Vista - Newsreaders

I am looking for a good newsreader as I have grown tired of the limitations
of the web interface. I will be honest about the matter; I know nothing about
newsreaders and/or how to use them. I am not interested about the email
functions of any newsreaders as I use another email program. I have no
intention of using POP3 with the newsreader, but then again, this may change
as I learn more about the newsreader. This should tell you how little I know
about newsreaders. I am also ignorant about whether or not I will need to
subscribe to a newsgroup provider.

Another question I have is this: Do any of the newsreaders have the ability
to insert a hyperlink into my messages or must I use something like Microsoft
Word or Microsoft Works of Microsoft Office? This last statement should alert
you to the fact that I know nothing about inserting hyperlinks.

I am looking for a newsreader that is simple to configure and use. I have
spent days researching such things as newsreaders, HTML, binaries, yEnc, etc,
etc, etc. Needless to say, this is all above my level of knowledge.

I am running Vista Ultimate 32 bit with an AMD Athlon 64X2 4200 processor. I
currently use Yahoo mail and Windows Live Mail. The Windows Live Mail
contains Windows Live Writer, which I have never used. My retail Vista
Ultimate Disk must be defective because my OS has never contained Windows
Mail, which I understand replaces Outlook Express and is part of Vista. If I
reformat and do a clean install of Vista Ultimate there is no Windows Mail. I
assume Windows Mail, as an integral part of Vista, cannot be downloaded from
Microsoft and installed on my system. Oh well, no big deal.

My computer includes an installation disk for Microsoft Works 8.5. I mention
this only because it has the ability to create hyperlinks. However, I don't
have a clue as to how to create a hyperlink in this program and transfer it
to a discussion reply. I don't know if any of Microsoft's office products
have the ability to be used as a newsreader or not. This should tell you the
scope of my ignorance. If any of Microsoft's office products have the ability
to be used as a newsreader, while at the same time giving me the ability to
do many other things, I would be willing to purchase Microsoft Office 2007 or
any other Microsoft office product. I don't care if my newsreader is a free
application or one that I must pay for. Money is not a problem.

Well, there you have it. The whole world now knows the scope of my
ignorance. Humility is a wonderful thing, don't you think? I would sincerely
appreciate any assistance from anyone who can advise me of the options
available for the purpose of obtaining and using a good newsreader. I thank
you in advance for any advice you may be able to provide.

C.B.

CB wrote:(snippage)

Yes, hyperlinks are supported but most people prefer to read newsgroup
posts in plain text.

You do not need to subscribe to a "newsgroup provider" to use the
Microsoft newsgroups. The server name is msnews.microsoft.com and no
username/password are required. If you wish to subscribe to other Usenet
newsgroups, you will need a newsgroup provider. Check on your ISP's
website to see if they provide NNTP access.

Outlook Express/Windows Mail as Newsreader:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outloo...snewreader.htm
http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/accessi...ndows_mail.htm

Other Newsreaders for Windows:
http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php - Forte
http://www.mozilla.org - Thunderbird
http://gravity.tbates.org/
http://www.40tude.com/dialog/
http://xnews.newsguy.com/

About Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ - Usenet FAQs from the Internet FAQ Archives
http://www.usenetmonster.com/infocenter/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet - a brief
explanation of newsgroups

How to Post:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question
http://users.tpg.com.au/bzyhjr/liszt.htm - How Not to Get Technical Help
on Usenet
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://aumha.org/nntp.htm - list of MS newsgroups
microsoft.public.test.here - MS group to test if your newsreader is
working properly
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/munad.htm - how to munge email address
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting - crossposting
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm - multiposting


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP

"Malke" wrote:
Malke,

Thank you very much.

C.B.

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 11:56:01 -0800, CB <CB@xxxxxx>
wrote:

Good. Using a newsreader is a much better choice.


Read here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm

It's about Outlook Express, but Windows Mail, which comes with Vista,
is very similar.


I recommend that you start by using the newsreader you already
have--Windows Mail, which comes as part of Windows Vista.

Others will undoubtedly tell you how Windows Mail is terrible, and how
their choice of a newsreader is better. Some of them may even be
right; there is a fairly wide variety of features and capability in
newsreaders. I use a third-party newsreader myself.

But when you start out, you don't know enough about what features are
important to you. That's why I recommend starting with what you have.
Use it for a few months, long enough to understand its strengths and
weaknesses (and how important each of those strengths and weaknesses
are to the way *you* use a newsreader), then start to evaluate some
the others; you'll then have a benchmark to evaluate them against.


It's called a news server. You can get the Microsoft public newsgroups
free from the server msnews.microsoft.com. If you want other
(non-Microsoft) newsgroups, you'll need to use another server or
servers (most newsreaders let you use multiple servers without a
problem. I use five different servers myself). Check with your ISP;
many ISPs have general purpose news servers available for their
customers at no charge. If your ISP doesn't, you may want to Google to
find another choice; both paid and free choices exist.


They all do. You simply type something like www.microsoft.com and it
will be interpreted as a hyperlink.


No, not at all.


Again, start with Windows Mail. It's very easy.


Forget about things like yEnc and binaries at first (maybe forever,
depending on what your interest are; I've been using newsreaders for
many years, and still have no interest in them). Start with text-based
newsgroups, like this one. I recommend that you post in plain text,
not html, in text newsgroups (which to use is an option in the
newsreader).


Then change the "Windows Mail" I wrote above to "Windows Live Mail,"
which is an improved version of Windows Mail.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

Mr. Blake,

I appreciate your advice. Since I have no Windows Mail in my OS and I
cannot use Outlook Express in Vista I will use the Windows Live Mail
application. Hopefully, I won't make too many errors and/or cause anyone any
grief during the learning process. If so, I apologize in advance.

Have a nice day.

C.B.

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 13:44:01 -0800, CB <CB@xxxxxx>
wrote:

No formality necessary. Just "Ken" is fine.


You're welcome. Glad to help.


Good luck. It really isn't at all hard.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"CB" <CB@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news4112DD1-29A2-4CE1-AE66-B1FF7399E8D1@xxxxxxFirst, Windows Mail is included in Vista. It does email and newsgroups.
But does not retrieve your Hotmail.

Type "winmail" into Start Menu's search bar. Right-click the top
result and "Pin to Start Menu".

There is also Windows Live Mail which works with XP or Vista.
There is speculation that Windows Live Mail will replace
Windows Mail. Windows Live Mail (WLM) does newsgroups,
email and can retrieve your Hotmail. I think it is better than
Windows Mail (WM) at handling newsgroups. I don't use its
email function because I use Outlook for email.

Now, Hotmail is officially known as Windows Live Hotmail.
Microsoft has managed create quite a bit of confusion with
all these names and name changes.

WLM used to have "Desktop" at the end of it, they dropped that.
Even though the newsgroup for it still has "desktop" in its name.

Confused? Don't worry, many have been.

Like I said, I don't particularly like Vista's Windows Mail.
I think it handles newsgroups slow and buggy.

My suggestion is to try either Windows Live Mail or
Thunderbird for newsgroups.

http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview
Windows Live Mail

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
Thunderbird 2


Take care,

Michael

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 19:43:01 -0800, CB <CB@xxxxxx>
wrote:


I've never heard of such a defect--a missing program like that.

If you want Windows Mail, go to
C:\Program Files\Windows Mail\WinMail.exe and run the program from
there.

Or Click the Start Orb, and enter Windows Mail in the search line.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8nleq3d7rt0i7gdlds7oo2034fa5e1heii@xxxxxxKen,

I appreciate your feedback and I understand what you are saying.
However, I have no file for Windows Mail in C:\Program Files\Windows Mail. I
have also inserted the text winmail and windows mail in the Start Orb
searchbox to no avail. It simply doesn't exist.

I decided yesterday to take my Vista Ultimate upgrade disk and try it
on one of my other systems, knowing that I would not be able to activate it.
However, I wanted to see what the result would be. Sure enough, after
installing it on the other system there was no Windows Mail in the Program
Files and no Windows Mail listed in Start, All Programs.

I thought that maybe my DVD drive was not reading the disk correctly
but this has now been ruled out. It doesn't matter and I am not upset. It
could have been caused by some glitch in the manufacturing process or it
could have been caused by something as simple as a speck of dust on my disk
as the OS was being placed on it. It's also possible that the medium itself
was inferior or damaged in some way. Who knows.

Anyway, I am more than happy with Windows Live Mail, which according to
many people is much better than Windows Mail. I now have a newsreader and I
am able to access all three of my email accounts, one from Yahoo and two
from Hotmail, from one location with no signin or password necessary. I see
no reason to ask Microsoft to replace it as I don't intend to use Windows
Mail.

As always, your help is appreciated and your knowledge respected. Have
a nice day.

C.B.


--
It is the responsibility and duty of everyone to help the underprivileged
and less fortunate among us.

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 11:56:01 -0800, CB <CB@xxxxxx>
wrote:
I haven't used Windows Mail yet, but Free Agent is 10 times begtter
than OE for a newsreader:

http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Steve