You have successfully installed blinkx !

What happens now?

  1. You will see this:

  2. The Initializing Index message means that blinkx is getting ready to catalog the files in the folder that you made available for local searching, so that it can show them to you as search results.

    None of these documents ever leave your machine!

    This message is displayed until blinkx is ready to start cataloging your files.

  3. Next you will see this:


    The message changes to display the title of documents. blinkx has started cataloging your documents, and displays the name of the file that it is currently indexing.

  4. Next you will see this:


    The message changes again to display the number of documents that have been indexed so far. Once blinkx has finished indexing, it will only index again if you add a file to the folder it is indexing from, or edit a file in this folder.

Note:

You can adjust blinkx's indexing speed by moving the slider bar on the search box. blinkx has three indexing modes:

  1. Stopped
    If you move the slider bar to the left, blinkx stops indexing your documents. This means that no new documents are added to your index, and the performance of your machine is unaffected.


  2. Active/Inactive
    If you move the slider bar to the middle, blinkx indexes your documents only when your machine is not being used. Use this as your default mode, once blinkx has completed the initial indexing process and only needs to index new files.


  3. Fast
    If you move the slider bar to the right, blinkx indexes your documents continuously. Use this mode when you have a large number of files to index. This may affect the performance of your computer, so you should use this mode if you are not using your computer for a period (for example, overnight).

The blinkx toolbar

When blinkx is running a small toolbar is displayed in the top right hand corner of your active window.

You can highlight a section of text in your active window to search for results that are relevant to this bit of text.

Whenever you switch to a new window on your screen, the blinkx toolbar turns dark blue to indicate that it is searching for web logs, video clips, web pages, products, news articles as well as email, jpegs and documents on your machine that are related to the content of your active window.

When results are found, the icons on the toolbar become colored.

Note: the blinkx toolbar only searches for related web pages if you move your mouse towards it.

Click on: To display:
the blinkx search box
related documents on your hard drive, for example:
 
a Word file
a PDF file
a PowerPoint file
a Excel file
a JPEG image
an email contact
an MP3 audio file
an email
an email attachment (indicated by a paperclip)
related news articles
related web pages
related products
related video clips
related web logs

The blinkx search box

You can display the blinkx search box by clicking on the blinkx icon in your system tray or by clicking on the blinkx icon on the blinkx toolbar. If you want the search box to be always on top of your open windows, right-click on its title bar and select the Always On Top option.

Enter your search in the search box. blinkx searches your desktop and returns relevant results on your machine: email, email attachments (indicated by a paperclip), JPEG images, email contacts, MP3, PDF files, PowerPoint files, Excel files, Word files and files you've recently looked at.

You can view a result's summary by hovering over the result's link. To view a result, click on its link.

In addition to desktop results, you can also search for relevant news articles, websites, video clips, blogs or a visual representation of your query by clicking on the Search Web buttons:

displays relevant news articles
displays relevant websites
displays relevant video clips
displays relevant products
displays relevant blogs
opens blinkx visualizer to visually represent your search

Note: if your computer is protected by a firewall, your firewall may display messages that blinkx is trying to act as a server or trying to access the Internet. You should set your firewall to allow blinkx to act as a server and to access the Internet, so it can index the local documents you want to be able to search and search for web results.

Click here for more details on firewalls.

Advanced User Guide

Sorting results

You can sort local results by clicking on the available headers (these are Type, Title, To/from, Date and Subject).


Searching within results

You can search local results by title, sender, recipient, date and subject. Enter your search text in the appropriate text box above the local results' Title, To/from, Date or Subject headers.

Note that you can switch between a sender and recipient search by clicking on the down arrow above the To/from header, and between different types of date search by clicking on the down arrow above the Date header.


Filtering local results

Click on: To display:
all local document results
only PDF documents
only PowerPoint documents
only Excel documents
only Word documents
only email and email attachments
only JPEG images
only email contacts
only MP3 audio files
only recently viewed files

Note: results that are displayed with a paperclip are email attachments.


Using Boolean search

You can use the Boolean operators AND, NOT and OR to restrict the results that blinkx returns.For example:

cat AND dog only returns documents that contain cat and dog
cat NOT dog only returns documents that contain cat but not dog
cat OR dog only returns documents that contain either cat or dog(or both)

If you want to use phrases, you need to use brackets.For example:

city AND (New York) only returns documents that contain city and New York
city NOT (New York) only returns documents that contain city but not New York
city OR (New York) only returns documents that contain either city or New York (or both)

Changing blinkx settings

Selecting which local files blinkx should read

blinkx only reads local files (email, email attachments, JPEG images, email contacts, MP3s and documents on your machine) if you told it to do so during its installation (it cannot produce local result without reading local files).

If you selected not to let blinkx read local files and have changed your mind, or if you want it to read different files from the ones you selected during the installation, you can do the following:

  1. Display the blinkx search box.
  2. Click on the Settings button to display the blinkx Settings dialog. The dialog's Local folder's to index field displays the folders from which blinkx is currently reading files.
  3. If you want to add a folder for blinkx to read, click on the Add button, navigate to the folder, select it and click on OK. You can repeat this for every folder you want blinkx to read.

    Note:
    • the maximum number of files that blinkx reads is 100,000.
    • you can reduce the time it takes blinkx to read your local files by moving the slider bar on the search box.



      If you move the slider bar to:blinkx:
      the leftstops indexing documents
      the middleonly indexes documents when you are not using your computer
      the rightindexes documents at maximum speed. This may have an impact on your computer's performance, so it is recommended that you set blinkx to fast indexing if you are not using your computer for a period (for example overnight).
  4. If you want to remove a folder from the list of folders that blinkx reads, select the folder and click on Remove.

Selecting which web search blinkx uses

By default blinkx passes web searches to the search provider you selected when you installed blinkx. You can switch to a different provider by doing the following:

  1. Display the blinkx search box.
  2. Click on the Settings button to display the blinkx Settings dialog. The web search provider you are currently using is displayed next to Typed web search is currently.
  3. Click on the Change button to display a list of the available web search providers.
  4. Select the provider you want to use.
  5. Click on OK.

Selecting which result types the blinkx toolbar displays

By default the blinkx toolbar displays web logs, video clips, web pages, products, news articles and local files that are relevant to the content of your active window. You can restrict the results the toolbar displays by doing the following:

  1. Display the blinkx search box.
  2. Click on the Settings button to display the blinkx Settings dialog. The dialog's Channel picker field lists all result types that the toolbar can display.
  3. Check the boxes next to the result types that you want the blinkx toolbar to display, and remove the checks for result types that you don't want the toolbar to display.
  4. Click on OK.

Disabling the blinkx toolbar

If you want to only run the blinkx search box and disable the blinkx toolbar, you can do the following:

  1. Right-click on the blinkx icon in your system tray. The context dialog is displayed.
  2. Click on the Disable option to disable the blinkx toolbar. This stops the toolbar from being displayed in the title bar of your active window.

    You can enable the toolbar again by right-clicking on the blinkx icon in your system tray, and clicking on the Enable option.

Using blinkx with a personal software firewall

If your computer is protected by a firewall, your firewall may display messages that blinkx is trying to act as a server or trying to access the Internet.

You should set your firewall to allow blinkx to act as a server and to access the Internet, so it can index the local documents you want to be able to search and search for web results.

For example:

ZoneAlarm Pro

blinkxinstaller.exe is trying to access the Internet

Check the Remember this setting box and click on Allow

This executable needs to access the Internet, so that you can register blinkx.


blinkx is trying to access "http://www.blinkx.com/help"

Check the Remember this setting box and click on Allow

blinkx needs to access this website in order to display online help.


The blinkx application is trying to access the Internet

Check the Remember this setting box and click on Allow

The blinkx application needs to access the Internet to search for web results.


iblinkx.exe is trying to act as a server

Check the Remember this setting box and click on Allow

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.


blinkx.exe is trying to access the Internet

Check the Remember this setting box and click on Allow

This executable needs to access the Internet, so it can search for web results.


blinkxstop.exe is trying to access the Internet

If you are uninstalling blinkx, this executable needs to access the Internet, so it can un-register blinkx.

Norton Internet Security

blinkx.exe is attempting to connect to a DNS server

From the What do you want to do drop-down list, select Always allow connections from this program on all ports .

This ensures that blinkx can access the Internet to search the web.


blinkxinstaller.exe is attempting connect to a DNS server

From the What do you want to do drop-down list, select Always allow connections from this program on all ports .

This executable needs to access the Internet, so that you can register blinkx.


iblinkx.exe is attempting to listen for connections from other computers

From the What do you want to do drop-down list, select Always allow connections from this program on all ports .

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.


ablinkx.exe is attempting to listen for connections from this computers

From the What do you want to do drop-down list, select Always allow connections from this program on all ports .

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.


oblinkx.exe is attempting to listen for connections from this computers

From the What do you want to do drop-down list, select Always allow connections from this program on all ports .

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.


pblinkx.exe is attempting to listen for connections from this computers

From the What do you want to do drop-down list, select Always allow connections from this program on all ports .

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.

McAfee Personal Firewall Plus

The program blinkx Application is requesting access to the Internet

Select the Grant Access option.

This ensures that blinkx can access the Internet to search the web.


The program blinkxinstaller.exe is requesting access to the Internet

Select the Grant Access option.

This executable needs to access the Internet, so that you can register blinkx.


The program iblinkx.exe is requesting access to the Internet

Select the Grant Access option.

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.


The program ablinkx.exe is requesting access to the Internet

Select the Grant Access option.

This executable needs to act as a local server, so that blinkx can index the local documents you want to be able to search.


Note: depending on which firewall you are using, you may also get messages that ablinkx.exe, oblinkx.exe, eblinkx.exe or pblinkx.exe are trying to access the Internet. In order to enable blinkx' file and email indexing service, you should set your firewall to allow these executables to access the Internet.

Troubleshooting

A virus warning has popped up, what should I do?

Don't panic! If blinkx looks at one of your emails or documents and it contains a virus, your anti-virus software automatically displays a warning. Simply follow the instructions of your anti-virus software to quarantine and eliminate the virus, and carry on using blinkx as usual.


A firewall message is asking me if I should allow blinkx or "iblinkx.exe" to access a certain site. Should I?

Yes, blinkx (in particular the application "iblinkx.exe") needs to access sites on the Internet in order to supply you with news and web site results. Set up a rule that allows blinkx to always access the Internet, if you don't want to have to okay firewall messages every time blinkx needs to access a website.

Note: if your machine is protected by a corporate firewall and you can access the Internet already, you should be able to use blinkx without any problems. If you can access the Internet but can't use blinkx, please contact feedback@blinkx.com.


I selected to index my local documents and email, so why do I get "Sorry no results found"?

When you first run blinkx, it needs some time to read the files and emails that you have pointed it at. Until it has finished reading them, it may miss results and there may also be a small effect on machine performance. However, once blinkx has caught up on its reading, your searches will produce local results.

Also, if you are using Outlook, blinkx can only return email and email attachments to you, if your Outlook is running.