What's a Newsgroup?
A Newsgroup is a collection of messages dedicated to one specific topic.
There are tens of thousands of newsgroups out there covering almost every topic you can think of including newsgroups dedicated to most professions and special interest groups, as well as computer related topics. There are usually versions of newgroups available in virtually every country and language in the world.
Newsgroups are very useful for getting in touch with a specific group of people who share your interests, as well as getting information, technical support or help when you have a specific problem.
Your Internet Service Provider will offer access to many (though probably not all) newsgroups. It is not uncommon for an internet service provider to carry 40,000-50,000 newsgroups at a time, and they are constatntly adding more to their list of available newsgroups.
To view newsgroups, you use a newsgroup "reader" program such as the one included in AOL or Microsoft's Outlook Express.
To view messages in a particular newsgroup, you must first "subscribe" to the newsgroup, using your newsgroup reader. "Subscribing" just means that your reader will update the new messages each time you view the newsgroup. Subscribing is usually as simple as picking a newsgroup and clicking on it. Unsubscribing is done the the same way. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to newsgroups at any time, and you can subscribe to as many as you want at once.
Once subscribed to a newsgroup, you can read messages, search for messages by subject or content, and reply to a particular message, as you would reply to a normal e-mail message that you receive. The difference between an e-mail message and a message posted in a newsgroup is that your reply to a newsgroup message is not usually sent to an individual's mailbox (although it can be)- instead, it is "posted" on the newsgroup where all subscribers can read it.
Messages within a newsgroup are grouped in message "threads". A thread consists of the original message, all replies to that message, and all replies to the replies, and so on. This makes it easy to view the entire "thread" at once, reading each message and reply in sequence.
Using Newsgroups in Outlook Express
Introducing Outlook Express
Microsoft Outlook Express puts the world of online communication on your desktop. Whether you want to exchange e-mail with colleagues and friends or join newsgroups to trade ideas and information, the tools are here.
Manage multiple mail and news accounts
If you have several mail or news accounts, you can use them all from one window. You can also create multiple users, or identities, for the same computer. Each identity gets its own mail folders and Address Book. The ability to create multiple accounts and identities makes it easy for you to keep work separate from personal mail and also between individual users.
Browse through messages quickly and easily
Using the message list and preview pane, you can view a list of messages and read individual messages at the same time. The Folders list contains mail folders, news servers, and newsgroups, and you can easily switch between them. You can also create new folders to organize and sort messages, and then set up message rules so that incoming mail that meets your criteria automatically goes to a specific folder. You can also create your own views to customize the way you look at your mail.
Keep your mail on a server so you can view it from more than one computer
If your ISP uses an IMAP mail server for incoming mail, you can read, store, and organize your messages in folders on the server without downloading the messages to your computer. That way, you can view messages from any computer that can connect to that server.
Use the Address Book to store and retrieve e-mail addresses
You can save names and addresses in your Address Book automatically by simply replying to a message or by importing them from other programs, by typing them in, by adding them from e-mail messages you receive, or by searching popular Internet directory services (white pages). The Address Book supports Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) for accessing Internet directory services.
Add a personal signature or stationery to your messages
You can insert essential information into outgoing messages as part of your personal signature,and you can create multiple signatures to use for different purposes. For more detailed information, you can include a business card. To make your messages look more attractive, you can add stationery patterns and backgrounds, and you can change the color and style of the text.
Send and receive secure messages
You can digitally sign and encrypt messages by using digital IDs. Digitally signing your message assures recipients that the message is really from you. Encryption ensures that only intended recipients can read a message.
Find newsgroups that interest you
Looking for a newsgroup that matches your interests? You can search for newsgroups that contain keywords or browse through all of the newsgroups available from your Usenet provider. When you find a newsgroup you want to view regularly, add it to your Subscribed list so you can find it again easily.
View newsgroup conversations efficiently
You can view a newsgroup message and all of the responses without reading an entire message list. When you view the list of messages, you can expand and collapse conversations to make it easier to find what interests you. You can also use views to display only the messages you want to read.
Download newsgroup messages for offline reading
To use your online time efficiently, you can download messages or entire newsgroups, so you don't have to be connected to your ISP to read messages. You can also download message headers only for offline viewing and then mark the headers of the messages you want to read; then the next time you are connected, Outlook Express downloads the message text. You can also compose messages offline and send them the next time you reconnect.
Getting started with Outlook Express
With an Internet connection and Microsoft Outlook Express, you can exchange e-mail messages with anyone on the Internet and join any number of newsgroups.
The Internet Connection Wizard helps you connect to one or more mail or news servers. You will need the following information from your Internet service provider (ISP) or local area network (LAN) administrator:
The following topics in Outlook Express's Help tell you how to start receiving and sending e-mail, in addition to how to view and join newsgroups. After you get started, you'll find there are many ways to tailor Outlook Express to your needs. Look in Help Contents for ideas.
Using Newsgroups in AOL
If you're an AOL member, you can simply go to Keyword: Newsgroups, where you can find all the tools and help you need to search, subscribe, and use newsgroups.
Next, you need to find newsgroups to read. You can use AOL NetFind's Newsgroup Finder; once you've found a group that matches your interests, you can use your newsreader to subscribe to it. (You can read newsgroups without subscribing to them. But if you subscribe to a newsgroup, it will appear every time you open your newsreader.)
Once you're reading the newsgroup, you will see a list of threads, which are ongoing discussions of people replying to articles that have been posted. There may be hundreds of threads, each of which may be on a different topic. Using your newsreader, you can select a thread and read the articles in it.
When you're ready to post an article of your own (after lurking for an appropriate time and following the rules of netiquette, you can either reply to an existing message, or post an entirely new message.
Most newsreader programs give you the ability to search for keywords in newsgroup names. However, a more reliable way to find newsgroups that you're interested in, as well as specific newsgroup articles, is using a search engine that deals exclusively with newsgroups, like AOL NetFind's Newsgroup Finder, or DejaNews.com which will allow you to do both. Just specify whether you are looking for newsgroups or newsgroup articles, then type in words describing what you're looking for and you're well on your way.
Since there are so many newsgroups available (with more being created all the time), your Internet Service Provider may not currently get a newsgroup that you're interested in subscribing to. Not to worry: Try sending a polite e-mail to the people in charge (for example, at AOL, it's "newsmaster@aol.com"). Give them the full name of the newsgroup you want and ask them to add it so you can subscribe.
The following topics in AOL's Help will tell you more about using Newsgroups:
You can find them online at aol.com by going to the following world wide web address:
http://www.aol.com/nethelp/news/news.html