Using the Microsoft Knowledge Base (MSKB)


At the beginning of this chapter, I mentioned that part of being a good troubleshooter is knowing where to look for relevant knowledge and information. There are a number of online resources you can (and should) access when you are troubleshooting a Windows problem. One of the most relevant online resources comes from the makers of Windows itself: the Microsoft Help and Support site, home of the Microsoft Knowledge Base (MSKB). The MSKB contains more than 150,000 articles offering technical support for every available Microsoft product, including Windows XP. These articles include troubleshooting tips, how-to articles, coverage of new security updates and Service Packs, and columns that are geared towards software developers.

To visit the Microsoft Help and Support site, point your browser to

http://support.microsoft.com/

From this page, you can access a number of different Windows XP information resources. You can do a search of the Knowledge Base, visit one of the product-specific solution centers, or browse to the Microsoft newsgroups, an online community of users who share their knowledge of Microsoft products.

Every article that appears in the Knowledge Base is assigned an Article ID number (see Figure 12.11). This number serves as the primary reference point for each article. For example, it's possible that you have encountered a sentence like this before:

Figure 12.11. Viewing an article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

"For more information, see KB article 314073."

Alternatively, this reference is sometimes abbreviated to simply read "KB314073." In this example, this is the Article ID of the Knowledge Base article #314073, "How to Troubleshoot Network Printing Problems in Windows XP."

Knowledge Base articles follow a common section structure. Each article opens with a high-level summary of the material it contains. This is followed by an introduction, the main body of the article (usually titled More Information), a list of software products or services that the article applies to, and finally, a list of keywords associated with the article.

If you want to read a specific article in the Knowledge Base and you know its article ID, you can browse directly to it by typing the following URL in the Address bar of Internet Explorer:

 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=(Article ID #) 

Alternatively, you can also use Help and Support in the Windows Start menu to open a Knowledge Base article. Open Help and Support, and type the letters KB followed by the number of the article into the Search box near the top of the screen (see Figure 12.12).

Figure 12.12. You can use the Help and Support feature in Windows XP to view Knowledge Base articles.

The Microsoft Knowledge Base also offers a Basic Search, as well as an Advanced Search functionality.

If you would like to keep up with new articles as they are added to the Knowledge Base, Microsoft now offers (as of this writing) Really Simple Syndication or RSS feeds that you can use to receive notification of new articles. Each RSS feed is based on a specific product, so you can pick and choose which Microsoft products you want to monitor for new Knowledge Base articles.




Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows
Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0789736950
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 128

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