About
Microsoft® Internet News allows you to read and participate in on-line discussions. Newsgroups provide an avenue for exchanging, ideas, information, and opinions in an informal forum. You can go to a newsgroup to post your own questions, tips, or opinions, or you can just read what other people are talking about. Newsgroup discussions take place on a network called Usenet, which is a collection of thousands of individual newsgroups on virtually any subject.
To use Microsoft® Internet News, establish your Internet connection, then, from the Start menu, select Internet News. Or, you may access the application directly from Microsoft® Internet Explorer v3.02 by clicking the Microsoft® Internet Mail icon on the toolbar and selecting Read News. For further information on using your newsreader, please refer to the on-line help by pressing the Help button in the Microsoft® Internet News application.
Note: This updated version of Microsoft Internet News contains a new security feature that will warn you before launching a program attached to a news message.
This section details the following features of Microsoft® Internet News.
Once you are ready to participate in newsgroups, you will need to activate Microsoft® Internet News to create a connection to your News server. Once this is done you can participate in newsgroup discussions. Follow the directions below to connect to your News server.
1. Click on the News icon under Programs or open News from the Internet Explorer browser.
2. News will ask you to gather some information.
3. Enter your name and e-mail address.
4. Enter your News server (news.internetwork.net).
5. Choose the modem method you use to connect to the Internet.
6. Choose Network Internet as your dial-up networking connection.
7. Click Finish.
8. You will be asked if you would like to view a list of all the newsgroups.
9. Make a connection to the Internet and the Newsreader will download the newsgroups.
The toolbar is a graphical representation of the commands used to operate Microsoft® Internet News. By mastering the toolbar, you will know all that you need to begin reading and contributing to Usenet newsgroups.
Most of the commands necessary to operate Microsoft® Internet News are located within the Toolbar. Below is a copy of your News Toolbar along with the name and function of each button.
 New Message |
Compose a new message |
 Reply to Group |
Reply to the entire Newsgroup |
 Reply to Author |
Reply to the author of a message |
 Forward |
Forward a message that you have received |
 Newsgroups |
Shows a list of the Newsgroups |
 Connect |
Connect to the news server |
 Disconnect |
Disconnect from the news server |
 Stop |
Stop loading the current messages |
Before you participate in newsgroup discussions, you need to subscribe to the newsgroups of your choice. But, don't worry - these subscriptions are free! You may subscribe to as many as newsgroups you want. To subscribe to a newsgroup follow the directions below.
1. Click the Newsgroups icon on the toolbar.
2. Go through the list of available newsgroups.
3. When you find one/several to which you would like to subscribe, highlight the newsgroup and click the Subscribe button.
4. You are now subscribed to the newsgroup.
You can search for a newsgroup that discusses your topics of interest. Microsoft® Internet News allows you to search for newsgroups that contain a specific word in the name. Follow the directions below to search for your topic.
1. Type the keyword in the Display Newsgroups Which Contain box.
2. You will get a list of any newsgroups that contain your keyword.
3. You may subscribe to any of these newsgroups.
Note: You will need to click on All to return to the display of all available newsgroups.
If you cannot find a specific newsgroup within the list, your news server might not carry that newsgroup.
Follow the directions below to read your subscribed newsgroups.
1. Click on the Newsgroups icon on the toolbar.
2. Click on any newsgroup to which you have subscribed.
3. Make sure you have a connection to the Internet.
4. Click on the Go To Button.
5. Microsoft® Internet News will download the newsgroup messages.
Note: The first time you view a newsgroup, it takes several minutes for Internet News to download the messages and headers and to store that information in a cache on your computer. The next time you go to that newsgroup, it downloads faster, because Internet News downloads only new messages and headers.
Posting a new message to a newsgroup
Follow the directions below to post a new message to the newsgroup you are reading.
1. On the News menu, click New Message To Newsgroup.
2. In the Newsgroups box, type the names of any other groups you want to post the message to, separating each name with a semicolon (;).
3. Type the subject of your message. Microsoft® Internet News will not post a message that does not contain a subject.
4. Type your message.
5. On the File menu, click Post Message.
Posting a Reply to a Newsgroup
Follow the directions below to post a reply to a previous message.
1. In the message list, click the message to which you want to reply.
2. On the News menu, click Reply To Newsgroup.
3. In the Newsgroups box, type the names of any other newsgroups on the same server you want to post the reply to, separating each name with a semicolon (;).
4. Type the subject of your message. Microsoft® Internet News will not post a message that does not contain a subject.
5. Type your message.
6. On the File menu, click Post Message.
Replying by Microsoft® Internet Mail to the Author
Follow the directions below to reply directly to the author of a newsgroup message.
1. In the message list, click the message to which you want to reply.
2. On the Microsoft® Internet Mail or News menu, click Reply To Author.
To send the message to other individuals, type the e-mail name of each recipient in the To or Cc box, separating each name with a semicolon (;).
3. Type your message.
4. On the File menu, click Send Message.
Microsoft® Internet News allows you to increase your disk space:
Delete Cached messages
Microsoft® Internet News will store messages in your computer's memory. Follow the directions below to delete stored messages.
1. On the News menu, click Options.
2. On the Advanced tab, select the options you want for maintaining the size of all local message files.
3. To compact, delete, or remove messages from all or specific message files now, click Clean Up Now, and follow the directions on your screen.