Consider the following scenario. You perform an unattended installation of Microsoft Windows 7, and as part of the installation you customize the default search provider. Once the installation is complete, you attempt to launch Microsoft Internet Explorer, and an error similar to the following occurs:
Internet Explorer - Search Provider Default
A program on your computer has corrupted your default search provider setting for Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer has reset this setting to your original search provider, BING (www.bing.com). Internet Explorer will now open Search Settings, where you can change this setting or install more search providers.
This problem occurs when running the 64-bit version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. It may also occur in the 32-bit version of Microsoft Internet Explorer once the 64-bit version has reported the error.