Frequently Asked Questions about Watson

Why use Watson?

Watson gives computer users a new way of finding useful information by proactively seeking, gathering and delivering information as it is needed. Watson provides related information based on the contents of a web page being viewed or document being created. It allows its users to gain access to a wealth of information in context, without the trouble of searching. For example, Watson can be used to find analyst reports while preparing a presentation, find product reviews while reviewing sales material, find primary research while authoring a report, or even to find blog entries about a recent news event.

Watson works with almost any online information source to provide users with a powerfully customized list of information. Watson works seamlessly with leading information sources, including web search engines, intranet portals, subscription services, databases, corporate extranets, KM solutions and desktop search applications. Watson proactively finds content and information in places not typically checked by users, so they can form a more balanced perspective drawn from a more diverse range of sources.
How does Watson determine when to retrieve related information?

Watson is designed to anticipate a user's information needs, and always be ready with information they would find useful in the context of ongoing work.

Watson will never get in the way of your work: it will wait for you to pause before it begins searching. Watson won't ever pop up and distract you -Watson is available only when you need it.

Watson initiates a search whenever a user loads a document. It updates its results when a user has been working in those applications for a few minutes and when the document being edited has changed significantly. Watson also won't search while you're typing or interacting with a Web site, ensuring you and your work always come first. Watson will never initiate a search based on secure content on its own. Your privacy is important to us.

By default, Watson is "always-on". This means that as you work, Watson automatically searches for information related to your work.

You can use Watson on demand, too -- Watson has toolbars that let you easily call Watson up. By clicking the 'X' icon in the Watson title bar you can tell Watson to stop searching. Watson will start search again when you bring it back up, either by clicking on the lightbulb icon in the system tray the toolbar icons.

You can even configure whether Watson ever searches automatically by selecting settings from the tools menu.

Need help? Click here.
How does Watson know what to find?

Watson uses a sophisticated combination of application-level semantics and statistical language analysis techniques to arrive at a characterization of the document you are editing or web page you are viewing.
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Watson understands what the user is focused on in an application. As a user works with a document, Watson pays attention to the section users are editing, and tailors its results to that section. Watson understands how to separate the "clutter" surrounding an article on a Web page from the article itself and can focus on its content, instead of the clutter surrounding it. It knows that PowerPoint slides have titles, bullet points, and are built using templates. It uses this structure to focus its inquiry on the most important concepts in your document.

Once Watson has determined the key concepts in a user's document, it turns to the resources it is connected with to find related content. Watson sends complex queries to the search engines, research repositories, and knowledge management systems it's connected with. It analyzes the results retrieved to see if they really match the document a user is editing. In fact, in its pursuit of truly relevant information, it may query information sources multiple times, until it is satisfied with the results it displays.

Watson Results

How relevant are Watson’s search results?

Watson knows just enough about what you're working on to find better information than any search engine could on its own. Language only means something in context. When you ask for "china," it's useful to know if you're setting the table, or considering economic policies. Because Watson understands the context in which you are working it can consistently outperform search engines. Search engines know nothing more about what you need than exactly what you tell them. They respond to what you say, not to what you mean.

Watson consistently retrieves documents relevant to the content its users are viewing across all of the supported applications. In studies we've run in our labs, we found over 9 of the top 10 documents Watson retrieves are judged relevant to the document being viewed by independent expert searchers. These same experts found they could only get 5 of the top 10 documents to be relevant, using the same search engines Watson does on their own.

Not stopping at relevance, we delved further and found that Watson consistently retrieves documents its users find useful in the context of the tasks in which they are working. Watson does best when run on documents with at least a paragraph of text. You can use Watson's refinement capabilities (using "refine search" to focus the results, or by selecting elements of your active document to focus Watson) to further boost the relevance of information Watson finds. This is particularly useful for documents that cover multiple topics.
Where does Watson go on my desktop?

Watson’s user interface can be configured in 3 ways – docked left, docked right, and custom docked. In addition, the interface now features Auto-Hide functionality. All of these options appear under the View menu inside Watson. Once you’ve chosen which docking configuration you are comfortable with, Auto-Hide allows you to call upon Watson’s findings simply by moving your mouse to the edge of your screen. In this manner, you can make the most effective use of both Watson and your screen “real estate.”
How can I tell Watson what to find for me?
- Focus – Focus results on your highlighted text
  Using Watson’s “Focus” feature, you can tell Watson to find you resources that pertain to a specific topic you’ve highlighted in your document or web page. It’s really easy. All you have to do is highlight the relevant text, and then click on the “Focus” icon in your application, or the "Refresh" icon in Watson.
- Search in Context – Refine results by typing in keywords
  Using Watson’s Search in Context feature, you can discover search results that are much more relevant than you would find by going directly to a search engine. Why? Because Watson knows what you’re working on – your context – so it builds very specific queries. Just type some terms into Watson and click the "Search in Context" button.

System requirements and software compatibility

What are the system requirements for Watson?
Watson is 7MB and requires:
- 13MB on disk
- Windows 2000, XP, Windows Server 2003
- 512MB of RAM or greater
- 766MHz CPU or greater
- A broadband Internet connection is highly recommended
Will Watson work on my non-Windows system?
Watson currently works only on Windows 2000, Window XP and Windows 2003.
What desktop applications does Watson integrate with?
Watson works with:
- Microsoft Word XP, 2003, and 2007
- Microsoft PowerPoint XP, 2003, and 2007
- Microsoft Outlook XP, 2003, and 2007
- Microsoft Word and PowerPoint 2000 when used with Windows 2000
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher (including IE 7)
- Mozilla Firefox 1.04 and 2.x
- MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search (or Live Toolbar, or just plain WDS)
- Yahoo! Desktop Search
- Google Desktop Search
- X1 Desktop Search
- PaperPort All-in-One Search
Why doesn't Watson support the Opera browser?
We would love for Watson to support Opera. Unfortunately, Opera does not support third-party extensions.
How do I request integration with applications not on this list?
We are no longer actively supporting Watson.
How do I get Watson to work with Internet Explorer in Windows Vista?
Internet Explorer in Windows Vista runs in "Protected Mode" by default, which prevents other applications from integrating directly with the browser. To turn off protected mode and allow Watson to integrate with Internet Explorer follow these steps:
      1. From Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
      2. Click the Security tab, and then clear the Enable Protected Mode (requires restarting Internet Explorer) checkbox.
      3. Restart Internet Explorer and now Watson should be integrating correctly with IE.

Downloading Watson

We are no longer actively distributing or supporting Watson.

Using Watson

Does Watson work on non-English language documents?
Yes, however, Watson's analysis algorithms are optimized for US English.
You say that Watson integrates with Firefox, but I am not getting any results in Watson. What gives?
You must be running at least Watson 2.1 in order for Firefox and Watson to properly integrate. If you're running Firefox 2.0, you need at least Watson 2.5. Firefox 3.0 and beyond is not supported by Watson.

When I'm writing email, Watson says it's searching, but I'm not getting any results. What's going on?
If Microsoft Word is not your default email editor in Outlook, Watson won't begin searching until you have saved a draft of the email. Try saving your email, then click the "Refresh" button in Watson. Watson will then retrieve results.
Can I use Watson with multiple monitors?
Yes. To move Watson to another monitor in a multiple monitor setup, simply go to the View menu in Watson, select "Undock," then move Watson to the other monitor. You can then dock Watson where you would like to on the new monitor.

Information Sources

Why does Watson use the information sources it does?
The Watson you downloaded from our web site is configured to work with information sources that provide the best user experience and the most relevant information on a wide variety of topics. Watson is designed so that a variety of information resources can be incorporated. The information resources included are the ones we believe have broad applicability.
How do I connect to a Microsoft® SharePoint® site?

From the Tools menu in Watson, select “Configure Info Sources.” Then double-click on “Connect to Microsoft SharePoint” in the “Create an Information Source” section.

You will then be prompted to enter the location of your SharePoint site.

Next, if your SharePoint requires it, you will be prompted to enter your username and password. You will then be prompted to name the new Information Source. After this is complete, the new connector will appear in the list of Information Sources. Add your new source into a Folder by selecting the Folder you’d like to add it to, and clicking the “Add >>” button. Click Ok, and Watson will start searching the SharePoint site you specified.
How do I use the “Specify a Web Site or Domain” tool?
From the Tools menu in Watson, select “Configure Info Sources.” Then double-click on “Specify a Web Site or Domain” in the “Create an Information Source” section. Enter a Web Site address or Internet Domain (sorry, no directories or scripts can be entered here, see above question), and then name this source. For example to search intellext.com, you would type intellext.com as the first box, and then name it, by typing Intellext in the second box. When you click OK, the new site or domain will be added to the list of available sources. You can then move your new source into a Folder by selecting the Folder you’d like to add it to, and clicking the “Add >>” button. Click Ok, and Watson will start searching the web site or internet domain you specified.

Privacy and Security

Does Watson collect any information about me?
Watson is smart, but has no memory. Watson neither stores nor transmits personal information. We don’t track the links you click, or the pages you view, so information about what you are looking at never comes back to us. However, Watson does collect anonymous usage statistics for the purposes of improving our application. For more detail, please review our privacy policy.

Uninstalling Watson

How do I uninstall Watson?
To uninstall Watson, open your Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, scroll down to Watson, select Change, click Next, then select Remove. This will launch the uninstall program and remove Watson from your computer.
How do I disable or remove Watson toolbars?
For some versions of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows, the Watson Installer may be unable to remove toolbars installed in your applications. We are working on a solution and hope to post a fix shortly. In the mean time please follow the instructions on this page to disable or remove your toolbars: Watson Toolbar Removal.
I'm trying to uninstall Watson, but it doesn't work!
This is often an issue when running certain versions of Watson on Windows Vista, or if you've upgraded Internet Explorer to version 7 or greater. In this case, there is a bug with uninstallation. The easiest solution is to run the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility and forcibly remove Watson from your system registry. You should also delete the Watson program files, usually located at C:\Program Files\Intellext\Watson.