A basic Drupal theme has "regions" where you can put things...
header
left side right side content
footer
Blocks are the "extra parts" that can appear in addition to your "node" (stuff in the Content only)
While it is easy to get advanced functionality with a few clicks, it can be a chore to remember the order and location of those clicks.
ENABLE SITE SEARCH
Administer -> Site Building -> Modules -> List Click the checkbox next to SEARCH to enable it.
Hit the SAVE button (way down at the bottom).
Now you have to give Anonymous users (or just Authenticated Users, or maybe your custom category of LOLcatz?) permission to actually see/use the Search. Administer -> User Management -> Permissions Click the check boxes next to Search Module for the Anonymous and Authenticated User columns (note you can also give access to Advanced Search... cool.)
Hit the SAVE button (way down at the bottom).
NOTE that the "administrator/root" user isn't a column (and therefore you can't remove your own permission to administer the site... not that anyone'd ever be so silly...)
For Garland, specifically, when you add the Search it will make a "double" so you have to disable the one that's built into the theme... Administer -> Site Building -> Themes -> Configure -> Global Settings
Whew! Almost there...
Administer -> Site Building -> Blocks -> List
From here you can either drag and drop (or use the "dropdown" next to the Block name) to get the Search into the region of the page you want.
Hit the SAVE button (way down at the bottom) before doing anything else. (Very frequently I forget to press save and all of my changes don't get saved... must be a bug.)
THEN click on "Configure" next to the Search Block to specify some details. (e.g. Search only appears on the page, or the title above the Search Block will be FIND, or only show the Search Block to certain user roles...)
OK, hit your SAVE button one last time... not only can you, super root administrator see Search but hopefully Anonymous users can now find your secret buried treasure...
Are you ready for URL's and page titles?