So the title bar contains the name of the buffer where the cursor is active (if you have 2 or more per frame). Ditto for the icon. I selected Edit->Find... from the menu (I was lazy that day:) which brought up the Search dialog. Simultaneously, *all* my frames' title bars acquired the title "Search". The icon names remained the name of the buffer. Changing buffers, opening other dialogs, even creating new frames - nothing changes this state. The "Search" title remains on all frames until I quit.