Windows Search 4.0

Why does Microsoft like to sneak products into patches?

A recent example of this would be the inclusion of Windows Search 4.0 which was installed if you approved an update patch. The patch was just supposed to update it if it was installed. Not install the full version for everybody.

Personally, I'm a fan of Windows Search. However it seems to *really* slow down machines if they're more than a year old. It landed on a couple of our managed networks and the users really started to complain. At first I thought the complaints would die down once the indexing process completed. However it's been a week and a half and the complaints keep coming.

This is another one of those times that I absolutely LOVE using Kaseya. With just a few clicks, I created a script that tests for the existence of the uninstall file (which is only there if the product is installed), and then runs it in silent mode. I tested it on a machine that I was logged into remotely to make sure the user didn't see anything. Everything worked like a charm.

The command in case anybody needs it is:

C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /quiet /norestart

Or for you Kaseya Script people:

Script Name: Remove Windows Search 4.0
Script Description:

IF Test File
Parameter 1 : C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
Exists :
THEN
Execute File
Parameter 1 : C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
Parameter 2 : /quiet /norestart
Parameter 3 : 3
OS Type : 0
ELSE

This just ran in the background. I watched as the search taskbar disappeared followed by the tray icon. I then checked the Add/Remove programs list to make sure that it was indeed gone.