Elizabeth Boston wrote:

> Thank you Jim,
>         When I installed IE4, I was frustrated that I couldn't set my own
> search page, I ended up setting the home page to www.search.com,
> but would not remember that I had to click the "Home" button
> instead of the "search" button. After I looked up the registry
> keys for you, I changed the first one to www.search.com, and now I
> can click on the "Search" button, and go to MY favorite search
> page instead of Microsoft's. *grin*
>

Elizabeth (et al),

Yes, you are correct,  the first key was for the SEARCH button on the IE
toolbar.
But the second KEY that I wanted is even BETTER!

The second key is for a little known feature that both IE and Netscape both
have
added.  **IF** the SEARCH URL key is set up correctly AND has the correct
parameter(s) tacked on to the end of the URL, then......

When you want to search the interenet you do not have to load a search engine
page before beginning the search.  Just type your keywords into the
MSIE/Netscape web browser's URL text box (at the top of the browser screen).

First the web browser will try to  resolve what you typed as a bona fide web
address.
Failing that, the web browser will then load the search engine specified by
the
SEARCH URL key ===AND=== pass your search keywords/phrase directly into
the search engine, initiate the search,  and display the results of that
search -- all in one
quick easy step.

So Elizabeth, I suggest you contact your favorite search engine's support
staff and find
out if it supports parameter passing, so that you can further customize and
streamline the
search process. [grin]

--
Jim Meagher
=====
Micro Solutions Consulting        Member of The HTML Writers Guild
http://www.ezy.net/~microsol     International Webmasters Association
410-543-8996                MS Site Builder Network - Level 2 member
=====

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