02. Accessing Newsgroups With Windows Mail
Newsgroups are communities where people can express their
opinions or ask for advice regarding specific topics. Not all are
particularly friendly beasts and some users’ can be particularly
argumentative. This guide is how to set up Windows Mail to receive
Microsoft newsgroups. Obviously there are other newsgroups available
and the principle for accessing them will basically be the same.
While newsgroups are a great source of information they do have
their own rules and regulations and also ways of posting. If you
are new to newsgroups do a Google search for Netiquette to give
you an idea of how to post.
To begin follow the instructions below:
1/ Open Windows Mail
2/ On the Main toolbar click the Tools option
3/ From the drop down menu click Accounts
4/ The Select Account Type Window will open (see fig: 2-1)
Fig: 2-1 Select Account Type Window
5/ Select Newsgroup Account and press Next
6/ In the next window you need to type in your display name.
This will be the name you want users to see on the news groups.
(see fig: 2-2)
Fig: 2-2 Display name dialogue box
7/ In the Display name dialogue box type in your name and then
click the Next button
8/ The next windows to appear is the internet news E-mail
Address Window
9/ In the E-mail Address dialogue box type the email address
you are going to use for the newsgroup (see fig: 2-3)
Fig: 3-3 Insert a false email address for added security
10/ Now here lies a word of warning: UserNet News groups are
open to the public and, as such, are regularly scanned (or
trawled) to gather email information for the purpose of
‘spamming’. For this reason ‘never’ use your real email address.
Always use a false address. If you make the mistake of allowing
your real email address to appear on any newsgroup you can expect
to get a whole lot of unsolicited ‘spam’ email.
11/ In the next window you need to type the Internet News
Server Name. As we are going to be using Microsoft’s own news
groups simply type news.microsoft.com into the dialogue box (see
fig: 2-4) and then click Next.
Fig: 2-4 Type in the news server name
12/ If you are using an alternative news server and it requires
you to log in, then make sure you tick the ‘My news server
requires me to log on’ box. Another window will appear to allow
you to insert the relevant log on details, such as user name and
password.
Fig: 2-5 News server requires me to log on box enabled
13/ If all has gone well the next window (see fig: 2-6) should
inform you that you have successfully entered all the required
information. All you need do now is click the Finish button
Fig: 2-6 Click the Finish button to complete
14/ At the moment you are not subscribed to any newsgroups, so
now you need to select whether you want to just download the
newsgroups or download newsgroups and turn on or not turn on
Communities. Just click on the option you require.
Fig: 2-7 Press Yes button to download newsgroups
15/ Assuming you have entered the server name and any user name
and password, if required, correctly the list of news groups
should now begin to download. (see fig: 2-8 )
Fig: 2-8 Downloading the Newsgroup list
16/ Once they have all downloaded – this may take a few minutes
– scroll down the list and select a newsgroup you are interested
in.
17/ With the selection highlighted click on the Subscribe
button to subscribe to this newsgroup. You can select and
subscribe to as many newsgroups as you wish (see fig: 2-9 )
Fig: 2-9 Subscribing to a News Group
18/ After you have finished subscribing to the relevant news
groups click OK to close the window
19/ In the right hand pane of Windows Mail you will now see a
list of the newsgroups you have subscribed to (see fig: 2-10)
Fig: 2-10 Windows Mail news window
20/ Under the Synchronization Settings column you will see a
small box next to each subscribed newsgroup. Click your mouse on
the first box to place a tick in it.
21 Next right click the box settings and, from the drop down
menu, select ‘synchronization settings'. Another drop down menu
will now appear. From this select headers only’. Do exactly the
same for all of your subscribed newsgroups.
Fig: 2-11 Adjusting the synchronization settings
22/ After you have finished changing the synchronization
settings for each newsgroup to ‘headers only’ click on Tools on
the main menu and select Synchronize Account to start downloading
the newsgroup posts (see fig: 2-12)
Fig: 2-12 Synchronizing the news groups
23/ Windows Mail should now check your subscribed news groups
and begin downloading (see fig:2-13)
Fig: 2-13 Downloading News groups
24/ You have now finished. All that remains is for you to read
any posts and, if you so desire, reply.