search.htm - Search from IE's right-click menu
License
This document, (search.htm), is Free, (in both the "beer" and "speech" sense).
The original can be found here: http://www.jfitz.com.
You may use, distribute, or modify this document, any way you see fit, commercially or otherwise,
provided this License, and the following Copyright statement are reproduced unaltered at the top
of the redistributed or modified file.
This document is supplied WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY WHATSOEVER. Use it at your own risk.
Copyright (c) John Fitzgibbon 2002. All rights reserved.
Purpose
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When invoked from a context menu in Internet Explorer, this document opens a new window to perform a Google search for a
highlighted text selection, or for a URL.
When opened without a browser context, these instructions on how to edit the registry to add a context menu item are displayed.
By default, the JavaScript code in this document uses Google to perform the search. This can be modified to use any of the more
popular search engines. To do this, edit this file and modify the search strings at the beginning of the JavaScript code.
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Installation
Automated Installation
You can use this automated setup program:
http://www.jfitz.com/tips/search10_install.exe
to install this script, or you can install it manually by following the instructions below.
Manual Installation
- Save this document as "search.htm" in a folder of your choice.
- Select Windows "Start", then "Run" and enter "regedit".
(RegEdit allows you to edit your registry.)
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NOTE: Be VERY careful when using RegEdit!! Editing the wrong values
can cause problems running Windows or other programs!!
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- Navigate to the "Internet Explorer" key as follows:
(Note: "keys" are the labels in RegEdit's tree list)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- Software
- Microsoft
- Internet Explorer
- You should see a key inside "Internet Explorer" called "MenuExt".
- If not, add a new key as follows:
- Right-click the "Internet Explorer" key.
- Select "New", then "Key" from the menu options.
- Give the key the name "MenuExt".
- Expand "MenuExt", (double-click it).
- Add a new key with the name "&Search".
(This string will be displayed in the browser's right-click menu.)
- After adding the key, double-click the "Default" value on the right
hand side of the RegEdit screen.
- Change the Default value to the full path to the saved search.htm file.
(e.g., "c:\docs\search.htm" if you saved search.htm in c:\docs)
- Next, right-click the "&Search" key, select "New", then "DWORD Value"
- Give the new "DWORD Value" the name "contexts".
- Double-click the new "contexts" value on the right hand side,
and change its value to "7e", (Hexidecimal).
- Exit RegEdit and close all instances of Internet Explorer.
- When you next open Internet Explorer, right-click menus should have
a "Search" option. This option will open a new window and search
for the currently highlighted text or hyperlink in Google.