# Problems with Kindle for PC



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

I've looked around the site and I can't see a special section for the Kindle for PC. If there is one, can anyone point me to it? The Search facility seems to be just for ebook titles and authors. My problem is that Microsoft has started closing down my Kindle when I try to click on a book I want to read.


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Are you talking about the search box when you are viewing your library?  That is searching the Kindle Store.  When you are in a book, and search, it searches within the book.

If Windows is closing down Kindle for PC when you click on a title, try uninstalling and reinstalling Kindle for PC.


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

No, I was talking about the Search box on this site. Maybe I was looking at the wrong one.

Anyway, thanks for the response - I'm in Ireland, so was asleep when it came.  

I'll try the uninstall. I hadn't realised a problem could crop up suddenly after months of usage.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

There are a couple of different ways to search. . .there's the board search -- fourth from the left in the menu bar -- and the google enhanced search -- al the way to the right in the lower part of the heading.  They work a little differently so you may get somewhat different results.  The board one is a little more server intensive, but also much more customizable so you can get a better result if you know better what you're looking for.

As to Kindle for PC, there is not a specific board dedicated to it. . .this area -- Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting -- is as good a place as any to ask questions you might have about how it works. 

Like any software, K4PC can get go weird for no apparent reason.   Rest assured you won't lose your books so a removal and fresh installation is a good thing to try to fix anything like that.


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Thanks for the response, Ann. You read my mind. I was just going to ask that very question before the uninstall/reinstall. Will the books come back automatically or will I have to download them again from the cloud?


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

If you didn't have the latest download, it could be causing the problems you were describing.  You shouldn't need to redownload the books, I don't believe.

Betsy


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Thanks, Betsy. I suppose I have no choice anyway. Hopefully it will work - I'll let you all know. It's lovely to know there's a support board like this on hand for advice.


----------



## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

There was a version of K4PC from quite a while ago that suddenly started having problems, and the only way to fix it entirely was to uninstall it, delete the "My Kindle Documents" folder from your PC, then reinstall and re-download the books.

If you've been on this old version, this may be what's affected you.


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

I said I'd let you know what happened about my problem. I thought it was sorted out, as my son spent about an hour twice uninstalling and reinstalling the Kindle on my PC. The first time he forgot to delete one of the files. The second time he followed advice he turned up somewhere to copy the books into a separate folder before returning them after he'd reinstalled. Everything seemed to be okay, except that it has closed once when I clicked on a book. If it happens again I may have to follow Morf's advice and redownload all the books. (Thanks, Morf!) 

But . . . now I may have another problem. Being in Ireland, I usually buy my hard copy books from the co.uk site, but for some reason I have to buy my ebooks from amazon.com. I've now discovered that my son, not realising this, actually did the uninstall and reinstall on the co.uk site. My new question: is this allowed or do I have to go through the whole process again? Strangely, my son had no problem whatsoever finding the relevant registration on the co.uk site in order to deregister. 

Actually, another odd thing was that there were three registrations, one for my PC, one for his (which I used when I'm staying with him) and an extra one that I haven't a clue how it got there. 

So that's where I am at the moment. Maybe someone could tell me if it's not allowed for me (being in a dotcom area) to uninstall and reinstall on the co.uk site. 

Anyway, thanks to you all for being such brilliant help and support.


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

It is probably the same app, but you register to your account, which is based on your email address and a password, and it probably tied to the amazon.com web site.


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Thanks, Susan. I actually use the same email address and password for both sites. Certainly, my son had no problem finding my Kindle for PC account on the co.uk site, even though I've never bought any Kindle stuff there (not being allowed to). It was only when I went onto the PC afterwards and the co.uk site came up that I realised he'd done the uninstall and reinstall using my co.uk account.

I am allowed to buy hard copy books from amazon.com as well as amazon.co.uk, but Kindle ebooks only from the dotcom site. In fact, I can't even check the UK price of a Kindle ebook on the co.uk site (for example, my own books). I have to get my daughter in London to do it for me. I believe that I must also buy any Kindle device in Ireland rather than the UK.


----------



## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

MollyMalone said:


> Thanks, Susan. I actually use the same email address and password for both sites. Certainly, my son had no problem finding my Kindle for PC account on the co.uk site, even though I've never bought any Kindle stuff there (not being allowed to). It was only when I went onto the PC afterwards and the co.uk site came up that I realised he'd done the uninstall and reinstall using my co.uk account.
> 
> I am allowed to buy hard copy books from amazon.com as well as amazon.co.uk, but Kindle ebooks only from the dotcom site. In fact, I can't even check the UK price of a Kindle ebook on the co.uk site (for example, my own books). I have to get my daughter in London to do it for me. I believe that I must also buy any Kindle device in Ireland rather than the UK.


That's because the UK store didn't used to have it's own Kindle store. Up until a few years ago, Kindle only operated out of the US store - though it could be used internationally, everyone in the world had to use the US site. It's only been in the last few years that they've started up Kindle stores in other countries. UK was the first, then Germany, and some others followed. But for those countries which do not yet have their own Kindle store, users must still use the US site. Probably, the UK Kindle store is not set up to work internationally like the US is.

But probably the apps are the same, I don't think it matters which site you download them from, as long as you can go into "Manage Your Kindle" on the US site and the Kindle for PC app is registered there, you should be fine.

Why was he manually deleting files though? I don't think that should be necessary. You should just be able to do the auto uninstall which only take a few minutes - I'm not sure spending an hour manually deleting files was necessary.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

history_lover said:


> Why was he manually deleting files though? I don't think that should be necessary. You should just be able to do the auto uninstall which only take a few minutes - I'm not sure spending an hour manually deleting files was necessary.


Yeah, that's my question.  To uninstall it, you just use the Windows Add/Remove Programs under the Control Panel, find "amazon kindle" and uninstall it. That way the computer knows what files to be removed with it. I guess if you're not using Windows it might be different, but that might also be why the thing wasn't working. 

HL is accurate about the evolution of the international amazons -- your kindle books will all be at the .com site. You will probably be able to d/l the Kindle for PC program from the UK site, but won't have access to books you've already bought unless you have it registered to the .com site. I'm not even sure they'll let you register it o the UK site but they'll not let you buy books from it.


----------



## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Actually, Molly's son is doing the right thing - the versions of K4PC that had problems were also notoriously bad at not uninstalling properly, so you did have to manually tidy up any files they'd left behind in order to get a clean install of the new version.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Huh.  Interesting.  I never went to that trouble. . . .simply downloading the new version fixed the issues I had.  Maybe I had different issues.


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Thanks to you all for your responses since I last looked. 

My son was following instructions he got from goodness knows where, but he's a thorough kind of guy. At any rate, whatever he did seems to have worked. But I'll bear the simpler version in mind should I ever find myself on my own with a problem. I'm afraid I'm a nontechie (I don't think it's to do with my age, lol) and always call on my son when I need help, thankfully not too often.

I'm glad the consensus seems to be that working on the UK site is okay. Certainly everything now seems to be as before.


----------



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Update: The reinstalled Kindle for PC is working fine. It does close an odd time with the Microsoft Message, but on the whole I'm able to read what I want to.

I'm waiting patiently for the new Paperwhite to come to Ireland. I'm not sure whether or not that will be at the same time as it comes to the UK.

Thanks once again to all who responded to my cry for help.


----------



## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

The paperwhite has been in the UK for a couple of months now!


----------

