CraigsWatch Help

Installing CraigsWatch:

• First, DO YOU HAVE THE LATEST VERSION? We're constantly improving CraigsWatch and many download sites may have an older copy. Check here for our latest and greatest!
• Download and run the installer “CWSetup.msi” and follow the instructions.
• You may receive a message about first needing to install Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5. This is available here.
• If you are installing to a Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine:
• You will need to disable UAC before using CraigsWatch.
• Right-click on the desktop shortcut for CraigsWatch and select "Troubleshoot compatibility."
• Click "Troubleshoot program."
• Check the "The program worked in earlier versions..." box.
• Check the "The program requires additional permissions" box.
• Click Next.
• Select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3) and click Next.
• Click Next (do not click "Start the program").
• Click "Yes, save these settings for this program."
• Click "Close the troubleshooter."

Upgrading to Later Revisions of CraigsWatch:

• We are constantly improving CraigsWatch. To upgrade, simply download and install the later installer. It will overwrite the current installation while preserving your settings.

Configuring CraigsWatch Messaging Settings:

• Open the CraigsWatch application. On the Settings Tab, enter a default recipient email address. This is where alerts will be sent unless you specify otherwise on an individual search.
• Change the alert Subject if you wish, to something you will recognize when you receive emails from CraigsWatch.
• Change the “from” email address if you wish. This doesn’t necessarily need to be a “real” address but it should at least be from a real domain name (i.e. rdogsoftware.com) as many email servers will drop messages that aren’t resolvable to a real domain and in some cases a fully routable address.
• Click “Test Email Settings.” After a few seconds you should get an alert that the message was either sent successfully or failed. If it succeeded, check your inbox and see if a test message landed.
• If your test message arrived successfully, click “Save Email Settings” to preserve your configuration.
• Many Internet Service Providers require that email traffic on their network only be sent through approved servers. If this is the case, it may be necessary to select the “Use External Email Server” option. In this case, use the same settings your ISP provided you for access to your regular outgoing email account. Again, test your settings and if they succeed, save your settings.
• If your ISP blocks internal mailers and also doesn’t provide a mail relay, you can create a webmail account with a provider that allows outside to their accounts (i.e. gmail.com) and use your account credentials there to send mail. Note that gmail allows relaying mail for your account through their server smtp.gmail.com but using a non-standard port number 587.
• Note that when sending mail via an external server, your “From Email” setting may be overwritten to match the credentials you used to authenticate to the outside mail relay.

IF YOU ARE CONSISTENTLY UNABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY SEND A TEST MESSAGE: 

The most common problem is that your PC's security software is blocking email traffic from unknown applications. Either disable this software from blocking email agents, or (highly preferable) modify its configuration to allow outgoing SMTP traffic from two specific programs, “craigswatch.exe” and “clq.exe.” See your security software documentation for more information.

Another common complication is that your network provider is blocking email traffic from your host. Depending on their policies, you may receive an error that the message failed or it may appear to succeed but never arrive at your inbox. If you have an email account with your Internet Service Provider and are unable to use the "Internal Email Engine" option, try setting the external Email Server settings to match your regular email client's outgoing mail settings. If that still fails, you might try using a mail relay (like gmail's) that uses non-standard port numbers.

A third possibility is that the message is sending properly but then is being diverted or deleted by your mail client when it arrives. Sometimes you might even be getting the test message but not the "real" alerts later (those two messages are formatted slightly differently so your client or mail provider might forward one and reject the other). Check your spam settings and/or your junk mail folders!

Configuring CraigsWatch Search Scheduling:

• Check the “Enable Scheduled Searches” box to turn on regular runs of the CraigsWatch search agent.
• Select how often you’d like the search agent to run.

Configuring CraigsWatch Searches:

• In the CraigsWatch application, click the Searches Tab.
• To add a search, click the "Add a Search" button to add a row to the Searches Table.
• Check the "enable" box in the first column. Uncheck this box if you later wish to stop this specific search from running but want to preserve its settings.
• Select the appropriate city from the "Cities" pull-down.
• Select the appropriate category from the "Categories" pull-down.
• In the "Keywords" column, enter any desired keywords, separated only by spaces.
• Do not separate keywords (or excluded keywords) with commas (use spaces). Enter keywords and excluded keywords exactly as you would if entering your search directly on the craigslist page.
• In the "Excluded Keywords" column, enter any keywords you wish to be excluded from your search, seperated only by spaces.
• Enter any desired minimum or maximum prices or age limits for your search.
• Check if you'd like to limit your search to listing titles only, or only to listings with pictures.
• Enter the complete email address(es) any desired alternate recipients in the last column. If there are multiple recipients, separate their email addresses with commas. Note that if you wish to notify both the default recipient as well as any alternate, both must be entered in the Alternate Recipient column.
• Click the green "test" button to see what results your search might typically return.
• Click the red "delete" button to remove a search from the Search Table.
• When you've finished editing your searches, click the "Save the Searches Table" button to preserve your changes.

Troubleshooting CraigsWatch

• CraigsWatch isn't doing exactly what I think it should. What should I check first? - Are you running the latest version? Download and install the most recent update from here and see if your problem is resolved.
• How do I know which version of CraigsWatch I'm running? - Open the Windows Control Panel and then the Add/Remove Programs menu. Click on "Support Information" and the information given will include the version number. 
• I just installed CraigsWatch to my Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC and I get a slew of ominous errors as soon as I try to launch it! - CraigsWatch was originally written for Windows XP and a few extra steps are necessary to run it with Vista or Windows 7. Detailed information is available in the installation section of this page.
• I just installed and configured CraigsWatch and when I launch it I get a variety of runtime errors, often along the lines of "index out of range" or something similar. What's up? - This is almost always due to a garbled or missing entry in some needed setup field. Double check that you've made correct entries in the necessary fields for messaging, scheduling, search settings, etc. In the meantime I'm working on better entry checking in the program.
• I occasionally get repeat emails for a listing, or even a great big email with all current listings in it. What's up? - This is due to variations in the source content from craigslist: their page doesn't match what CraigsWatch is expecting so the listing appears to be new. I periodically update the code that parses this content, but craigslist also periodically modifies the formatting of their web pages, even if those modifications aren't obviously visible. What are you gonna do...
• I deleted an alert email and want to run a search again as if CraigsWatch had never run it before. Is there a way to clear my previous hits history? -  On the Settings Tab, click the "Clear Found Listings Cache" button. This will cause CraigsWatch to forget about any hits it has registered previously.
• When I "test" a query I get gibberish in the results window. And/Or I receive email alerts that contain mangled or broken links. - This is usually due to changes in the craigslist page's content formatting. Again, I update CraigsWatch periodically to accommodate this. Are you running the latest version?
• How do I uninstall CraigsWatch? Or, I've tried to run the included uninstaller and it fails? - All versions of CraigsWatch will uninstall cleanly if you do so from the Windows Control Panel's "Add/Remove Programs" menu. Issues with the included uninstaller have been resolved as of Version 1.00.31.
• I've uninstalled CraigsWatch and keep getting error messages related to a bad job in the Task Scheduler. - Depending on how CraigsWatch was uninstalled there may be a job called "craigswatch" remaining in Scheduled Tasks. Open the Windows Control Panel, then Performance and Maintenance, then Scheduled Tasks, and delete the job called "craigswatch." But the real question is "Why would you want to uninstall CraigsWatch?"
• I get some listings two or more times in my email alerts. - Double-check that you aren't running several searches that might return the same postings. For example, two searches,  one for "camper" and another for "trailer" will each return a posting that includes the words "camper trailer."
• No matter who I log in as on my PC, I find the same CraigsWatch settings when I open the application. - CraigsWatch is primarily intended for use by a single person. Settings are preserved in a central location independent of the user logged in. However, CraigsWatch can be configured so that specific searches send their results to alternate recipients (see Configuring CraigsWatch Searches above).
• I've configured CraigsWatch to use an external email relay. When I test my settings, I receive test messages successfully. However, I never get any alerts even when I know there are postings matching my terms. - This is a known issue that has been resolved as of Version 1.00.37. Install the latest version and click the "Clear Found Listings Cache" button on the Settings Tab so that you'll receive any previous postings matching your search terms.
• When I test my email settings, I receive test messages successfully. However, I never get any alerts even when I know there are postings matching my terms. - Double check your junk mail folders and settings. Craigswatch sends sliightly different messages for its test and "real" alerts, and some mail clients (notably gmail) might like one message just fine while rejecting another.Also note that some email systems assign heavy "Spam Points" to any message that identifies itself as from one address but has another in the header. So while it's handy to leave the "From" entry in the CraigsWatch mail settings tab as "craigswatch@rdogsoftware.com" so that incoming alerts are easily recognizable, you might have to set the "From" address to match the email address you are actually sending from.
• I just upgraded to verion 1.00.59 or later and I get numerous error pop-ups when I launch CraigsWatch. - This is a known issue resolved in version 1.00.61. Right-click on the task bar or hit ctrl-alt-delete and open the Windows Task Manager. Find the "craigswatch.exe" process and end it. Uninstall CraigsWatch using the bundled uninstaller and then reinstall. Regrettably you will need to re-enter your CraigsWatch settings after you have reinstalled.

Exporting Your CraigsWatch Settings From One Computer to Another

1. Upgrade the "source" machine to the same (latest) version that you're installing to the new machine. 
2. Open Regedit on the source machine (click Start-->Run, enter "regedit" and click OK). 
3. Browse to My Computer / HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE.
4. Right-click "R-Dog Software" and select "Export."
5. Select a file name and path like "CW.reg" on the desktop, click Save.
6. Install the same version of CraigsWatch to the new machine. Make sure the app is closed.
7. Move the .reg file to the new machine and double-click it. Click OK/etc. 
8. Open CW on the new machine. You should have identical settings as from the old machine. Double-check that the search scheduler is enabled on the Settings Tab, etc.

Can't Find the Answer You're Looking For?

    Contact CraigsWatch Support

Version Information:

Pre - 1.00.00 - Beta
1.00.31/32 - Fixed bundled uninstaller
1.00.35/36 - Added support for STARTTLS/SSL email traffic.
1.00.37/38 - Resolved emailer issues. Added support for non-standard SMTP ports.
1.00.59/60 - Updated data files to accomodate formatting changes on the CL website.
1.00.63/64 - Resolved issues related to updated data files.
1.10.07 - Switched to Freeware. Dropped 30 day eval countdown and registration system. Integrated redundant code between menu and runtime executables.
1.12.00 - Updated category and city definitions. Moved donation plug down from the top of alert emails.
1.12.30 -  Accommodated html formatting changes from CL site. Modified alert message formatting.
1.12.32 - Modified alert message formatting. Fixed shrinking main menu.