Vista OS cannot search from address bar IE8

I see some related posts and one similar to the problem I am experiencing, but I see no solutions that are relevant to my situation. Somehow I had the optimized IE8 containing Bing which hijacked my preferred search engine. I Uninstalled IE8 and it reverted back to IE7 which worked perfectly fine. I was able to search from the address bar without a problem and it would default to my preferred search engine. I noticed the Automatic Update service wanted to download IE8, so I figured what would it hurt, as long as it was not the Optimized IE8 without BING. After I upgraded to IE8, I cannot do a search from the address bar. If I put in any search string, the second I hit Enter, I see % signs between words, or if one word, it will look like "http://word?20/%" and then I get Oops! The Page Can Not Displayed error. Now what is up with that? I tried running Spybot, Adaware. I have tried everything under the sun and cannot get it to work, :banghead but I have no problem with IE7. I like IE8 and really don't want to go backwards.

Is there a fix to this, or am I going to have to format my hard drive and do a clean install (which I dread), but it's all because of Microsoft Bing (parasite) that I started having this problem.

And please don't tell me to switch to Firefox. That is not the solution to the problem, and I did try Firefox but it doesn't suit my style.

 

In the IE8 Internet Options, under the Advanced tab, double check to make sure that " just display the results in the main window " is checked, see if that helps, also you can try, if you have any addons, disabling all of them then re-enabling them one by one, that way you'll find out if it is one of your addons that is the problem !

Rusty !

 

Thank you so much, Sergeant Major Rustyjack. I never thought it could be so simple. I can perform a search now from my address bar; however, it defaults to Bing (which is how I got into this whole mess in the first place). Are there any tweaks for the search to default to Google from the address bar or must I suck it up with Bing? :cry

 

In IE8, go to tools, manage add-ons, see at the bottom where it says find more search providers. This will take you to a list where you can select what you want and set it as your default, just watch for the fine print.

 

Yes. There are 2 things you can do to enable the two different kinds of "Home Page," (your actual "home page" and your search bar default page).

1. Search Bar Default Page - In IE, click Tools, Internet Options, and on the General page select Search. Click on Settings, select Search Providers, and follow the on-screen directions.

2. Home Page - In IE enable your Command toolbar, and be sure to have the "Home" link displayed. The Home link is not only the instant link to your default Home Page, but you can add additional sites to Home, making it an instant shortcut to any site on the web. To customize it, all you have to do is to click the arrow to the right of Home, and click "Add or Change Home Page." Then, just follow the on-screen directions. "Change Home Page" will do just that, change your default home page; and "Add Home Page" will add all of the additional sites you wish to be able to instantly access. So to go to any of them, all you have to do is open the drop-down menu and click the site.

PS Your Home Page and your Search Bar's Default Search Engine Home Page don't have to be the same.

 

Basically what the other two members have said, In IE8, go to tools etc etc ! just remember these settings for future use !

 

I just wanted to tell everyone here who helped a big thank you. I had some success in getting things back to normal, but I could not get rid of my searches defaulting to Bing. I don't want to sound like I'm criticizing a search engine. Maybe Bing is a good search engine. It's just that I never asked for it and somehow (and I think I know how now), I downloaded it. What I resent is that it hooked into my computer worse than any virus I had ever seen and there was nothing I could do to get rid of it. Shame on you, Microsoft!

Anyway, I ended up building a new system yesterday with new mobo, new processor, new hard drives, clean installs and my problem is now gone. Just wanted to say thank you for your time in helping me troubleshoot this mess I had gotten myself into.

 

Thankyou very much, it's nice to actually hear someone say thanks now and again !