General

If you have problems with getting proper search results make sure you are using good keywords to search for the file you are trying to find (more details), that you don't have unintentionally any filter option set and that your eMule is connected to an ED2K server with enough users on it or to the Kad network. If one search method doesn't works, try the other ones (for example 'Kad' instead 'Local'). Also note that all searches have a limit, for example 300 results for the 'Local' and 'Kad' search.

Spam results from servers

If you receive a large number of spam results on a server search ('Local' or Global'), make sure you have a trustworthy serverlist (check here for addresses and here for a guide how to add a serverlist). Otherwise bad servers might send you fake results in order to advertise some of their own files. You can also use the "Mark as Spam" option in the search dialog to avoid those files, however this won't help if you don't have enough valid servers in your list which could deliver proper results (or if you are connected to a bad one and using the local search).

Very few search results on Kad

If you are using the Kad network to search (or the 'Automatic' search while beeing connected to Kad) and receive less results than you would expect, check the following points:

• If you use a router, firewall or anti-virus software look for a setting which blocks fragmented UDP packets and disable it. The Kad search is using fragmented packets (which means that one UDP packet is split in several parts and put back together later) and if they are filtered out eMule won't get the results. Also make sure that there are no "flood protection" settings enabled which block incoming UDP packets.
  
• Another problem could be that your router or line is overloaded, either because you have set your upload limit too high or because your router is not capable of handling a larger number of UDP packets. In this case packets could get lost.