Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

How to Find Technical Info on Microsoft's Website

Author:Brent Simmons
Posted:11/30/1998; 2:32:18 PM
Topic:How to Find Technical Info on Microsoft's Website
Msg #:597
Prev/Next:596 / 598

I've gotten fairly good at finding technical information on Microsoft's website.

http://search.microsoft.com/

It's come to my attention that not everybody is as comfortable with their search engine as I am. I've got two tips:

1) From the popup menu #2 "Select your search criteria" -- make sure you've switched from "Exact Phrase" to "All Words." (Default is exact phrase, which is rarely effective.)

2) You may need to do two searches. Look in #3 "Choose your search category." The default is to search everything except for Support and the Knowledge Base. But -- if you're searching for technical information, much (if not most) of the time you'll find what you're looking for in the Knowledge Base.

So I usually start by choosing "Support and Knowledge Base." If I don't find what I want there, then I switch back to the default "All of Microsoft.com."

By searching twice you search everything, starting with your best bet, the Knowledge Base.

Bonus tip: here are what I find to be my most-visited sites:

Scripting:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/

Web Development:

http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/

XML:

http://www.microsoft.com/xml/

Microsoft Developer Network:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/

COM:

http://www.microsoft.com/com/




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