Help and Support Finding No Results

[McInRantz]

Hey all. New here. First posting.



I'm running Windows 7 Professional SP1 on a HP 6735B laptop. 2 Gb Ram. It mostly functions OK. This is a laptop that had Vista originally and was upgraded to Windows 7. I bought it from a nearby college who was selling off all of their old computers because they had upgraded to newer units. Got it for $10 so can't complain too much. I've had it for a few years now.



Anyway, I have a few issues but this post is only concerning that the Help and Support function doesn't seem to be working anymore. It worked just fine the last time I used it, not sure how long ago. Help and Support opens just fine when I click on the link to do so. However, when I type ANY query into the search function, it returns 0 results for anything I search for. I looked in the Services.msc to see if something was disabled and I can find any entry for "Help" or "Support" or "Help and Support". I looked into *possibly* trying to uninstall/reinstall SP1, but in Windows Update there is no listing for SP1. Really didn't want to go that far, anyway.



I don't think this computer is a good candidate for upgrade to Windows 10 because of HDD size, processor speed, and installed RAM that can only be upgraded to 4 GB. I'd like to just fix the few issues I have with this computer and use it until I can't anymore, if possible. Anyway, I thought that the free upgrade to Windows 10 ended back in July of 2016? Anyway, I like Windows 7. Does what I need it to do.



Thanks for any input on my issues.


Edit: After utilizing the Search functions of this site, I found an old thread that talked about unchecking the use "online" help function under the options>settings function in Help and Support. When I unchecked the use online help and ran a search apparently I could get results that are already stored on my computer, But, when I recheck the use online help and run the same search I get 0 results. So, it appears that Help and Support just doesn't connect to online help is my real problem. why is that?

 

[file3456]

It's because it's fetching a server that probably doesn't allow a query anymore due to 7 being EOL (End Of Life). It must be so tied to the Window search facility that if that fails, so too will searches withen Windows.

I have to tell you though, I've been using a program called Everything and it'll find stuff in lightning speed. Plus, you can go into services and disable indexing and save on the hard drive. Especially if it's an SSD.

In Everything you can turn off letting it run in your task bar and on boot up. Everything will even search for hidden files without having to show hidden files. You can also right click a file and navigate to its path. Also, by listing all files based on changed time you see what files were modified at a certain time. There are many other options as well. I personally have it highlight each entry with my mouse so I can see each entry more easily. Downloads - voidtools You can download the installer or x64 installer depending on your OS type. Portable makes no installation.

 

[Megahertz07]

Welcome to the Forum

You said that the laptop came with Win Vista and was upgraded to win 7.
What kind of win 7 license is on it (HB, HP, Pro or ultimate)? Or does it has a educational license? If you don't have the license you should make a backup of the current installed.

Win 7 or 8.x downgrade to Win 10 is still available for free.

 

[flavallee]

McInRantz:

I agree with you that your HP Compaq 6735b Notebook PC is not a good candidate for Windows 10.
It has a very weak processor and very weak graphics and only 2 GB of DDR2 RAM.
It would likely bog down or run like a turtle with Windows 10.

From what I can determine, that model notebook originally came with one of these 32-bit operating systems:
Windows XP Professional
Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Ultimate

Its Certificate-Of-Authenticity sticker will confirm which 32-bit operating system it originally came with.