2278A Additional Readings List & Notes

Recent changes to Knowledge Base (KB) articles

https://support.microsoft.com/?pr=kbnumb

As of November 7, 2002, prefix letters were phased out of all Knowledge Base (KB) articles worldwide making it easier for you to request an article in a language other than the one set in your browser. Today, KB articles are published in 21 languages, but each had an unrelated 555q167f number scheme and a prefix letter. By eliminating the prefix and changing the numbers of some articles, all translations of an article will have exactly the same content number. Customers worldwide can view localized versions of articles by passing an Internet standard for language locale and the content identification number.

What effect will this have?

Existing URLs to KB articles will continue to function for two years, but new articles will no longer be published using the old naming conventions.

The new way to reference KB articles

The new method to reference KB articles is with the URL https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=n where n is the identification number of the article. This interface will automatically detect your browser's language settings and show you the right article. If you prefer to explicitly request an article in a language other than the one set in your browser, you can request articles by using https://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;[ln];n where [ln] is the value that represents a specific language in the table below.

The timetable

On November 7, 2002 U.S. English KB articles lost the Q prefix but retained the same numbers. From November 18, 2002 through December 31, 2002 all other languages will lose their prefix letters and in many cases be renumbered to line up with the US source numbers. In January 2005 the old content numbers (with letter prefixes) will no longer function.