Newsgroups Technical Instructions

Here's a step-by-step instruction manual for accessing the ASP Newsgroups. See you there.
Netscape
  1. Choose menu items Options / Mail and News Preferences
  2. In News (NNTP) Server enter news2.asp-shareware.org
  3. Click OK
  4. Choose menu items Window/ Netscape News.
  5. In the Netscape News reader choose menu items File / Open News Host
  6. Enter news2.asp-shareware.org
  7. Click OK
  8. Back in the News reader highlight news://news2.asp-shareware.org
  9. Choose menu items File / Add Newsgroup
  10. Enter asp.members.
  11. Click OK. Repeat the above for all other newsgroups in the "asp." group (except the meeting rooms). The first time you access any passworded group it will ask for a user name and password (see above). Click the appropriate group, header (thread), and messages.
Internet Explorer / Outlook Express:
  1. Start up Outlook Express and choose "Tools"/"Accounts" from the menu bar.
  2. Select "Add", then "News" from the pull-down menus that follow.
  3. Enter your name in the dialog box. This should be your real name as opposed to an EMail address. Don't put a company name here--that can be added later. (NOTE--Express should fill this in automatically if you've set up other accounts.)
  4. Enter your EMail reply address in the space provided. (NOTE--Express should fill this in automatically if you've set up other accounts.)
  5. Enter "news2.asp-shareware.org" for the server name.
  6. Check the "This server requires me to log on" box, and enter the account/login name and password (see above) in the next dialog box.
  7. Select a name for your newsgroup setup--the default is the server name, but you can change this to anything that you like and that will help you remember what's in there.
  8. Select the type of connection to the Internet you will use. On a properly or previously configured copy of Outlook Express this radio button will already be selected with the correct data.
  9. Click "Finish" then "Close". If this is the first time you have installed the ASP Newsgroup Server, Outlook Express will ask you if it should download the latest list of newsgroups. Go ahead--it should take just a few seconds.
  10. Select "View"/ "Layout" from the menu bar and be sure that you have turned on the "Outlook Bar" option. The Outlook Bar will appear on the left side of your window and allow you to easily select your new news server(s).
  11. Finally, right-click on the new icon in the left-side toolbar for your newsgroup setup, select "Properties" and change any of the miscellaneous information that you want to change (such as organization, etc). In these dialog boxes you can add a signature to your postings, change the quoting/ replying methods, set up a title/company name to be added to your posts, and so on--all the usual Usenet posting options can be accessed from the Properties menu once the basic information has been entered.
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Free Agent:
Go to http://www.forteinc.com/ and download the freeware copy of Free Agent. Try it and if you like it, buy Agent for only $29. If you're running Free Agent, an upgrade to Agent will give you the ability to word search all the messages in any or all of the groups, message sorting by thread, size, author, or date, and full control of how to display cross-posted messages (messages sent to multiple groups). With the amount of technical information that appears in asp.members, Agent is well worth $29 just for the search features alone. Run the file you download to install Free Agent. Run Free Agent and configure as follows:
  1. Choose menu items Options / General Preferences / System(tab)
  2. In News Server enter news2.asp-shareware.org
  3. After entering news2.asp-shareware.org in the News Server box, it's also a good idea to drop down to the Email box below and enter your outgoing mail server name there as well (probably your local ISP's SMTP server of the form mail.xxx.xxx). This allows you to reply to posted messages by Email from Free Agent if you so desire.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Choose menu items Options / General Preferences / User (tab) and fill out that page. Check "Server requires authorization login" and "Remember Password between sessions". (In Agent, the menu is different: from the Options menu, click on User and System Profile. Check "Login with a username and password" and "Remember password") Enter the User(Login) Name and password (see above).
  6. Click OK.
  7. Choose menu items Group / Default Properties / Retrieving (tab)
  8. Check Retrieve bodies for all new messages
  9. Click OK.
  10. Select Marking Read tab.
  11. Check Mark all existing messages read. (Optional--this step marks all messages as though you had read them each time you check for new messages. That's good if you browse through the newsgroups on an occasional basis, and bad if you're trying to read every new message.)
  12. Select Online / Refresh Groups to get a list of the groups in the ASP Newsgroup
  13. Click on the asp.members group to highlight it. Click on Group / Subscribe to subscribe to that group.
  14. Click on Group / Properties /Retrieving and be sure that "Download bodies for all new messages" is checked. If this box is grayed out, check the box for "Override default settings".
  15. Likewise, click on the other ASP newsgroups, and then Group / Subscribe to each group. Also Click on Group / Properties / Retrieving and be sure that "Download bodies for all new messages" is checked for each subscribed group.
  16. To start a session, click on the far left button on the toolbar to Get new headers in subscribed groups.
Virtual Access
  1. File / Comms Setup / Service name/ News: Enter news2.asp-shareware.org as the server and enter login name and password.
  2. Message / Subscribe-Unsubscribe / select service name / Update: After updating, select the news service you require. By clicking Update VA will collect and subsequently list all the newsgroups in the ASP list after next connection.
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