HELP! Search Companion lost, Appservices encountered problem

Hi, Berrystraw, and welcome to A2k.

Appservices is a component of Iomega software, so its unsurprising it would appear to be associated with problems involving Iomega drives. I'm not sure thats all the problem you've got, but its a relatively easy one to deal with, so lets start with it. First, go to Device manager (Start>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Device Manager or right click the "My Computer icon either on your desktop or start menu, select "Properties", Select the "Hardware" tab, then click "Device Manager". Locate your Iomega drive, highlight it, right-click and and select "Properties", select the "Driver" tab, then select-and confirm "Uninstall" and click "OK". Return to, or relocate, the highlighted Iomega drive entry in Device Manager if its still there, make sure its highlighted, right-click on it and select-and confirm "Uninstall". Shut down your machine - shut it down, don't just restart it. When it has powered down, physically disconnect the Iomega drive from your machine, let the machine remain shut down for at least a full minute, then reboot.

When your machine has rebooted, go to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs, locate and uninstall any Iomega software if you find any there, then, using Windows Explorer (Windows key + E or right-click the "My Computer" icon either on your desktop or start menu and select "Explore"), look for and delete any folders named Iomega or clearly related to Iomega or applications you know to be part of the software you originally installed with your Iomega device. When you've eliminated all you can find, reboot.

At that point, connect to the internet, go to IOMEGA Support and Downloads, locate and download the latest drivers and software for your particular Iomega product and your particular operating system - you might also want to download the product manual, to get the installation details, if you no longer have your manual, and follow whatever installation proceedure as may be recommended for that product, using the downloaded drivers and software when and as prompted by the install routine. Second-best would be to use the install disk that came with your device, if you still have it, just repeating the original install routine. It would still be a good idea to get and install the latest, currently updated drivers and software, if any later than those that came with your device are available.

As for Internet Explorer problems specifically, the first step ought to be to go to Windows Update, see if you need any Service Packs, Critical Updates, other patches, software or driver updates, and if so apply them.

A handy 3rd-party software fix that often corrects a number of IE issues may be found HERE

If that didn't help, try going to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs, and see if Internet Explorer is listed there (if not, we can work around that, but lets not go there unless we have to). If so, select it and select "Repair". You may be prompted for your original XP install disk, so have it (or any other Win XP install disk - though a vendor's "Restore" disk probably won't work without a bunch of fiddling around) handy, and follow the prompts. Microsoft offers an article on installing/repairing IE in Win XP HERE, and another good set of tips may be found HERE.

Alternately, you can download IE6 (though to install it you'll most likely have to do some more fiddling around - which I'll be glad to step you through if it comes to that, but lets hope it doesn't come to that) HERE - but beware, its a huge download, some fairly geeky Windows tricking likely will be required to get it to install, and it will still need considerable updating once installed. Both it and Service Pack 2 may be ordered from Microsoft at no charge (though a small shipping fee may be applied) if you'd rather not download them.

Other than for Microsoft sites, such as Windows Update, which require Internet Explorer, you might find yourself well served by an alternate browser, such as FireFox.

Hope that helped some - lemme know if you need more, and I'll see if there's anything else I can offer. just come back to this thread and click "Reply".

Good luck.

HI!! thanks for the long and detailed reply. I shall try and let u know the results. I got my Search Companion back through downloading a hotfix at microsoft, apparently the problem happens when you run search in conjunction with downloading something with IE and it corrupts the search registry files (hmmm, something like that)

But i am still having problems with my IE and it seems taht new problems have cropped up with IE after downloading the hotfix, search is fixed, but now i have a weird error msg: The instruction at 0x77f531f5 referenced memory at 0x00700071. The memory could not be read. Click ok to terminate program. (oops)

I am considering whether to download SP2, which everyone must have downloaded already.. but it caused my laptop to crash after downloading it 1-2 years ago and i'm not quite sure i want to install it and watch it possible crash aagain...

sigh. Shall download the Iomega drivers first. thanks so much! ganbatte.. .

A fairly wide-ranging A2K thread concerning XP SP2 issues may be found HERE. If you'd like, I can point you to some other good articles with tips for Service Pack installs in general and SP2 installs in specific, but I doubt you'll really need the extra info.

In your case I think it probably would be the best bet to order the SP2 CD. While you're waiting for it, at the very least update your antivirus and perform a full system scan. It probably would be a very good idea to take a look at This Topic, not so much to follow the proceedure there, but to get, and properly configure, a couple of free anti-yuckware apps and use them to thoroughly disinfect your system. When the SP2 CD arrives, Perform a Clean Boot, run the Service Pack install CD (you may be prompted for your original Windows Install CD), and I'll betchya everything will go smoothly.

Hi timberlandko, I haven;t had internet access for the past one week, so haven't been able to post here. Hope you are still here.. .
I installed SP2, so far so good.
But i still get the app services error. I uninstalled the iomega external drive - successful, but then when i try to delete the Iomega folder, the computer doesn't let me delete it. The error msg is that appservices (again!) cannot be deleted, it might be full or write protected etc.
Sighz. i checked the "add/remove program" list, but there are no Iomega stuff there. So I don't know what to do now. . btw i dun have the original disc anymore, its lost somewhere. .

Yeah - I'm around here a lot. You ought to be able to delete the folder either from safe mode or from a clean boot; the Appservices.exe process shouldn't be running. Another thing you could try, from normal boot, would be stopping the process with TaskManager - Ctrl+Alt+Del - select the "Processes" tab, locate Appservices.exe, click on it to highlight it, click the "End Process" bar, and confirm you wish to end the process. Then, immediately see if you can delete the folder.

Oh, and as for your original Win XP install disk, just about any time you're asked to "Insert Your Windows XP CD", any Win XP CD will work - doesn't hafta be your original, doesn't even hafta be yours - just hasta be a Win XP install disk (its the same with all versions of Windows - you just need any install disk matching the installed operating system). A vendor's resore disk generally won't work without a buncha real nit-picky fussing around, but any Win XP disk oughtta satisfy the "Please Insert" prompt.