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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 Outlook Express 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 Outlook Express
2/ On the Main toolbar click the Tools
option
3/ From the drop down menu click
Accounts
4/ The Internet Accounts Windows will
open (see fig: 1)
Fig 1: Internet
Accounts Window
5/ Click the Add button and, from the
drop down menu, click News
6/ The Internet Connection wizard Window
now appears (see fig: 2)
Fig 2: Internet
Connection Wizard
6/ In the Display name dialogue box type
in your name and then click the Next button
7/ The next windows to appear is the
internet news E-mail Address Window
8/ In the E-mail Address dialogue box
type the email address you are going to use for the newsgroup (see fig: 3)
Fig 3: Insert a false
email address for added security
9/ Now here lies a word of warning:
UserNet Newsgroups 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.
10/ In the next window you need to type
the Internet News Server Name. As we are going to be using Microsoft’s own
newsgroups simply type news.microsoft.com into the dialogue box (see fig: 4) and
then click Next.
Fig 4: Type in the
news server name
11/ 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.
12/ If all has gone well the next window
(see fig: 5) should inform you that you have successfully entered all the
required information. All you need do now is click the Finish button
Fig 5: Click the
Finish button to complete
13/ You will now be returned to the
Internet Account Window. In this window just press the Close button
14/ A message will now appear asking
‘would you like to download newsgroups from the news account you added?’ Press
the Yes button (see fig: 6 )
Fig 6: 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
newsgroups should now begin to download. (see fig: 7 )
Fig 7: 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: 8 )
Fig 8: Subscribing to
a NewsGroup
18/ After you have finished subscribing
to the relevant newsgroups click OK to close the window
19/ In the right hand pane of Outlook
Express you will now see a list of the newsgroups you have subscribed to (see
fig: 9)
Fig 9: Outlook
Express news window
20/ Under the Settings button you will
see a small box next to each subscribed newsgroup. Click your mouse on the first
box to place a tick in it. Next click the settings button and, from the drop
down menu, select ‘headers only’. Do exactly the same for all of your subscribed
newsgroups.
21/ After you have finished changing the
synchronisation settings for each newsgroup to ‘headers only’ click the
Synchronize Account button to start downloading the newsgroup posts (see fig:
10 )
Fig 10: Synchronising
the newsgroups
22/ You have now finished. All that
remains is for you to read any posts and, if you so desire, reply.
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