KWiCFinder Support

FAQ

When reporting problems, please run KWiCFinder, then click the menu "Help" > "Feedback to Developer".  This adds essential information about the version of KWiCFinder and of Windows that you are using to your message.

Transition to Yahoo! search engine

On 31 March 2004, the AltaVista search engine was replaced by Yahoo!. This unwelcome development had many unpleasant consequences for KWiCFinder, mainly the elimination of wildcards and operators like NEAR, BEFORE and AFTER.

On 8 October 2007 the first version of KWiCFinder that queries the Yahoo! Search API directly was released.  This resolved some issues with Yahoo!'s AltaVista search.  Please report any problems you experience via "Feedback to Developer" (see above).

Troubleshooting

• Currently KWiCFinder saves all its updates and data to C:\Program Files\KWiCFinder and its subfolders (or the corresponding folders on a non-English system).  Users with limited privileges may not be able write to these folders.  If KF does not work, (have a system administrator) set the privileges for this folder to "Modify" for the group "Users" or "Everyone".  Make sure that all subfolders inherit these privileges.
• If KWiCFinder will not run on your system, please make sure that you have Internet Explorer version 5.5 or greater installed. KWiCFinder counts on finding several components installed with Internet Explorer in order to function properly. Follow this link to download the current version of Internet Explorer.
• If KWiCFinder has worked on your system but no longer does, please update it:
  1. "Tools" menu > "Update Program Files"
  2. When the message "Program Updated" appears under the language selection box, exit KWiCFinder, then relaunch it.
  3. If it still doesn't work, please send the developer a message via the Help or Tools menu describing the problem. Try to note down and include any error messages in your feedback.

I get a JScript error message when I try to display a search report in the KWiC Sort & Analysis format.

This enhanced KWiC format requires some features of the version of JScript (Microsoft's implementation of JavaScript) that shipped with Internet Explorer 5.5. If you are using IE 5.0 and prefer not to update your browser, please click here to download the appropriate version of JScript for your system.

I cannot enter a search term in a search term field, so the "Run" button is never enabled.

The input routine both blocks out characters which are not supported by search engines and attempts to ensure that [ ] { } are balanced; supposedly incorrect characters are filtered out. Editing a search field can confuse this routine and block all input. This feature will be made more robust in the final release. Interim workarounds:  Press the "Clear" button to reset the field, then enter the text in a different field, or copy and paste text from another field or application.

When I run KWiCFinder, I get an empty search report with no citations.

Possible causes

You have entered a query which matches no documents online.  
Checklist

• Are there spelling errors in the query?
• Is the correct language specified? (note: KWiCFinder currently supports only the Western European character set; searches with other languages give unknown results.)
• Are there criteria specified on the "Include" / "Exclude" panes (domain, specific terms) which eliminate possible matches?

KWiCFinder takes forever to complete my search.

Possible causes

1. Yahoo! is returning many false matches to your query. While KWiCFinder reports that it is fetching document number n, it may have downloaded, analyzed and rejected numerous documents.  False matches may include...
   • dead links (the document is no longer available, or the content has changed)
   • Yahoo! found the terms you were seeking in portions of a document which are not displayed (KWiCFinder ignores comments and scripts, which usually contain extraneous material).
   • KWiCFinder options were chosen which focus search more narrowly than AltaVista (remedies:  try less-restrictive options, use "tamecards" instead of wildcards)
     • KWiCFinder sic specified (Yahoo! reports all matches of lower / UPPER case, plain / special character, possibly including many combinations more common than a strict match of your query term)
2. KWiCFinder's auto-update feature is downloading large program updates over a slow connection (either at your end or at the server end).
3. KWiCFinder is trying to access a slow server or to download or analyze a very large document (the download timeout feature does not always work; limited memory or slow system speed can make these tasks very time-consuming).
4. KWiCFinder's parser may not be robust enough for ill-formed HTML of source document.

When I launch the program I get an error message telling me that the file kfCore.dll could not be found. When I looked, it was in the same directory as KWiCFinder! What's the matter?

The most likely cause of this error is that kfCore.dll did not load properly because it could not find Internet Explorer version 5.0 or greater on the system. Please follow this link to download and install the current version of Internet Explorer.

When a search has completed, I get the error message "XML Display requires installation of MSXML3.DLL or greater."

If this file did not install properly, please download the latest version of the the Microsoft XML Parser. Please note which folder you save it in. Double-click on the file icon to install this update. You may have to reboot your system to complete the installation.
If this does not resolve the problem, please...

• On the "Options" pane, deselect "XML" and choose "HTML" report format. This will ensure that you can display your results.
• Please send me a copy of the XML report which would not display as an email attachment so I can diagnose the problem. (It will be found in folder C:\Program Files\KWiCFinder\KWiCFinderSearches\... (change to the folder for the day you ran the search).

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