please recommend USENET newsreader program

S

Steve Hayes

I have been using WinXP for years and have been using Outlook Express
for mail and news groups. Now I'm using Win7 woithut Outlook Express.
I'm now using Gmail web mail for email but I haven't yet looked for a
newsreader program. Can anyone here recommend a USENET newsreader for
use with Win7? Anyone have a link to a free hassle-free download of
such a program?
Click to expand...

Forte (Free) Agent

www.forteinc.com

The free version does news, the paid-for one does e-mail as well.
 
N

Nil

I've used Gravity for many years now. It has some annoyances,
chiefly some bugs in its treatment of quoted or forwarded
material, but every time I try another newsreader I come back to
Gravity.
Click to expand...

I was an early adopter of Gravity, and in fact I paid for it back when
it was commercial software. At that time, I found it to be superb for
off-line reading, suitable for my slow dialup connection. It did have
some problems, chiefly in that the database was delicate and prone to
corruption. I suppose that has improved.

What I can't accept about it now is that it seems to have no ability to
store messages (including copies of ones I post) to archive or storage
folders.
 
M

mick

I've used Gravity for many years now. It has some annoyances,
chiefly some bugs in its treatment of quoted or forwarded
material, but every time I try another newsreader I come back to
Gravity.
Click to expand...

I was an early adopter of Gravity, and in fact I paid for it back when
it was commercial software. At that time, I found it to be superb for
off-line reading, suitable for my slow dialup connection. It did have
some problems, chiefly in that the database was delicate and prone to
corruption. I suppose that has improved.

What I can't accept about it now is that it seems to have no ability to
store messages (including copies of ones I post) to archive or storage
folders.[/QUOTE]

I think it was from the early nineties, about 20 years or so that I
used Gravity. The only reason I do not use it now is that when
downloading binary pictures it does not have its own viewer and so has
to open my systems default viewer to see them.

If you and Stan like Gravity I am sure you would like MesNews. I have
settled on MesNews as a text and binary(photo groups) reader, Newsbin
for large binary downloads such as mp3, avi and pdf type files, then
PowerPost for uploading large files.
 
N

Nil

If you and Stan like Gravity I am sure you would like MesNews. I
have settled on MesNews as a text and binary(photo groups) reader,
Newsbin for large binary downloads such as mp3, avi and pdf type
files, then PowerPost for uploading large files.
Click to expand...

I looked at Mesnews a while ago, and it seemed to me to be too
barebones for me. I forget exactly what seemed to be missing. Maybe
I'll look at it again one of these days, but I've been comfortable and
satisfied with Xnews for many years, so I'll probably stick with it
until such time as it's not up to the job.

Xnews scoring system is it's greatest strength for me. Nothing else
I've tried is as powerful and convenient.
 
T

Tim Slattery

Ken Blake said:
That said, I'll tell you that, having tried many of them, my favorite
is Forte Agent. Don't automatically choose what I choose, but I do
recommend that you at least give it a try.
Click to expand...

I second that opinion.
 
K

Ken Blake

I third that. And 7.0 was just released.
Click to expand...


Yes, I've been trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading from 6.0
to 7.0. I think for my uses (Usenet only; I don't use it for e-mail.
And I don't do binary newsgroups) there are almost no advantages to
upgrading.
 
R

Robin Bignall

Yes, I've been trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading from 6.0
to 7.0. I think for my uses (Usenet only; I don't use it for e-mail.
And I don't do binary newsgroups) there are almost no advantages to
upgrading.
Click to expand...

I think you're right, Ken. I upgraded just to stay current, and to give Forte a
few dollars. $19 ain't going to break the bank,
 
I

Iceman

bilsch wrote 26 May 2012 in
I have been using WinXP for years and have been using Outlook Express
for mail and news groups. Now I'm using Win7 woithut Outlook Express.
I'm now using Gmail web mail for email but I haven't yet looked for a
newsreader program. Can anyone here recommend a USENET newsreader for
use with Win7? Anyone have a link to a free hassle-free download of
such a program?
Click to expand...

I prefer XNews (online newsreader, fast and light).

Also like 40tude Dialog (very configurable and easy to use).

Sadly, neither are seeing much development recently. You can Google for
the download pages.
 
X

XS11E

Iceman said:
I prefer XNews (online newsreader, fast and light).

Also like 40tude Dialog (very configurable and easy to use).

Sadly, neither are seeing much development recently. You can
Google for the download pages.
Click to expand...

Luu Tran, author of Xnews stated quite some time back that it was a
finished product and there would be no more development. I have to
agree none is needed but there are a couple of caveats...

1. It must be installed in it's own folder and NOT the location
selected by the installer (since it doesn't create much in the way of
registry entries it can be installed in the default location and moved
later.)

2. No spell check, instructions are available to install one and it's
pretty easy to do if, like me, you need one.

3. Problems with HUGE downloads of binaries still exist, easy work
around is to limit number of articles, that can be done in the pop up
when you queue the articles IIRC.

4. Very limited support for character sets, MimeProxy fixes that
easily.

Luu pops up from time to time to fix a bug that shows up but usually
happens only when a new version of Windows is released.

I've used many news readers, the abominable Outlook Express, the even
worse Thunderbird, Agent, 40tude Dialog and many more but I always come
back to Xnews. Complete customization takes a while but there's a lot
of help in news.software.readers and Xnews works nicely as is, with no
customization at all other than entering your information.
 
K

Ken Blake

I've used many news readers, the abominable Outlook Express, the even
worse Thunderbird, Agent, 40tude Dialog and many more but I always come
back to Xnews. Complete customization takes a while but there's a lot
of help in news.software.readers and Xnews works nicely as is, with no
customization at all other than entering your information.
Click to expand...


If you don't mind telling us, I'd be very interested in hearing what
you find better about Xnews than Agent 6.0 (which I use).

I tried Xnews a couple of years ago, but didn't particularly like it,
so I went back to Agent. What did I miss?
 
X

XS11E

Ken Blake said:
If you don't mind telling us, I'd be very interested in hearing
what you find better about Xnews than Agent 6.0 (which I use).

I tried Xnews a couple of years ago, but didn't particularly like
it, so I went back to Agent. What did I miss?
Click to expand...

Configureability, layout, UI, better filtering, scoring, etc.....
 
X

XS11E

Ken Blake said:
Thanks. I'm not convinced, but if I get a chance, I'll try it again.
Click to expand...

Most is just personal preference except for the better scoring,
killfiling item. You recall the troll infested MSFT news groups, Xnews
allowed me to never see them.
 
S

Steve Hayes

Most is just personal preference except for the better scoring,
killfiling item. You recall the troll infested MSFT news groups, Xnews
allowed me to never see them.
Click to expand...

I think I tried Xnews once, and the biggest difference was that (Free) Agent
downloads the articles so that you have a local copy, whereas Xnews leaves
them on the server.
 
N

Nil

I think I tried Xnews once, and the biggest difference was that
(Free) Agent downloads the articles so that you have a local copy,
whereas Xnews leaves them on the server.
Click to expand...

That's configurable. You can have it either way.
 
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