After the first run of MyNews some messages should have been downloaded to your local harddisk. In this chapter we discuss reading these messages, posting own messages and extending our scope of view to more newsgroups:
The quick-button "Group" (in the MainWindow) leads you to a new window: The GROUP-Window. Another windows will be the "Xover-Window" or "Message-Header-Window". (XOVER=eXtended OVERview. This is the message-header-list).
The click to "GROUP" shows you the newsgroups which are already defined on your own MyNews-Server. These are the groups which has been predefined by the software-release you've downloaded from the net.
Some MYNEWS.* groups are already and a group with the name
MYNEWS.TEST
Some group-lines appear RED. The red color indicates, that
headers for new messages were received for the group. (Sometimes
all message-headers are already known. But the group turns red
when ever headers were received for the group).
Before we click a group line let's have a short view at the
numbers. There are three columns with numbers behind the
group-name:
DISK: is the number of articles on your harddisk
XOVER: is the number of articles you can expect when you
open a group
NEW: is the number of new arrived articles you can expect.
After the first start some groups will show: 0 0 0
(Especially all groups with the word "erotica" are not
downloaded in the non-registered version, because the child-proof
lock disables all groups with this keyword.)
To get the numbers updated you can use the menu-function REFRESH in the Xover-Window. A warning appears that this can take time (if you have 15.000 headers stored, then every single one will be checked now). After the execution of this function all numbers are really valid.
Some groups show messages.
Perhaps you click two times (or double click) the group:
mynews.server.tips.
(Selecting a group also updates the "numbers" for the
group).
You see now a list of message-headers. They are sorted initially by date (eldest first). All RED lines are new messages you did not see before.
There are seven columns for each message-line:
Server-ID: The first column shows the ID-number of the server where this message is available. More info about the server-ids (what number is what server) can be obtained with the menu-function: Server-IDs. Just the first eight servers are listed (later revisions will show more).
Lines: The second column shows the number of lines for this message. 'Lines' are real lines of text. (The header-lines are not counted). Small text-messages have 1-100 lines. Pictures have 500-9999 lines. Large AVIs or MP3's have 15000 lines and more. (One line is approximately 72 characters).
IMPORTANT! If the LINE-Display has a GREEN background, then this message is already available on your harddisk. MyNews has already downloaded it automatically (or by a previous manual request). People with problems to distinguish between green and red can change the colors (manually in mynews.ini - described later).
Subject: The subject-line is the "title of the message".
From: The sender's Email-address (sometimes a fake). Green background indicates "good" author. Magenta background indicates "bad" author.
Date: The date when the message has been created. The time is re-calculated to your own local time - this is not the local time at the senders-site, but at _your_ site.
Size: This is the size of the message in BYTES. (Sometimes this size is incorrect or negative - so I dont use it for calculations).
Originating server: This is the second part of the message ID.
It shows the name of the server where the message had been posted
to. This can help us to identify spammers in the Usenet-groups.
If the server-name is preceded by a number, then this is the
message-number on your local harddisk (in the group-directory). A
magenta background indicates a "bad" (rogue) server.
Now you select one message which has already a green background in the LINE-Column. If you click it the second time, then the DATA-Window appears. This data-window shows you the message for reading.
If you double-click the message-line, then the data-window
appears immediately on your desktop. One click with the
left-mouse-button anywhere into the data-window toggles the
window size between normal and mximized.
One click with the RIGHT mouse button to the data-window HIDES
the data-window again. The BACKSPACE-Key (the large key with the
left-arrow above the RETURN-Key) also hides the data-window. The
ESCape-Key reduces the data-window to normal size and gives
control back to the Xover-Window.
The data-window has no functions actually. You can just maximize, normalize and hide it. Of course scrolling with the mouse (+wheel) on the scrollbar or the keyboard is implemented. The data-window shows up to 65 kBytes of data.
If the data-window is visible and you click another message-line in the XOVER-survey, then the content of the data-window changes immediately. This can take some time when large messages must be loaded. In this case you better hide the data window again.
The data-window shows just the subject-line and the from-line
(author). Then a horizontal line separates the two headers from
the text (body) of the message. The end of the message is
indicated by a second horizontal line.
If you select a message which has not yet been downloaded to
your local computer, then the data-window shows the
header-information. This is nice if the subject-line is very long
(and partially hidden in the survey) - or if the senders name is
too long. The entire Message-ID is visible and the server-numbers
are displayed with the server-name where a message is (was)
available.
Your actual configuration will automatically download messages with a size up to 100 lines. So NO long messages (pictures, programs, ...) will be retrieved automatically. You can change this setting later. But for the first start this seems to be better for you - than to wait hours until the first download is finished.
Messages which have NO green background in the message-line must be retrieved "by request". You select a message-line and press the 'M'-Key. The message line turns BLUE. This indicates that this message is now marked for the next download. (The selected lines jumps one down. So you easily select 100 messages for download. Press ENTER and hold it down :-)
You can also use the menu-function "mark" for marking a message for download.
If you have marked a message for download but this was a
mistake, then select the message and press the key u
( u for undo).
The message-line turns back to red and the download-request is
deleted.
After marking some messages for download you can start the download. While the download is running you can mark MORE messages for download. They will be all added to the download-list. (The progress indicator will then become problems:-)
For downloading itself you have three choices:
1: MainWindow - Usenet - Get marked bodies
This downloads from any host. You can enter the host's name (or
IP-address) before. This is nice to download messages from your
provider's server. YOu can also enter the IP-Number (not the
name) of an active MyNews-Server from the host-list.
2: MainWindow - MyNews - Get marked bodies
This will contact all other MyNews-Servers which are actually
available (you can see them in your Host-List in the
MyNews-Main-Window).
Of course you must be logged into the MyNews-Network. If no
servers are visible, then the download finds no servers.
3: MainWindow - Input - Get marked bodies
This downloads from all available news-servers you can access.
The second choice is the best if you download messages just
from MYNEWS-groups. The first choice should be used for
Usenet-messages.
Combinations of both kinds of servers are done with the third
choice.
The XOVER-Window offers some nice functions for navigation. The actual version contains all functions "as menu" - for memory. They work all with the keyboard - and better I believe.
sDate: Sorts the list by Date
sFrom: Sorts the list by Author
sSubject: Sorts the list be subject (best for
de-spamming)
.... far more available now
New messages are in red color. Usually you mark a message as
"read" when you have seen it to distinguish between
'new' and 'old' messages.
The key "r" (read) turns a red line to black - and
moves the active line down.
The key "s" (skip) does the same, but move the active line to the next red line.
The menu-function "AllRead" marks all messages in the group as "read". (A warning dialog-box appears before).
The key "u" also turns a message back to red !
(A download request is also deleted).
The message-list will grow - quickly! So you may want to
get rid of older headers.
This is also a question of speed. If you have 10.000
message-headers in a group then selecting the group becomes slow,
because all these headers are checked again and again !
You can delete a message-header-line with the key <DELete> on your keyboard. This deletes JUST THE HEADER-DISPLAY - NOT THE MESSAGE ON YOUR HARDDISK!
If you are not interested in a message (for download), then delete its header.
The key <INSert> will also delete a message-header-line but jump to the next RED line.
A deleted line is displayed in yellow color. It is not yet
finally deleted! You can "undo" the deletion with the
"u" (undo) - key.
The next time you select the group the header-line will not show
up again.
The menu-function AllDelete will open a
safety-question and delete then ALL message-header from this
group. However the message-headers are still not yet finally
deleted from your computer. The files are just moved to a special
"expire.xov"-directory and you can restore them
manually (if you really need them again). We will learn this in
a later step.
If you have downloaded a spam-message or want to clean up your
harddisk, then select a message and press the keys: SHIFT +
D
This deletes the header PLUS the file from your harddisk.
WARNING! There is no warning! ;-)
It is recommended to delete spam-messages in ALL newsgroups!
If you leave it there, then others will also get it ! From
you !
The key "n" (next) moves the active line to the next
RED line.
The key "i" (ignore) turns a line to gray (future
expansion)
MyNews contains a uudecoder and MIME-decoder (not the
unregistered version). It does not join multipart-messages
actually, but it is great to have a quick view to an attachment.
If you press the key "l", then MyNews tries to decode
an attachment (to the directory \mynews\tempfile)
If it is a pictures (JPG, GIF,...) then the associated default
viewer (defined for your windows installation) is called for this
picture. (If no default viewer is there, then the configured
picture viewer is called (see: Config - Auto)
EXE-Files (and COM/BAT/...) are NOT STARTED with 'launch'
!
HTML-Attachments ARE started with your browser.
If no attachment is found, then the regular text-viewer is started. This is sometimes nice to inspect headers.
If you have a message from a "well known good"
author selected, then you can press the
key-combination: SHIFT + G
This adds the author to the "good"-file.
(Later we can configure MyNews to download automatically all
messages from 'good' authors).
From now on this author will appear with a GREEN background in
the message list.
(MyNews compares always the entire names here).
If you have a spammer selected, then you can press:
SHIFT + K
This adds the author to the KILL-List.
The kill-list is NOT used by the downloads actually - because
spammers and trolls change their names too often.
But from now on this author will appear with a MAGENTA
background.
(MyNews compares also PARTS of the name here).
If you see that a spammer is using always the same
news-server, then select a header-line and press: SHIFT + S
This adds the server to the server-kill-list. This list is also
not yet used for downloading, but it helps you deciding if a new
author is probably a spammer. The server-column (last one) will
turn to magenta for bad servers.
This build in viewer is ugly! I know this - and I did improve it already and will continue that job
But it has one purpose: You can select what you get BEFORE you
get it.
And you can delete spammers BEFORE you download stuff from them.
(Most users wants this)
The keyboard-usage of this viewer is designed for high volume checking. I'm actually inspecting about 3000-8000 message-headers per day. And so this viewer is optimized for this purpose. You can adapt the keyboard configuration to your own needs. There is a config file (keydef.ini) in the data directory.
However I cannot please all your needs. There are hundreds of
good news-reader available - and it makes sense to use them -
instead of my tiny tool. So let's use YOUR preferred news-reader
now:
You have already a news-reader on your harddisk:
Microsoft's Outlook-Express (or Microsoft-News),
Netscape's Messenger,
Forte Free Agent,
Forte Agent,
WinVN
AllNews (by Mike Read)
..... anything else.
Some of them can be configured to access multiple
news-servers. Then you just add a server (or an account).
Others can handle just one news-server. Then it is best to create
a COPY of the news-reader to a new directory and then change the
configuration.
Normally your news-reader is configured to access your providers news-server (or your pay-providers news-server). Now you change/add this configuration to access your very personal and local news-server!
I cannot offer you pictures and detailed information "how
to configure" your own news-reader. (If you could make
some screen-shots for the newbies, then I would be really happy
! This will be a common problem for the less experienced
users)
But here is the information you need:
Your servers name is:
localhost or 127.0.0.1
Your servers port is: 119
You DONT NEED authentication (login - name and/or password).
Switch it off.
Now change the configuration of your own news-reader. MyNews should be running on your PC. Now access your own server with your news-reader. You will see the available news-groups. You can download headers - and messages. Everything will be fast as a FLASH!
IMPORTANT! You can now also POST to your own, local
server!
(Check your Email-address before if you want to stay anonymous:
Post a test-message to "local.test" before you post
into another group).
And please send a "hello" to mynews.hello
If your news-reader shows error-messages, then please try again. Microsofts Outlook for example seems to need a second trial to access MyNews (dont ask me why). If an error-message appears again and again, then notify it, close MyNews and add the logfile to a report. Please send this report to me. I will try to do everything to allow all newsreaders to access MyNews properly.
There is one still unsolved problem: Your news-reader cannot show you what messages are already locally available on MyNews. So a trick is used: Messages with a size of more than 100.000 lines are NOT yet downloaded - messages with a smaller line count are already there. If you try to read a message which is not yet locally available, then MyNews will immediately try to downlaod it from you from all available servers. But you must be ONLINE to use this "proxy"-function.
You configure MyNews in a way that it shows only the locally available messages - but this is advanced stuff.
You can post with other tools (AutoPost) to your own, local server. Simply use the name "localhost" (without the quotes) or the IP-Number: 127.0.0.1 as the server-name in the setup for your tool. Select port 119 - and switch the authentication OFF.
You should make the first posts to: mynews.test !
This disturbs nobody - and the messages are normally not
downloaded by others.
If you decide to post to MyNews-Groups, then please try first 1-3 posts to mynews.test or mynews.erotica.test (please no erotica into the normal test group).
Posting to your own, local server does NOT affect the rest of the MyNews-network. You can post millions of things to your own local groups. They will NEVER be "sent out". Your server will NOT send posts by itself (except of the built-in autoposter). So there must be another way how your messages are distributed:
Whenever you make a "Login" into the root-server, then the root-server begins to download messages from YOUR server. And if the root-server downloads messages from groups where you have posted to, then these messages will appear on the root-server. But the root-server decides, what he wants - not you !
There are root-servers which do NOT keep own groups. Then the login will not help. Our actual root-server carries ALL the mynews.* newsgroups. But NOT the alt.* newsgroups !
When you are still online and someone else "logs in" at the root-server, then he gets access to your MyNews-Server. Then HE will download from your computer. But just what HE wants to have. So if you both have "mynews.server.questions" in your download-list, then you will exchange messages.
The last way is to ask all available MyNews-Servers to visit
you. And this is the "normal" way: After posting all
your replies (and pics) to your local news-server you use the
function: MainWindow - MyNews - Request upload
Your server will contact all other MyNews-Hosts in its host-list
and send them a "Request for Upload". They decide if
they want your messages. Usually they download within 5 seconds
(or much later if another download is in progress).
"Login & Get messages" (Start) will deliver
messages from others to you.
You post and reply.
Then use "MyNews-Request upload" to distribute your own
messages.
The default configuration for your MyNews-Server is VERY
defensive!
Your server makes delays of one second between messages while
downloading and one second of delay while receiving larger
packages of data.
This setup is default to PROTECT you.
If you want more speed while downloading, then select:
MainWindow - Input - Full Speed
Now the speed depends just on your Internet-connection (and the
server who delivers you the data).
This setting is just temporary ! The next start of MyNews
will be with the "old", slow speed. You can change the
delay-times with:
MainWindow - Config - Parameter Setup - Speed-tab.
The values for "download speed" and "order
speed" depend on your line to the Internet. Setting the
values to ZERO will result in maximum possible speed.
Click SAVE to store the values on your harddisk.
Running on full speed (0) affects your other Internet work while
MyNews is running!
If you want more speed while uploading (delivering to other
servers), then select: MainWindow - Output - and the
desired bandwidth in bytes/second. There are hints what to use
for 28.8, V56 and ISDN. The default is just 1460 bytes/second (or
whatever you've entered in the basic setup).
Again this setting is just temporary. You can store it
permanently with:
MainWindow - Config - Parameter Setup - Server-tab:
Sigh, the unregistered version does not allow you to access groups with the words "erotica" or "adult". Newsgroups which begins with the word: "alt." are also not allowed. So if you want to join such groups, then register, please. It is FREE ! (Again: Send me an EMail with your desired servername and you will get the license file within 24 hours....)
After the registration (copy the license file to your \mynews
- directory) you should make a complete reload of all headers:
Login into MyNews and use the function: MainWindow - MyNews
- Get all headers again
Now you will see some test-posts and messages in the
mynews.erotica hierarchy.
Feel free to download - join - comment - create own groups....
and have fun.
There are already Usenet-Newsgroups available in the
MyNews-network.
If you are interested in them, then you have to add the
newsgroups manually:
Select: GroupsWindow - Edit - Add new group
Type the groupname. (Be sure to type it correct :-)
Activate "visible to others" (else you will not see it
with your own news-reader) and activate "Add to
download-list". Then click OK.
Your group-list (in the Group-Window) will show the new group
now.
Now activate the next loading of headers from MyNews:
MainWindow - MyNews - Get again
If the groups you've added is available, then you will get
headers (and some shorter messages). You will have to select
manually what to get (with my tiny news-reader) and then start
the manual download.
Actually all my servers has been resetted - and just messages since the Oct, 1st 1999 are available. This is again to PROTECT you. It is no fun to download 150.000 headers :-)
Here a few Usenet-newsgroups which are actually available.
alt.binaries.moderated.pinup-art
alt.binaries.pictures.art.pin-up
alt.fan.bettie-page
alt.binaries.pictures.boris.vallejo
alt.binaries.pictures.fantasy-sci-fi
The next step will be about the combination of Usenet and MyNews, usage of multiple servers and auto-posting.
Juergen, <InfStar>
All rights reserved. Document contains mistakes in spelling,
grammar and terms.