how do I keep old posts from disappearing

You can't. Most usenet servers only have 10-20 days of posts on the moderately active forums. Some forums will be lucky to have 48 hours retention. It's not Outlook Express's fault. Buuuuuuut......

If your very recent posts aren't visible, click View in your toolbar and then "current view" and select show all messages. That will show you what you have cached in your local machine, and also check in the toolbar, "options", "maintenance", and check if you want OE to delete old messages after "x" days. I have mine set to delete after 5 days.

Also, did you know that OE has "hidden" files that you can access? they are located at: C:\Documents and Settings\XXXXXX\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{XXXXXXXXXXX}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\XXXXXXX.dbx, where the X's are unique to your machine and/or usenet groups. I use W 2000 Pro, but the other MS systems are similar.

Merely right click on any newsgroup you are subscribed to, and then click on properties. If you want to clean up all your usenet surfing and free up huge amounts of drive space, copy that string (similar to above) and paste it into"Search", "files". Then go back and remove the name of that newsgroup, and replace it with a "*", similar to "......microsoft\outlook express\*.dbx" without the quotes. The search will show you every newsgroup you visit and it will have cached all the items you have viewed, including those you don't want your mama to know about. ;>). Highlight those you don't need or want and click on the big red "X" on your tool bar, and then empty your trash barrel. I once cleaned up almost 6 gigs on a hard drive by using this technique. There may be a faster way to do this, but this one works for me. YMMV>

An alternative is to just use Google Groups to keep track of these.

can simply look up all posts under your name for a specific periodof time. This year you have made only two posts, both to thisnewsgroup. least this proves your post showed up the Usenet archives and arenot lost somewhere in your computer files. Rusty Mase

I've been using the [free] Free Agent newsreader for years - if you don't want a message to disappear you simply press K for keep and it'll stay until you intentionally delete it.

's a lot more user friendly to use than Outlook...Bart.- Check my most up to date email address at: banjo bridges, tabs, stained glass:

**may your moments of need be met by moments of compassion**

This may keep the HEADER in your list locally, but if you try to access an old post from that header, you will probably find a "message has expired" response from your news server. Unless you have previously downloaded that message to your local drive.

The way news servers work, they cannot hold more than a week's (or two at the most) worth of messages -- there are tens of thousands of newsgroups, many with hundreds or thousands of posts a day -- and in the case of binary groups, very large posts each. There is only so much disk space on the average news server, so most ISP's have them set to dump anything more than a given age, usually no more than a few days.

So, you can certa> I've been using the [free] Free Agent newsreader for years - if you

The view/current view was exactly what I was looking for. But the google thing is great too.

Thanks

Liam #1

actually, if you're using a decent news reader (Free Agent is one), it'll store the message locally, not just the header. Alternatively, if you're using a GUI interface(Mac, windows), just cut and paste the offending article into a nice searchable document....I have many references I've made this way....I try to keep the headers intact so that I can give proper attribution if I'm quoting.

Bryan "where there's a will there's a won't" P

When using OE, if you highlight the header information in the main window and use Ctrl-C for copy, you will capture the message and the header info. If you are inside the message and use select and copy, you only get the body of the message. I keep a file (document) with an icon on the desktop, I call mine FAQ2005, into which I can paste the clipboard stuff. OE does allow for download of all messages also, but it is an obscure option labeled "Work Offline" as I recall.