Re: OT: Usenet Newsreaders

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>> Well, following my questions about Windows Live Mail 2011 last year, where >> there were some decent responses, and one of the usual "It's MS, what do >> you expect you idiot" responses, I procrastinated a while, then downloaded >> 40tude Dialog. It was a little painful to get used to, but having just >> plonked the Colonel and his chums, I'm really growing to like it. It's a >> very powerful reader, and requires a little background reading to make the >> most of it. Plonk rules aren't the simplest - but once mastered, they are >> way better than the old MS OE/WM/WLM ones. >> >> I also love the way that it highlights common usenet acronyms, like LOL >> etc, and shows the meaning as a tooltip. OK, so I know what LOL means, but >> there have been others... BFI would be a great one for this group, >> especially when dealing with seized nuts etc. >> >> Usenet is a happy and easy experience again! :) > > Yes to all that. Also the single-key commands for Follow up and Reply etc.

Cool - I'd not realised that, but it makes things even simpler. Cheers. I just need to remember to press 'F', and not 'R'!

The database needs compacting every so often, after emptying items not > wanted from Sent and so on; I do mine about once a month.

I'll look into that soon.

Only thing that does bug me a little, is having to double-click the post that I want to read. Not sure I see the point of that.

Reply to
JW
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(Not sure about this): under Group - Default Group Options - Retrieving I have the first 3 LH boxen ticked. I've set the Default number to be downloaded at 100 then, for Selected Group Options (also under Group) to rather more for this group and also uk.tech.digital-tv as they're the most useful to me and carry a lot of traffic.

AFAIK, the reason that you have to double click is because the bodies haven't been downloaded.

The head of the column that has the +/- for the Threads can have: +/-, /\ or \/ on it; I find that /\ is the best for ordered threading. It's set by clicking on it. It will, in some groups, reset to +/- after compaction.

HTH.

Reply to
PeterC

The standard for news transmission was set in 1979/1980 so apart from bug fixes there's not much need for updating news clients.

40tude Dialog has quite a following, but choosing a news reader is nearly as personal as choosing a wife.
Reply to
Jeff Gaines

Agreed - it's quite old - the Help - About says (c) 2000-2004. But it works well on Windows 7, 64-bit.

As Microsoft have proven, the most up-to-date newsreaders are not necessarily the best.

Reply to
JW

Thanks Peter. I will have a play with those settings later.

Loving the shortcut 'F', by the way! ;-)

Reply to
JW

Well as the playpen has got infested by the Stupids again and I use Google Groups (OK, OK, but it is an easy option!!), it's clearly time to move on to something where I can disinfect the work area.

Thanks for the recommendation, but now I need some help. It is asking me to for my 'newsserver'. I suspect that I can't use Google for that

- yes? What about my ISP (btinternet?) - or do I have to sign up for something else ?

Many thanks Rob

Reply to
robgraham

news.btinternet.com

Log in using your BT internet or Yahoo e-mail address and password.

Not terrific retention of older articles, but it carries a lot of binary groups.

The only real catch is that you can't log in from a non-BT line, so it doesn't work if you're using a 3G dongle or hotel room access point while you're on holiday or away from home.

I use news.individual.net , which works from anywhere, carries only text groups, and costs 10 Euros a year. Eternal-September is free and almost as good.

Combine either with a decent newsreader, and you're good to go, as the Yanks say.

Reply to
John Williamson

Ahh. Your ISP may provide news for you (Fewer do these days) but many people prefer news.eternal-september.org, news.aioe.org, or news.sunsite.dk (all free) or one of the modestly priced providers

John

Reply to
JTM

I would have thought

news.btinternet.com

would be your newsserver, but I haven't read the previous posts....

Reply to
stuart noble

Thanks guys - as always the best source of all information.

Rob

Reply to
robgraham

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