I recently came across a computer that for no good reason would seem to allow me to change or add a search provider.  When I would attempt to add a provider to the search bar (since google is tons better than the default; windows live) it would cause a fatal exception and close Internet Explorer.  After a ton of  searching, I could not find this anywhere on the internets so i think it is worth posting here. Â
I found the registry location of the search provider, and exported it from my computer.  Then i exported it into the mean computer and voila the new search provider was installed.  The below registry key can be added to the registry of a computer to add Google Search as a search provider and set it as defult.  If you want a different search provider just set it up on your computer and export the below key, note that you can also export more than one search provider with this method.  I have added these keys to the script of registry tweeks I run when installing a new OS.  hope this helps!
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerSearchScopes]
“DefaultScope”=”{10C02F5B-9658-4FF2-944B-2C40A61E2F89}”
“Version”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerSearchScopes{10C02F5B-9658-4FF2-944B-2C40A61E2F89}]
“DisplayName”=”Google”
“URL”=”http://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}&rls=com.microsoft:{language}&ie={inputEncoding}&oe={outputEncoding}&startIndex={startIndex?}&startPage={startPage}”
To do this silently through Kaseya you can save the above as search.reg and upload it to your kserver. Make sure you change the red to match the path of your reg file.
Script Description: Add Google as search provider in IE 7 and Make it DefaultÂ
IF True
THEN
Write File
Parameter 1 : c:tempsearch.reg
Parameter 2 : adminRegsearch.reg
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : regedit /s c:tempsearch.reg
Parameter 2 : 0
OS Type : 0
ELSE