New features in 2.0

Here a link to the "older" feature updates (1.9).

This is a link to the FULL revision notes for 1.9 (a closer view into the programmers kitchen).

A lot of things have changed between the 1.9 versions and the 2.0 version. But I'll try to compress the changes to a readable minimum :-)

A full list (the developers notebook) is here: Full revision notes for 2.0 (150 kBytes of txt)

Desktop changes

• There is no menu in the Main Window. For those who still use it: You find it in the status window.
• The indicators (top left) are now round and can be clicked.The left mouse button click opens the "frequent tasks" - the right mouse button click opens a context menu. Indicators are white if the are idle. The are grey if they are disabled. The are green if smething is 'on'. They are yellow if something is running. They are cyan (light blue) if somethings wait for you (click it). They are yellow if something is actually done. They are magenta or read if something is wrong or temporarily deactivated.
• The winboxes are now rounded. The latest active Winbox has a yollow border. Using "Read News" deactivates temporarily the scheduler and the full automatic. All run buttons resume it. If you choose different layouts then you have to "relearn" them. Most of them will be lost after upgrade. You can now store the reader-column-sizes (Xover-Window) in the WinBoxes.
• The quick buttons are now disabled by default after setup. The Desktop Setup offers: "Show quick button bar".
• Most Guided Dialogs have been redesigned.

Licenses

• There is no more 'tiny' version
• There is a 30-day trial version (works as a full version)
• There is the free version
• There is the full version
• There is the root-server version

You old license files (free/full) will still work. No need to register again.
If you dont have a full version, yet: Bad luck. I offered it for free for two years now.

There is an online site where you can purchase the full version now.

Major changes

• It is possible to lock out non sharing MyNews (alfa stadium)
• It is possible to share through a firewall (the direction of a connection you made is reversed).
• A lot of dialog boxes have been replaced by "confirmations" which can be clicked to disappear - or can be ignored.
• MyNews is fetching the grouplist from other MyNews instead of trying all groups. This can be disabled for predefined groups.
• For multiple Usenet server setups it is now possible to fetch only (and quickly) the MsgID-List and then MyNews loads automatically just the headers which are yet unkown. This is sometimes slower - but mostly faster - and always reduces traffic.
• Both header fetches are now running asynchronously - in parallel on all servers. This does NOT apply for downloads of headers+messages. Only raw header fetches are sped up.
• Found filenames are now highlighted in the Xover-message-list. Unkown filenames are yellow, know filenames are cyan.
• The Xover-Window permits to "Hide" a lot of specific lines: (Options ->Config: Ctrl+O): multiparts (2-n), read messages, killed authors, good authors,.... The function "show all hidden lines" (Ctrl+A) permits to toggle quickly between hidden and full display. Hidden lines can be still 'seen' because a yellow seperator and a small arrow are displayed.
• The keyboard configuration for the Xover-Window can be fully configured (customized) now with a dialog function: Options -> Keyboard usage.
• New autopost function within XOVER window: Post -> Autopost binaries. This uses the standard upstream server, eMail for hat group. It permits to select the files directly with windows-dialogs. Also any subset of files can be easily selected.
• Multiparts are now completely labelled as "mark for download" is the (1/n) part is marked for download.
• ...
• A special header server offers all Usenet headers for the supported newsgroups - see how complete Usenet is.
• A special cancel server offers all Cancel-messages by group for the supported newsgroups - see what was cancelled.
• A special filename server offers information which message contains which file(name).
• The "thumbnail server" which offers thumbnails for every posted picture is still under construction
• The direct cooperation with a commcercial NSP offers the "future of Binary Usenet".
• ...

Minor changes

• There are accoustic signals after longer running functions
• All Config dialog boxes have been redesigned
• Joining of multiparts is no longer based on the filename but on the line text in front of (1/n) and it scans up and down.
• It is possible to mark a block and perform JOIN it it. All included multiparts are joined.
• Multiparts are labelled in the FLAGS column. Incomplete headers, partially downloaded, fully downloaded and already joined are differentiated by colours.
• Find again works in the grouplist
• New default filter: "Fetch up to #### (1000) messages at first contact prevents you from downloading millions of headers.
• Launching a multipart which was not yet joined issues a request if joining should be done right now.
• The groups window shows now a delivery statistics (articles & kByte) for each group. You can see how much you did share.
• The groups window has got a "View" menu which offers the various views for quick properties overview and change by click.
• The target directory for the decodes files (binaries) can be changed in the HELPER Config
• It is possible to select a target directory in the Xover window before joining or launching (Xover: Options -> Target). Standard Windows dialogs are used.
• A "navigate" search function permits to seek also upwards and also for read, kept, ignored and all other stuff.... (with save function)
• A "quick" button during adding newsgroups permits to add a bunch of newsgroups quickly. Select one - click quick - select one - click quick....
• The boot-behavior after abnormal crashes has been reworked. It can be selected now in the "Start" Config
• A lot of "Progress Displays" have been added.
• It is possible to specify the same filename database for different newsgroups now easily in the group options.
• New reader option: Double click orders message instantly.
• Ordering a message with the Data Window open shows the contacted server and the download progress.
• A warning log has been introduced. The Spy Window has now the name "Log-Window" and has a black background. Warnings are yellow.
• The "Guided Setup" shows the progress and the steps.
• The full version permits up to 10.000 newsgroups.
• Autoposter creates now ALL thumbnails before posting - and it posts all thumbnail sheets first.It is possible to post up to 1000 files. (However 100 is still recommended :-)
• It is possible to specify hosts to belong to a server farm. A maximum connection limit for the farm may be specified. This helps for newsfeeds.com
• The SMTP-Server (root-servers) is adding his traffic to the sockets now.
• MyNews NEVER launches these filetypes: exe com bat cmd. The list can be extended by the user himself in the data\filetype.txt file. All entries with a preceeding dash (-scr -inf -asf -htm -html ) are never launched.
• The column width in the XOVEr window can be moved with the mouse now. Click the seperator between two columns and drag it. This does NOT store this settings to disk. Permanent change requires a right mouse button click to the title bar - and SAVE.
• Spy and JpegViewer do no longer pop up if they are minimized. They do not pop into the foreground of any other application.
• It is no longer possible to hide a dialog behind other windows. As long as a dialog is open you cannot perform other tasks.
• The hosts directory contains now the high-watermarkand volume counters for each contacted host - Usenet and/or MyNews.
• It is possible to make corrections during manual joining. Click the mistaken line again and choose "RETRY" to remove it.
• The Xover-Sort-Menu îs now a submenu in the View menu. Clicking the titles is far easier. All sortings can be made "reverse".
• Very long subject handling can be choosen in the reader config now.
• Messages with identical date are now sorted by subject. All other identical sortings are sorted by date.
• Selecting huge groups (up to 150.000 lines): Analysis is now much faster.
• Filetypes r01-r99, s01-s99, p01-p99, sfv, nfo, rar, par are now defined "by default".
• NFO files are always displayed with the external viewer. Win2000/XP believes this would be a system file
• The speed of a currently running autopost can be changed with the Config-Speed dialog.
• If a header list contains more than 150.000 headers then the oldest one are cut off the display - they are still there
•  
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Important Bugfixes

• It is possible to delete the active newsgroup on Win-NT/2000/XP
• The size (bytes) in the groups window counts more than 2 Gigs now.
• Launch works now also for yEncoded multiparts
• Characters 128-255 (special charsets) are no longer changed to underscore
• Illegal NULL characters in messages are now replaced by '@'
• The yEnc AutoPoster is now placing the keyword "yEnc" behind the kBytes/Mbytes word.
• It is possible to start a JOIN on a reply line.
• Community registration works properly at the first signup now.
• Reload bad messages work now also properly for "non-database" (but single file) messages.
• Expire does now also handle !index.txt files.
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End of document