after I search for a file, w explorer won't close. If it is forced to close xp locks up and everything on screen disppears. then computer won't shut down

Short answer, repair XP. When you are connected to the net, every time you do a search of your own hard disks with WE, it phones home to sa.windows.com and picks up a couple of xsl pages. After the search is complete, it does this again. It works in the same fashion that adware's 'search helpers' do, but doesn't download ads. (Only IE (not WE) actually records the full details of your search). This behaviour is annoying, but is as yet unexploited by the hacking fraternity (hold your breath, it won't take long). A some point the download of these XSL pages has been interrupted, and when WE tries to use the copy on your machine, it falls over. One reason for the the interuption could be an entry in your hosts file that stops sa.windows.com being contacted. While this would stop any other browser from downloading the pages, it makes WE corrupt. When this happened to me I took an hour and repaired my XP, and its as good as new (you don't have to reinstall all your programs). If you don't know how to repair XP look here (read all first) http://computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/22715.html If you want to check you hosts file for other bad links read this thread http://computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/78790.html If you think covertly phoning home to sa.windows.com is a low-down dirty trick, either get used to it, or learn how to use Linux, because this behaviour is the template for the 'M$ Trusted Computing' (sic) future.