLANK
Q
TheWindowsSearchboxon
theTaskbaris throwingupa
blank screennomatterwhatI type
into it. I’vetriedrestartingWindows
ExplorerandmyPC,butnodice.
GordonUrquhart

Ian’s solution
This was an issue
plaguing virtually all
Windows 10 users a

month or so ago – if the search
results haven’t magically
reappeared by now, check
Windows Update. If you’ve paused
updates, then you may need to
manually download any
outstanding ones.
The issue is linked to a problem
with Bing integration, and another
workaround is to disable this to
restrict the Search tool to local files,
folders, programs and settings only.
To do this, open Registry Editor

(Press [Win] + [R], type “regedit”
and hit [Enter]) then browse to the
following Registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_
USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
With Search selected, choose Edit
> New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name it “BingSearchEnabled” and
leave it set to 0. Also verify
“CortanaConsent” is set to 0 – if it’s
not, change it. Quit Registry Editor,
open Task Manager and locate
Windows Explorer under
Performance. Right-click it and
choose Restart to bring the Search
box back to life.

Software
CAN’TOPENMUSFILES
Q My brother’s old computer
died, taking with it some old
programs. He is left with several
MUS files which he needs to read. I
have a second PC which runs
Windows XP and I have found a
DOS program that converts MUS
files to MID files (which we can
read). But I’ve forgotten what
commands I need to launch the

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REGISTRY FIX
Resolve a blank
Search box
by editing
the Registry.

56 |^ |^ April 2020

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