Ken (and Peter) - this may explain my problem - I was using OE as my mail
client until recently, (but had not newsgroups set up), and was able to use
the MS discuss groups without problem. Recently switched to Outlook, didn't
do anything re newsgroups
Although Outlook Express does both E-mail and newsgroups, Outlook does
not; it's an E-mail client only and still uses Outlook Express as its
newsreader.
What program you use for E-mail has nothing to do with what program
you use as a newsreader. There are many choices of newsreaders. I
personally use Outlook for E-mail and Forte Agent for newsgroups. I
suggested that you use Outlook Express only because you already have
it and its easy to get started with. Once you get started, you may
later want to switch to another newsreader.
- could this explain/compound flakey performance?
No, not at all.
I've added "news" to my go menu as the article suggested, but don't know how
to "subscribe" to this discussion board
Again, realize that it's a newsgroup, not a "discussion board." If you
try to use a newsreader and continue to think of this as a discussion
board, you will only confuse yourself.
- is there another article you can
link me to re that?
I think the one I suggested is good, but someone else may have other
suggestions for you.
Also, I selected the msnews.microsoft.com for the NNTP
server,
Good. That's the first step. The second step is to download the list
of newsgroups from msnews.microsoft.com. The third step is to
subscribe to the newsgroups you want (such as the one you're posting
in now, microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics).
as the article suggested, but since I'll mainly want to use the
microsoft discussion areas,
Again, "newsgroups, not "discussion areas."
I'm confused re not using my real email address -
that's required to post to the ms discuss area - please explain further, if
possible
Forget about the requirements of the web discussion area. No real
address is required in the newsgroups. Although you *can* use your
real address if you want to, most experienced newsgroup users prefer
not to. I don't, because it can lead to spammers getting your address,
and because I don't want to get personal E-mail replies to messages I
send here.
Anyway, I set up initially with the email and password that I use on
microsoft discussion groups,
You're doing something wrong. You shouldn't even be asked for a
password, which isn't required. You're still thinging of it as a
discussion group, and that's confusing you. Please reread the
instructions and try again. If you still have problems, post back, but
describe exactly what you're doing: what screens you're on, what the
name of each item you enter is, etc.
To get started, don't open "news" from Outlook, just start Outlook
Express with the command line
msimn.exe /newsonly
it said that login failed
(because it was only pointed to nsnew.mocrosoft.com?).
I hope that's a typo for msnews.microsoft.com. That's what it's
supposed to be pointing to.
No login is required
I suspect I'm making progress, but not there yet - my need is simple - when
I have a tech problem I want to be able to post it in the correct area of the
ms discuss groups - now that I have got outlook set up to have the "news"
button, what do I do when I want to go to the discuss area and post a
questions?
Again, two points:
1. You want to be able to post it in the correct newsgroup, *not* "the
correct area of the ms discuss groups." Forget about "ms discuss
groups." They really don't exist, except as an web-based interface to
what are really these newsgroups.
2. Forget (at least initially) about using Outlook and it's news
button. that just brings up Outlook Express in news-only mode (if
you've done it properly). Rather than worry about whether you've set
that up properly, I'd prefer that you started Outlook Express in
news-only mode yourself, as I suggested above, by using the command
line msimn.exe /newsonly
You're confused now, because of your experience with the web-based
interface, but as soon as you stop thinking about the newsgroups as
discussion areas, you'll find that it's easy to set up and much easier
to use.
