1. Open your System Folder, find the 'Internet Search' sites folder.
2. Open Watson's Mega Channels
3. Drag all the folders within 'Watson's Mega Channels' folder into the 'Internet Search Sites' folder.
4. Run Sherlock.
Note: I recommend increasing Sherlock’s memory allocation (I run it with 16megs, but it will run ok on 9). The default value is too low for any serious searching.
Problems and Solutions:
I don’t see any new channels.
Are you running OS 9? There are no channels under OS 8.6.
Are you sure you followed the instructions above? If so your ‘Internet Search Sites’ folder should have the following folders inside: ‘General Search, Auction, General Shopping, Books, My News, Medical, Movies, Music, US Government, Travel, and Mac Shopping. If all the folders are properly installed and the channels are still not showing up, try this:
1. Expand the channels window. (those four little lines under the channels are a drag area)
2. Move all the channel folders (Music, Auction, Movies, Book, etc) to the desktop.
3. Start Sherlock.
4. Drag the folders one by one to blank spots on the channel bar.
5. They should show up instantly.
Email me if you still have problems.
Problem: I get a network error message.
If your connection to the internet is good, either the site is down or the address of the search page has changed. In the latter case, email me @ sherlock@teamdraw.com. I’ll update the plug.
Problem: I'm getting random results.
Sometimes this happens if your search is not narrow enough or if the search terms are not specific.
Sometimes this happens because of the specific way a search site handles errors. On the NY Times site for example if nothing is found, you get a page of random links. This is not something I can control.
Problem: My search terms are being looked at invididually instead of as a group (words are ORed instead of ANDed) so I get back too many hits.
This is problem with the way specific sites handle searches. Some things your can try that sometimes force an AND search:
1. Put a plus sign between terms. Example: Spiro +Agnew
2. Put the terms in quotes: “Mookie Wilson”
3. Put an ampersand between terms. Example: Frederick & Barbarosa
Problem: Some searches don’t return relevance ratings (or dates or ... fill in the blank).
Some sites include these ratings, some don’t. Some include them, but in ways Sherlock doesn’t understand.
Problem: I hate the new metallic look of Sherlock.
I do too. Write apple at leadership@apple.com. Get political. Or download the Sherlock Window fixer on my site.
Problem: The __________ (fill in the blank) plugin doesn’t work.
Sites change frequently requiring changes in the plug-ins. If one doesn’t work email me and I’ll fix it. sherlock@teamdraw.com
Question: Why do you write these plugs?
I write them for myself.
Question: Can you write a plug for ____________ (fill in the blank)?
Email me and I might. Some sites are not searchable by Sherlock, others are just too obscure, but if I’m in a good mood I’ll try.
These plugs freeware and as such should never be bought or sold.
Notes on specific plugs.
Ebay-The title plug only searches titles, the full plug searches titles and descriptions. Ebay sometimes does not update its database, so prices/end times sometimes do not reflect the latest bid.
Fedex -Put in your tracking number (s) and it will shoot back the tracking info... I find this faster than going to the website.
Auction Watch - This site searches Ruby Lane, Amazon, and Bid Stream. I've removed the Yahoo Auction results because they tended to give lots of garbage. You can enable yahoo as a separate plug in.
Yahoo- As stated above, searching yahoo gives lots of garbage results... this is because they OR results by default as opposed to ANDing them. So if you search for "Nixon pez dispenser" you get all the nixon items, all the pez items, and all the dispenser items by default. This is ridiculous. You can circumvent this by putting the plus sign before each search term, but that screws up the other search engines, so if you do search yahoo be warned. Also, as a personal note, I've seen lots of people running scams on yahoo auctions and have been ripped off, so procede with caution.
Congress-The congress plug returns bill numbers for search terms entered. It along with the other plugs are really powerful although the data is often badly formatted. If you are looking for obscure government info these plugs are a good place to start.
Other stuff:
Since you’ve been good enough to read this far, some random notes.
1. The picture on the Auction folder is Mona Lisa.
2. The pictures on the movie site are from the Mac 1984 commercial.
3. The flag on the government channel is a reduced Jasper Johns.
4. The train on the travel channel is the Century Limited.
5. The book guy is (obviously) Shakespeare.
6. Speaking of Shakespeare, I’m guessing this document is full of errors. I’m writing it at 3:00am.
7. The image on the movie folder is the 20th Century Fox Logo.
8. The music image is from a Woodstock poster.
8. The Spanish image is Frida Khalo. (If you don’t know who she is, look her up.
