How to remove Windows Search 4.0

I installed this piece of shit as part of the update routine a while ago and just couldn’t get rid of it for the life of me. I could disable it, but every time I did a right-clicked “search”, I ended up having to wait an age for it to load so I could redirect to the old built-in system.

Well, thankfully I discovered an article which helped. All the claims of “look at the Add/Remove Programs” list were useless as it doesn’t put itself on there, despite what Microsoft claim. Also, I’ve not seen an Update spuninst folder/file in the system root when I’ve put it on either – which means there’s no uninstall program.

The page is this one, courtesy of ARNO#. It does involve downloading a ZIP file, but I can verify that it works. I would recommend running a registry cleaning package once you’ve gone through his instructions, though. No harm in doing so just to ensure you get rid of any loose ends that might get left behind.

The How to remove Windows Search 4.0 by Iain Purdie, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.