I'm running XP SP2. Recently, the search function stopped working. When I
enter a string and click "Search Now", search displays a screen saying where
it's looking, but has actually frozen. Shutting it down displays a message
that the application has stopped responding. I tried reinstalling via the
srchasst.inf file in the Windows\INF directory, but even though the
reinstallation appeared to work, the search function still didn't.

Previously, I was able to get search back by reinstalling SP2, but it has
subsequently stopped working again (and reinstalling SP2 takes forever). I'm
wondering whether my antispyware (I have Norton and up till recenly also used
Spybot Search & Destroy) are deleting some piece of the search function under
the assumption it's spyware.

Any suggestions? TIA