Usenet problem

[Rick]

Ok... for a little over a week now I've found that, while I CAN access the
Microsoft newsgroups, Windows Mail refuses me access to standard Usenet
newsgroups. When I so much as try to view... well... any of them I can see
in the lower left corner "Authorizing". It then asks me for my username and
password. I enter them and see "Authorizing"... followed by it asking my for
my username and password again. I've scanned my system no virus. No spyware,
nada.. clean system.

I'm using Vista Home Premium and have had the system for a bit over a year
and haven't had any major problems. I Have by the way, tried deleting the
Usenet account and re-adding it. Still same thing. It's like Windows Mail
only allows me to access the Microsoft newsgroups but nothing else. Oh, and
there are no problems with sending or receiving emails at all. Just the
refusal of Usenet access.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You failed to tell us a critical piece of information.
Which news server do you use for accessing non-Microsoft newsgroups?

I use WM to access newsgroups on several different non-MS news servers.

 

[Rick]

News server... says Usenet.ptd.net (my ISP's server)

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Make sure you have followed these steps correctly:
http://www.ptd.net/tiki-index.php?page=Setting_up_Usenet_Access_in_Windows_Mail

If it still doesn't work, give your ISP a call.

You can prove or disprove that the problem is due to your ISP's
news server by setting up a free news server account. For directions
see http://motzarella.org

 

[Rick]

OK... I set up Thunderbird (which I don't really like, but for experiment's
sake...). It accesses Usenet fine. Seems like Windows Mail may be the
problem.

 

[Rick]

ok... I tried, again with Windows Mail... I don't know what happened but the
problem seems to have gone away. Its working fine now. Thanx for all the
help and advice everyone!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Sounds like there was a news server problem, and you timed the
Thunderbird install to coincide with the server being fixed.
It never hurts to have a backup program.