USENET (THE NEWSGROUPS)

• After closing the server details window, you’re asked if you want to download your ISP’s list of newsgroups. When you click yes, the list will be downloaded – so make sure you’re online. This can take a few minutes when you first connect to your news server because you are downloading the names of thousands of newsgroups.

• Once the newsgroups are downloaded you can explore. The top text field in the dialogue box, where it states "Display Newsgroups which contain:", is a type of search engine that will scan all the listed newsgroups to find any that have a particular key word in the title. If you want to find a newsgroup dedicated to automobiles, for example, you would type auto into the text field to display all newsgroups containing that word in their title. From there you could add another key word, such as antique or ferrari, for example. Typing in auto ferrari would bring up both the alt.auto.ferrari newsgroup and the alt.ferrari newsgroup, both or either of which can be subscribed to by double clicking on the title, or by highlighting the title and clicking the "Subscribe" button. You can subscribe to as many groups as you want. Now try the same procedure with the words rose garden in the text frame, or any other keywords that best fit your interest or hobby.

• You are now ready to access the Newsgroups, which are located at the bottom of your Folder List (in the left frame in Outlook Express). Click on the newsgroup name that you wish to view, and wait about 10-20 seconds while the messages are downloaded.

• To access a message inside a newsgroup, click on the subject header to read a summary. Double click the subject header and the whole message downloads appearing on the lower half of the screen.

• If there is a ‘+’ sign by the message header this means there are replies to this message which you can also read. Click on the’+’ sign to list the replies.