Start Menu search and search companion not working.

I have 2 problems that seem to have happened at the same point in time.

The first and biggest pain is that the search option on the start menu
doesn't work any more. It starts in search for files and folders only
and that doesn't search very well. I have no way to get to config
options for this function. It Does work under Administrator log in
(which I have never used). So I assume this is a registry problem ......


Here is what I have tried so far (in order):

: sfc/purgecache
: sfc/scannow
: I went to regedit (logged in as admin) and exported all of the user
stuff under \\user\software\microsoft\search assistant to a file then
logged out and in as myself and then imported the reg key.
: I exported the \\User keys for search assistant from another machine
with a brand new install of XP-sp1 then imported them into my registry.
No change
: I copied all the files in c:\windows\srchasst over from a back up.
: Then I bit the bullet and did a repair install. (after 2 days of
getting
back up and running) it is still the same.
: Using msconfig, I reinstalled 2 drivers named srchasst.whatever and
that
changed nothing.
: I have right clicked on srchasst.ini and said install.
: I have tried the search repair patch, but that only works pre-sp1. My
oem cd includes sp1, so it won't run.

The other thing that happened is when I right click the task bar all
options are greyed out. This happened at or near the same point in time.

I can not afford a clean install.

Any help would be appreciated.