Office SharePoint Server Search crashing

I've had Office SharePoint Server Search service crash several times in the past couple of years. Normal service restart made it hang and crash completely. Service status got stuck in Stopping and there was no way to restart it.
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A quick server reboot would bring things back to normal but apparently there is a quicker way to solve this problem:

You can kill the service using this command:

taskkill /F /IM mssearch.exe /T

 or you can open the task manager in the MOSS box and end 'mssearch.exe' process.

After you kill the service using any of the two methods above, make sure you start the service and in few minutes MOSS search will be fully functional.