How to Search the Internet from the Address Bar in Internet Explorer

ID: Q221754

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 5 for Windows 95
Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 5 for Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 for Windows 98

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

This article describes how to search the Internet using the Address bar in Internet Explorer or the Address toolbar on the desktop or taskbar.

You can type common names or words in the Internet Explorer Address bar and click Go or press ENTER to obtain a list of Web sites that closely matches your search criteria.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

When you type a Web site name without a domain type in the Address bar, an Internet client-side feature called AutoScan searches for the following Web sites: www.Website.com, www.Website.edu, www.Website.org, Website.com, Website.edu, and Website.org.

Internet Explorer 4

The AutoScan feature is always used before the AutoSearch feature for single-word queries. For multi-word queries, the AutoSearch feature is used.

To use the AutoSearch feature for single-word queries, type go, find, or ?, followed by the topic you want.

The AutoSearch feature uses a random search engine to perform your search in Internet Explorer 4. For additional information about how to customize your AutoSearch search engine, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q198279 How to Change the Default AutoSearch Search Page

The following options are available when the Web address you specify is not found:

Never search

Always ask

Always search

NOTE: The "AutoScan common root domains" option is set to "Always ask" by default.

Internet Explorer 5

The integration of the AutoSearch and AutoScan features in Internet Explorer 5 has one major goal. For single-word queries, AutoSearch occurs before AutoScan using the Microsoft Network (MSN) AutoSearch feature.

To customize or disable Address bar searches, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Internet Options.

Click the Advanced tab.

Under Search from the Address bar, click the search option you want, and then click OK.

The following AutoSearch and AutoScan options are available in Internet Explorer 5:

Display results, and go to the most likely site.

Do not search from the Address bar.

Just display the results in the main window.

Just go to the most likely site.

NOTE: The "Display results, and go to the most likely site" option is the default setting. The AutoScan and AutoSearch features are dependent on each other in Internet Explorer 5. You cannot disable AutoScan only (and just use AutoSearch) or disable AutoSearch only (and just use AutoScan) functionality from any search criteria. Therefore, the following search options are not supported in Internet Explorer 5:

AutoScan, no AutoSearch at all.

AutoSearch, no AutoScan at all.

NOTE: If you are a corporate user and your organization does not have Internet access, you may want to disable automatic searching.
NOTE: Internet Explorer 4.x and Internet Explorer 5 do not autosearch or autoscan for single-word queries typed into the Address bar on the desktop or taskbar. To use the autosearch feature from the Address bar on the desktop or taskbar, type "? " before your search term or terms.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : msiew95 msient win98 msiew98 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,4.01,4.01 Service Pack 1,5
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: July 17, 1999