but, alas, not the definitive solution.
I do have a 'files or folders' under start find. And more: 'computer' (because of network card for cable internet, I think), 'on the internet' (which opens ie with msn search), 'work with microsoft outlook' (which lets me search for any outlook related items and ms office files in my documents), persons (whcih lets me search my own address book or some internet directories), 'file finder' (which comes with powerdesk) and 'search for audio and video' (which comes with real audio, and doesn't seem to work because it's an old version). And I never never use any of them here (and hardly any of them in explorer).
And they all have their own icons, as it should be. Not ms office related icons, as with you.
It must be something wrong in the registry, I think. But the registry is very big, and very undocumented.
I found something which you might like to try, if you feel confident to use regedit. In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FindExtensions\Static
I find most of the items mentioned above (but not the defaults ('files of folders', which might be hidden under a 'class'), only the extensions. Opening any of them gives a key named 'Defaulticon'. The default icon of 'outlook find' is C:\PROGRAM FILES\OFFIC97\OFFICE\olkfstub.dll,0 (which means icon 0 in the olkfstub.dll).
So all you've got to do is (a) find the location in the registry where the icons are referenced, (b) find a correctly working windows 98 system to see what they should be, and (c) edit them to those values in your system.
Suggestions for a search: string 'DefaultIcon', name of file you suspect icon to be in (like excel.exe or olkfstub.dll), or text of search item (like 'files or folders').
This being only cosmetic and given the risk of editing things you don't know, I would advice to leave it as it is. If you want to try, be sure you know how scanreg /restore works.
Kees