Spelling Champion FAQ

Q0: my computer / device is running windows 8/ window RT. Microsoft windows store stated Spelling Champion only runs under windows 8.1 / windows RT 8.1. how do I upgrade from windows 8 / windows RT to windows 8.1 / windows RT 8.1?

A0: Microsoft provides free upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. Upgrade your computer / device to 8.1, then install the app from the store. Click here for upgrade process.


Q1: when I install Spelling Champion, I got a message similar to the following:

"This package depends on another package that could not be found,. this package requires minimum 12.0.21005.1 of framework Microsoft.VCLibs.120.00.Debug published by any publisher to install. Provide the framework along with this package. "

what do I do?

A1:  This is because your device or computer is not current with Microsoft updates. Please follow the following steps to check and install updates:

1. show windows charm and then touch on <Change PC settings>
2. on the left side of the screen, touch on <Update and Recovery>
3. Under <Windows Update> check and install updates

when you are done with all critical updates, try to install the app again. Should you continue experience difficulties, Please contact Technical Support for help.

Q2: when I go to the lesson page and click on <Listen> I got this message, what do I do?

The speech system is experiencing difficulties, this could be caused by a window 8.1 bug, please refer to the resource below for solution. http://spellingchampionapp.blogspot.com/2014/01/faq.html

语音系统不能正常工作，这可能是Windows 8.1 的一个错误引起的，请参照我的博客文章修改系统后再试。如果继续遇到这个问题请联系技术服务寻找帮助。 http://spellingchampionapp.blogspot.com/2014/01/faq.html

A2: This is confirmed by Microsoft Technical Support Professional that there is a bug in Windows 8.1 and RT 8.1 related to Speech framework when your 8.1 OS is a fresh installation instead of upgraded from 8.0. The root cause seems to be related to the permissions on CurrentUserLexicon key under  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Speech.

If you run following powershell command on your device, you will get the result similar to the following:

Get-Acl -Path HKCU:"Software\Microsoft\Speech\CurrentUserLexicon" |Format-List

The problem is with the extra entry of “ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES”. This extra entry only exists in fresh installed Window 8.1 or RT 8.1 . All it takes is removing this permission entry from Software\Microsoft\Speech\CurrentUserLexicon

If you run regedit.exe , you will be able to see the extra permission of the key as following:

All you need to do is to remove the permission entry "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES" from the registry key. When that is done, under Regedit you will get following screenshot:

If you run the same powershell script again, you will get result similar to the following.

Once this is done, your Spelling Champion should work. Should you continue experience difficulties, Please contact Technical Support for help.

Q3: I want to download some more modules, but I see the Download button as disabled, what do I do?
A3: Download button is disabled only when your device or computer is not connected to internet. make sure your device is connected to internet and try again. Should you continue experience difficulties, please contact Technical Support for help.

Q4: When I go to Download Page, I got the screen below:

Service is not available, please try again later. If you continue experience difficulties, please contact Technical Support for help.

下载服务器不在线，请等一会儿再试。如果一直是这样，请联系技术服务寻求帮助

what do I do to fix it?

A4: Spelling Champion goes to Champion server to download product catalog and products. when the address for Champion Server is not correct one or the service is not online, you will get this message. at the time of writing, the Service address is http://championservice.azurewebsites.net/ . please go to the Preference Page to ensure the address is  "http://championservice.azurewebsites.net//". If you continue experience difficulties,  please contact Technical Support for help.

Q5: When I try to download modules, I got this message. what do I do to fix it?

Service Address is invalid or not accessible. Please contact Technical Support for help.
下载服务器地址不正确或者不能访问，请联系技术服务寻求帮助

or 
Service error, Please contact Technical Support for help.


A5: Spelling Champion goes to Champion Server to download product catalog and products. when the address for Champion Server is not valid or not accessible by your device, you will get this problem.
the first step is to go to Preference Page of Spelling Champion and copy down the server address.

 and then open the address in your browser, (The correct value is http://championservices.azurewebsite.net/)  to make sure you can access the site in your browser. If you are unable to access the site, contact your network administrator for help. Once you are able to access the site from your browser, you will see the server in your browser similar to what I have below:

Preference page

Champion Service Site

 you can try again with Spelling Champion. When you first try Download Page,  it might take a few seconds longer before you get to see the catalog shown on the screen. after that, the app is expected to have normal performance. Should you continue experience difficulties, or you network administrator tells you there is nothing in the networking blocking the site, please contact Technical Support for help.

Q6: How do I disable/enable Toast Notification?

A6: on your windows 8.1 computer or device, sweep in from right edge of the screen ( point your mouse to the lower right corner, or Win+C ) to get Windows Charms. Then click on <Search> to search for "Notification", you will get a list of result including "Notification Settings>. Click on <Notification Settings> you will be able to change all kind of settings including <Show app notifications> <play notification sounds>

Q7: How do I turn on / off live tile of the app?

A7: live tile is a way for the app publisher to communicate with app users. with live tile switched on, the app users can get fresh content for the tile. It is configurable, user can switched it on or off at any point of time.

Turn on / off live tile

right mouse click on the app or swipe from the bottom of the screen, you will be able to see one of the screen on the left.  If your app's live tile is off, you can turn it off by click or touch on the logo with the caption of "Turn live tile on". If your app's live tile is on, you can click or touch on the logo with the text read as "Turn live tile off" to turn it off.


 Q8: when I start Spelling Champion, it shows up for a minute and then went off. what do I do?

A8: This is likely caused by some environmental issues of your device or computer and from the fact that you get this behavior from the app I can tell that you are not running the latest version of the app. you can go to the app store to update the app to its latest version and try to use the app again. However, as it could be some environmental issues of your device or computer, the latest version of the app will still not able to function. but the latest version of the app tells us what's problem by showing you a screen similar to the following:

System Error

Please take a screen shot of the screen and email to the technical support with the screen shot for help. It is likely that you might need make some changes to your device or computer before you can use the app. But Do't worry, we are here to help.

Q9: How do you capture the screen shot and send an email to the technical support resource?
A9: The easiest way to do that is through Microsoft Windows 8.1 Share.  This is the detail procedure on how to do it:
 on any page of the app, show charms by sweep from right to left from the right edge or Windows+C.
on Charms view, select "Share".
On flyout screen, Select <Screenshot> and select Mail as your share target. then send the email out after you provide the subject and the receiver's email address. the technical support email address is champion.app.service@gmail.com, you also can send it to my personal email address, PeterLuZC@gmail.com.

Q10: how do I share my spelling practice result to my parents or my teacher?
A10: it is very similar to how you send screen shot. ( please refer to Q9 for detail), the only difference is instead of choosing >Screenshot" as your share object, you choose  the subject spelled as the lesson title  as your share object..