Page Contents -
1. Overview
2. Setting up Outlook Express for Newsgroups
3. Setting up Messenger for Newsgroups

1. Overview

A newsgroup is a group 'pinboard' showing information about a particular subject, such as formula one or computer games.

To access newsgroups you will need a newsreader, of which lots are available. Examples that we use at Onlinehelp are Outlook which comes with Internet Explorer and Messenger which comes with Netscape Navigator.

Once configured properly, if you come across a web page that has a newsgroup address (such as alt.news.microsoft) and click on it, then the newsreader should go there automatically.

Before you start to configure your newsreader you need to know 3 things: your Name, your E-mail address, and the news server for your ISP. Typically the news server is called news.ispname, so for example if your ISP is Demon Internet, then the news server is news.demon.co.uk

2. Setting up Outlook Express for Newsgroups

Open Outlook, then the first thing to do is to click on the section that says "Set up a Newsgroups account..." on the right hand side of the screen.

Next, you have to tell Outlook what your name is. The next screen will ask for your E-mail address, so click on next and type it in.

You will find that after clicking on Next, you will have to choose Finish as you have finished setting up your newsgroup settings. Next, Outlook will try and download the list of newsgroups available from your newsgroup server. This will take a long time so bear with it!

Once this has finished, you will see a list of newsgroups similar to that below.

If you know the name of the newsgroup that you want to subscribe to, you can type it into the box and then choose Subscribe. If you do not, then you can scroll through the list until you find a newsgroup that interests you. Make sure that you have highlighted the group, and then choose Subscribe. You will then be able to read the articles in that newsgroup.

3. Setting up Messenger for Newsgroups

Firstly choose Edit and Preferences. You can then go through the options on the left hand side until you reach the settings shown below.

This is where you enter your name and E-mail address. If you send mail from one address but would like replies sent to a different address, then you can specify the other address in the Reply-to-address field.

Once this is all completed to your satisfaction, you will have to tell Messenger the name of your news server.

If there is an entry already in the list, normally something along the lines of "(default)" or another server which you no longer use, then highlight the old server and choose Delete. Once this is done, click on Add and you will see the screen below. Here, the news server is news.demon.co.uk, and so this has been entered in the box. Clicking on OK will take you back to the previous screen so you can click OK to get out of it.

Having done this, you will need to right click on the server which will be in the left hand list on the screen, and choose Subscribe to newsgroups. Messenger will then go away and search on the server for all newsgroups that are available. This can take a long while, so don't worry if it doesn't look like it is doing anything - it will eventually!

When it has done this, you will see a list similar to the one below. If you know what newsgroup you are looking for then you can type it directly into the Newsgroup box, otherwise you can look around by clicking on the folders and the plus signs to reveal more folders to choose.

When you have found a newsgroup which you would like to subscribe to, highlight it and choose Subscribe, making sure the tick is shown first. You can then click on OK and you will return to the main screen. On the left hand side underneath the name of your news server, you will see the name of the newsgroup that you have subscribed to. If you click on the name of the newsgroup, Messenger will download the titles to all the articles in that newsgroup for you to read.