R. C. White said:
Hi, Gail.
Newsgroup posts are NOT email.
You can choose from two methods to post messages here. The one you have
used for this message (and for your other message posted one minute after
this one) is the Web-based interface (also known by several other names,
including Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000). This method uses a browser, such
as Internet Explorer. Not email.
The other method is NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), using any of many
available news readers, including Outlook Express, which is built into WinXP
and all recent versions of Windows. OE can handle both email and news, but
they are two separate functions.
Your quoted error message indicates a problem sending the post through your
ISP's news server, Shawnews. Either there is a problem in Shawnews, or a
problem in the way your Shawnews account is configured. You may need to
contact Shawnews to resolve this question.
Or, for these 2000+ Microsoft public newsgroups, you can simply "skip the
middleman". Bypass Shawnews and connect directly to the Microsoft public
news server, which is free and does not require you to log in. You can do
it manually, or just click here:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain
Unless blocked by something like a corporate policy, that click should start
OE, set up a News Account, subscribe you to this newsgroup, and download the
latest 300 headers for you. In other words, it should bring you right back
here, but using the OE news reader, rather than the Web-based interface.
And you will be connected directly to the Microsoft news server (which is
the home for these groups), rather than through Shawnews (which may suscribe
to only some of them). Many news servers simply "slurp" messages from the
host server and relay them and any responses back and forth, which can
result in delays or in posts that are out of sequence or simply lost.
Later, you can adjust the Account settings to suit yourself. And Reset the
list to see all of the available groups.
RC
