A User's Guide to the Microsoft Knowledge Base on CompuServe
February 10, 1992
Microsoft Product Support Services
This user's guide will help you understand how to use the Microsoft Knowledge Base (MSKB) on CompuServe and includes optimal searching techniques, tips on how to find articles quickly, an explanation of the various menu items in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (MSKB), and a description of the "Expert" search mode.
Note: the following instructions also apply to the Microsoft Developers Knowledge Base [MDKB].
Much of this information is also contained in the online help associated with the MSKB.
WELCOME TO THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE
The Knowledge Base is a database that will enhance your Microsoft products by providing you with access to information previously available only to Microsoft support engineers. The Knowledge Base contains helpful articles on all kinds of subjects regarding various Microsoft Products. Using the Microsoft Knowledge Base is like having a Microsoft support engineer available to you day and night and only a few keystrokes away. With access to the support files, you can quickly obtain answers to your software questions, which is a necessity when your productivity counts on it.
Finding the Answer
When you elect to search the Knowledge Base, you will find a generous array of options by which you can locate answers to your questions. Whether you are searching for general information on your product or just trying to find new developments that are on the way, you can use options that allow you to search by product name, version, or category. Once you specify a search term, the Knowledge Base will go to work for you, collecting all of the documents it can find related to the criteria you supplied.
By entering the product name, you can determine if there are further product developments or related articles on the product. If you want to check on current publications, supplying the publication date will locate documents published during the time frames you have specified.
The most notable feature of the Knowledge Base is its ability to quickly perform a search of the full text of all documents contained within the Knowledge Base. With this full-text search feature, you can find specific answers to your questions. If the subject of your question is mentioned in the over 25,000 documents on file within the Knowledge Base, this feature will locate these documents for your review. Nowhere else can you find such a feature that will give you the ability to receive immediate responses to your questions with such a minimal amount of work. Once you have tried the full-text search option, you will wonder how you were able to survive without it.
Software Library
Many Knowledge Base articles also refer to additional related files that are contained in the software library (GO MSL). The files are referenced by an S number (such as S12345). You can download these files by downloading the S number with a ZIP extension attached to it (S12345.ZIP, for example). A description of the Software Library can be found below in the section titled "The Microsoft Software Library."
Use the Knowledge Base on a regular basis and we are sure that you will find that you can use your Microsoft product more effectively and to a level that you thought was never before attainable.
HOW TO ACCESS THE MSKB ON COMPUSERVE
To begin using the Knowledge Base on CompuServe, type GO MSKB at any CompuServe"!" prompt. From there, you'll see the following menu:
Knowledge Base MSKB
Welcome to The Microsoft Knowledge Base
Copyright (c) 1990 Microsoft Corporation
1 What's New in the Knowledge Base
2 Description of Database
3 Online User's Guide
4 Search the Knowledge Base
The first three selections contain help screens that describe the Knowledge Base, as well as provide information on searching for articles in the Knowledge Base. Most of the information in these help screens is also contained in this users guide. To begin searching for articles, select option 4.
SEARCHING FOR ARTICLES
After selecting option 4 "Search the Knowledge Base" above, the following menu will be presented:
Knowledge Base
SELECT documents by searching for:
1 Words or phrases occurring anywhere in Documents
2 Words or phrases occurring anywhere in Document Titles only
3 Product Name
4 Product Version
5 Publication Date
6 Document Identification Number
7 Operating Environment of Product
8 Bugs, Fixes, and Documentation Errors
9 Press Releases
10 Expert Mode
Articles in the Knowledge Base can be searched for by selecting any of the menu items. The following is a description of each menu item, and how it can be used to find articles:
1. Words or Phrases Occurring Anywhere in Documents - This is the full-text search option that is the "most powerful" search available. You may enter an entire word or phrase that you want to locate. Once you have entered your searching criteria, the full text of each article is searched to locate all occurrences of your criteria. Choose this method when you need the broadest searching capability. Be aware that you may locate articles that do not directly relate to your interest. This search is not case sensitive, so don't worry about the case of your query.
2. Words or Phrases Occurring Anywhere In Document Titles Only - As is stated in this menu choice, the search is limited to document titles only. Your search criteria may contain as many or few letters or words as you desire. This search method allows you to limit the search to a particular field of interest without the need for input of specific search criteria.
3. Product Name - This choice leads to a menu of product categories. After you select a category, a menu of specific product names will appear.
4. Product Version - The prompt for version number is divided into two prompts: one for the major number and one for the minor number. The version 3.2 contains the major number 3 and the minor number 2. This allows for some flexibility of input. To receive all minor numbers of a specific major number, enter a carriage return (CR) at the minor number prompt. Note: Be explicit in specifying minor version numbers. For example, a minor version number of "0" is NOT the same as "00".
5. Publication Date - The menu choice for publication date allows a specific date to be entered, and provides the choice of receiving articles published BEFORE or AFTER the date entered.
6. Document Identification Number - This document number is unique for each article and is assigned by Microsoft. This number is sometimes referred to as the "Q" number of an article (Q75223, for example).
7. Operating Environment of Product - You may enter the operating system in which you are interested from a menu of valid operating systems.
8. Bugs, Fixes, and Documentation Errors - All articles relating to known bugs, fixes for known bugs, and documentation errors can be located with this selection.
9. Press Releases - A list of press releases is available by selecting this option. All Microsoft press releases are now posted to the Microsoft Knowledge Base instead of the "What's New at Microsoft" menu option in the Microsoft Connection area.
10. Expert Mode - This method of searching allows more experienced users to input their search criteria independent of the menu searches. Valid search terms and operators may by obtained by typing /HELP or /H at the Expert mode prompt. An explanation of Expert mode is also contained below under the heading "Searching with Expert Mode."
Article Searching Tips
The following tips will help you to quickly find what you are looking for, and will give you hints about what to do if you cannot find an article. These tips have been provided by support engineers at Microsoft who use the Knowledge Base daily.
{SYMBOL 183 \f "Symbol" \s 12 \h} Use the full-text search feature whenever possible. This is the most powerful of the search options, but it also has the possibility of providing you with the most number of articles. Provide as many appropriate keywords as possible in a single search. If the resulting list of articles does not contain what you are looking for, try eliminating one or more keywords and search again. Remember that in the full-text search mode, the articles must contain at least one of every keyword you list in order for them to be found.
{SYMBOL 183 \f "Symbol" \s 12 \h} Try different combinations of words and phrases. The Knowledge Base does not compensate for plural words, words with different endings, and so on. If the word you search on is not contained in the article verbatim, your search will not find it. For instance, if you are searching on "bitmap" and you don't find anything, try "bitmaps". If "scroll" doesn't work, try "scrolls" or "scrolling" or "scrolled".
{SYMBOL 183 \f "Symbol" \s 12 \h} Narrow your searches using the product name. If the subject you are searching on is generating a large number of articles (for instance, "file" is one of those topics), you need to narrow your search. Begin by first selecting the correct product name, then narrow your search using the full-text search feature (or, if you are using Expert mode searching, you can select product and text search in one command). This will eliminate all the articles that pertain to other Microsoft products.
THE MICROSOFT SOFTWARE LIBRARY
The Microsoft Software Library contains many of the files available for downloading by CompuServe users. These are the official files currently available from Microsoft Product Support Services. These Microsoft files include printer drivers for MS Word, Works, and Windows; various patches; demos; application notes; sample code and programs; and utilities. All new Microsoft files will be posted here.
The Software Library uses exactly the same file commands used in the regular forum data libraries. The keyword list for each file includes the "S" number (or filename) given in the Knowledge Base article that refers to it. Every file has a Knowledge Base article pointing to it. These are exactly the same files that are available by mail from Microsoft Product Support Services. The easiest way to access the Software Library is by typing GO MSL at any CompuServe "!" prompt.
If you know that something is in the Software Library but don't know the "S" number or filename, the quickest way to find it is to look in the Knowledge Base for the article that refers to it. Query on topics relating to the file, and include the keyword "softlib". Most of the pointer articles for the Software Library files contain the keyword "software library" or "softlib". For instance, if you know that there is a file in the Software Library containing information about performing an ILS landing using Flight Simulator 4.0, you might query on "ils landing software library", and from this query, find an article that lists filename S12634 as containing additional information. Then, you can GO MSL, and download file S12634.ZIP.
SEARCHING WITH EXPERT MODE
The Expert search mode is a powerful method that you can use to quickly find articles in the Knowledge Base without selecting multiple menu items to set up your search. This mode is named "Expert" because it requires knowledge of the query language and search fields used in the database.
The Expert mode of the Knowledge Base allows you to search the following "fields":
TEXT "Full text search" on all words in the articles
TITLEKEY Article titles only
PCODE Product name
VER Version number
PDATE Publication date
DOCID Microsoft document identifier
OPSYST Operating system
DOCTYPE Document type
The following relational operators/logicals are valid:
Where EQ = equal to, NE = not equal to, BEG = begins with, GT = greater than, GE = greater than or equal to, LT = less than, LE = less than or equal to. In addition, you may use the logical operators "AND" and "OR" to specify exactly which articles you want to locate. Parentheses can be used to group expressions.
To set up your search, combine a keyword from above with a logical operator, then a value. If your value contains more than one word or any special characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Acceptable values for each of the fields change from time-to-time, and can be found online on CompuServe by typing /HELP once you are in Expert search mode. Another method of learning the Expert Mode commands and field names is to perform your search using the standard menu interface, and notice the query string that is generated by the system. The valid field names, as well as some sample values, are listed below:
TITLEKEY Any text in the article title or "PR" for
Microsoft press releases
TEXT Any text in the entire article
PCODE WINSDK Windows Software Development Kit
EXCEL Microsoft Excel
WINWORD Microsoft Word for Windows
VER 3.0, 2.11, 1.12, 3.1
PDATE Dec 1 1991, Jan 4 1992
DOCID Q82843, Q00234, Q11734
OPSYST MSDOS, OS2, MACINTOSH, WINDOWS
DOCTYPE BUGLIST Articles listing known bugs
FIXLIST Articles listing fixes to known bugs
DOCERR Articles listing documentation errors
Sample Expert Mode Search Expressions
Note: Search values containing spaces or special characters must be enclosed in single quotation marks. If you do not specify a "search field" (that is, TEXT, PROD, TITLE, and so on), TEXT will be assumed. Furthermore, a relational operator of EQ is assumed unless otherwise specified.
