Win XP Search Problem

I recently cleaned a rather nasty virus/hijacker off my Windows XP system. Now when I try to use the Search function, the little doggie isn’t saying anything.

You know, in the left hand pane the animated search assistant has a voice balloon asking what I want to find. Or at least it did. Now the balloon is blank.

Anybody know what could have happened? And how to fix it?

Thank you.