You can set preferences in IE for several things that affect searches. It's possible that LookPortal, or some site that uses it has "slammed" LookPortal into your list of search engines.

If you click on the "Search" button in the toolbar at the top of your IE screen, you'll get one of a few different screens, depending on what preferences you already have set. Somewhere there, you'll find a "customize" or "change preferences" button that will let you look at how you're set up.

When you search using normal IE utilities, or by opening a search engine you've chosen, the engine you choose should be used. It's possible though, that if you're connected to a site that's signed up for one of these p.o.s. engines when you initiate the search, the site's search engine could be invoked instead of the one you chose. [debate about whether this means the site operators are assholes or just incompetents may follow].

If the window is not maximized but is just "too big" to display the "X" button, you may be able to drag a border to resize it and bring the button back in view. You cannot, however, drag to resize a maximized window.

You can right click on the button in the task bar (at the bottom of the screen, if you haven't moved it) and select "Close," to close any Window. This may be a little quicker than the "three fingered salute" (Ctl-Alt-Del) route, since Windows has to look at all of the running processes to decide which ones to show in Task Manager, before it can offer you the "end task" option. It also lets you close a single window, if you have more than one open, whereas Task Manager usually closes the whole application (i.e. all the windows associated with IE).

John