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Step 1 |
MS Outlook Express includes a very good
newsreader. Since anyone using Windows will have it installed already it
is the natural choice for accessing comp.databases.ingres.
The advantage of a newsreader is that it
threads related postings, saves your postings in Sent Items, and allows you to
very quickly review and respond to other peoples' postings. It is a much
more convenient and efficient alternative to using a web-based interface.
Go to the Start menu and run MS Outlook or
Outlook Express. The examples below show Outlook Express.
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Step 2 |
In the list of pull-down menus at the top, click
on Tools > Accounts... then click on the News tab.
Click on the Add button and then the News... slide-off.
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Steps
3-6 |
The set-up wizard leads you
through the process. You can enter your own name or a made
up name. Since the Usenet is very public and completely
uncontrolled, it might be best to choose a pseudonym, although a
large fraction of comp.database.ingres posters do use their real
name.
Spammers routinely harvest
email addresses from Usenet postings. No validity checking
is done on the address you enter here and it is not used for
posting or replying on the newsgroup, so you can use anything
you want. However if someone wants to reply to you offline
by email they will be unable to do so unless you specify a real
address here. If you are unsure what to do, err on the
side of caution and either enter a fake address, or create a
gmail/hotmail account to use for this purpose. (You can
always change your news account setting in future if you want to
disclose your real email address, but you can't un-disclose it
once it is published.)
If your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) carries the comp.databases.ingres newsfeed,
enter the name of their news server. This will usually
have been given to you when you signed up to the service, or it
may be available from the ISP's own web site. It
will usually be something like news.ispname.com or
nntp.ispname.com.
Even if your ISP provides a
news server, it may not carry comp.databases.ingres. If
your ISP does not provide the comp.databases.ingres newsfeed,
there is an excellent free newsfeed-of-last-resort provided by
aioe.org.
This provider does not require you to log in, so if you
use it, leave the checkbox empty.
Done.
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Steps
7-9 |
You should now see your news account displayed;
click the Close button.
You will immediately be asked if you would like to
download the list of newsgroups available from the selected new server.
This list will run to between 5,000 and 55,000 entries depending on how many
newsgroups your selected news server carries.
Using a DSL (broadband) connection it takes a few
seconds to download even the longest list, and you have to do it eventually, so
you may as well click Yes now.
(If this step fails, your firewall may be
blocking NNTP traffic. If you cannot change or fix this then you cannot
use comp.databases.ingres directly. Your next best option will be to use
the
info-ingres mailing list instead. It isn't so convenient or versatile,
but it is cross-posted to comp.databases.ingres.) |
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Steps
10,11 |
You can now choose which
newsgroups to subscribe to. Type "ingres" in the search
field at the top. The list of newsgroups containing the
word ingres in their name is displayed in the All tab
field. Highlight comp.databases.ingres and click the
Subscribe button.
And that's it, done. You
will now see a branch for your news server in the Folders
tree-control at the left. If you expand it you will see
your subscribed news groups, including comp.databases.ingres.
Click on the newsgroup, and
Outlook will download all of the currently held topic threads
from the news server. Click on a thread subject in the
right-hand pane to display the posting. Click on the +
sign at the left of it to expand the entire discussion (the
so-called thread and all its subthreads).
To post to the newsgroup click
on the New Post or Reply Group buttons (as
appropriate). |
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