Let's look at various ways to locate the information you need quickly and effectively. If you're lucky, you may already have an article's Q-number (e.g., Q123456). Every MSKB article is assigned a unique Q-number, and this unique identifier is the easiest way to find a specific MSKB topic. If you have a Q-number, simply enter it into the text box under Search The Knowledge Base and click the green arrow button. But often, it's likely that you won't have a Q-number when you begin your search and will have to start from scratch. The easiest way to do this is by searching for a word or phrase. Use exact phrases
You'll usually want to search for exact phrases when attempting to troubleshoot an error message, error code, log entry, memory address conflict, and even cryptic hexadecimal codes. Searching for exact phrases is fairly straightforward; simply enter the text as your search string, select The Exact Phrase Entered from the Using drop-down list, and click the Go button (the green arrow). For example, searching for the exact phrase WINWORD caused an invalid page fault in MSO9.DLL yields several workarounds for this problem. A word of caution: Do not use quotation marks to group search terms into a sentence. Unlike Internet search engines, such as AltaVista, Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft's own TechNet InfoViewer, the online MSKB completely ignores quote marks contained within the search string. Write it down
The first rule of troubleshooting error messages is to write down the message. Save yourself some time; don't rely on users' vague descriptions of alerts. Having the exact wording can turn a potentially exhausting troubleshooting nightmare into a neat, quick fix. When a problem yields no error message
There are always times when you just can't provide one exact, fully formed sentence that describes the information you need. This is particularly true when the problem you're trying to fix isn't accompanied by an error message, or you're trying to find out more information about a general issue rather than a specific error message. This is where the Select A Microsoft Product drop-down list becomes handy. Before entering your search terms, select the product to which your search relates. This feature narrows the results by filtering out irrelevant topics. For example, if you're tracking down a Windows 2000 user access problem, select Windows 2000 from the list to prevent your results list from being flooded with articles about Microsoft Access. Don't limit yourself to individual applications
You'll find product suites and specific applications in the products list. For example, the MSKB article "XL: Error Message: Too Many Different Cell Formats" (Q213904) applies to any version of Excel 97 or later, including Mac editions. Hence, it would be listed under each of the following products: Office 97 for Windows Suite, Office 2000 Suite, Excel 97, Excel X for Mac, Excel 2000, and so forth. Use creative search strings
Describe the problem's observable symptoms. Avoid overly technical descriptions; instead, describe the problem from the user's point of view. Refer to interface items, menu items, window titles, and so forth. If a particular search string fails to yield the information you need, rephrase the string using synonymous words until the results become relevant. For example, use the words stops responding instead of hangs, or use set up instead of install.