Help with Mozilla

Is that message really from AOL or is somebody being funny? I haven't seen this message on any other newsgroups.

Hi Phil, Sure enjoyed swapping lies with you at the Fl Symposium. Forget Mozilla and upgrade to webtv's advanced technology for grandfathers. I bet there's more than a few rcw members who wish I had AOL. :(

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

What were the instructions that they gave you? Did they give you a news server? What are the settings that you have under: WINDOW, MAIL & NEWSGROUPS, EDIT, MAIL & NEWSGROUPS ACCT SETTINGS, SERVER SETTINGS. Guess why AOHell is so detested.

Dave in Fairfax

It seems to be official--I don't usually use AOL for USENET, so I tried their USENET service today and first thing that happened was that it popped up a message telling me that AOL was dropping USENET and suggesting some alternatives.

Getting back to Phil's problem, though, the difficulty is not in setting up Mozilla, it's in finding a news provider that carries the group you want. USENET is not monolithic, it is a distributed service and no server carries all groups and no group is on all servers. I've been using newsguy for several years and have no complaints so far--it carries most of USENET with a fairly long retention time and reasonably fast propagation. A lot of people swear by news.individual.net (I've seen Steve Jobs post from there) which is free and has some restrictions, one of which is that one use a valid address. There are others--entering "usenet" at an AOL search prompt will find a bunch of commercial services and googling "free USENET server" will find a bunch of free ones--note that not all free servers allow posting.

using Mozilla, or any other application that will read newsgroups, you still need someone to supply the 'feed' that AOL says they are dropping. You can pay for a service, you can read this group thru Google...which is ok, but a compromise on features...or you can sign up with

this is a German university server that will give you 'most' of the non-binary groups. I have been using it for months now, and it is very good....the catch is, it is not an automated process....every application is hand-processed by real people as time permits, so it might take them a week or two to get you added. It WILL be worth it though, unless you need the binary (pictures and music) groups. Of course, my first advice would be to get away from AOL and get a real ISP where all this is not a problem.

Why not change ISP? You will save money and get better service. If you can subscribe to AOL, you can bet there are others available.

Deb

Hi Arch,

I thought Webtv was when my wife forgot to dust off the screen. I am REALLY Webtv illiterate. I enjoyed chatting with you, too, at the Florida Symposium. It sure was a great little symposium, didn't you think. I particularly enjoyed Bruce Hoover's demos. The one on woodturning tips and tricks was just chock-full of ideas.

I'm using Google, now, but will probably switch to Mozilla if I can get a server lined up. I'm trying to get News.individual.net on Bill Day's advice here.

Thanks, all, for your help and comments.

Phil Axtell Space Coast Woodturners Central Florida Woodturners Orange County (CA) Woodturners

Ask your friends what ISP they use and ask at a local computer store (where they repair and build computers, usually locally owned) what ISPs they use and know of in your area. Then call the ISP and check prices and availability of newsgroups. I switched to cable because of poor phone lines here, and what a difference! But it costs more.

BTW I have used Mozilla for a couple of years and love it.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your recommendation. I am now on News.individual.net. So far it seems a little awkward, but I'll get used to it. At least they are not shutting me off.

Phil Axtell

wow...that was fast! It took me 2 weeks! I hope it continues to go well...now it mostly just adjusting to the newsreader interface. (some newsreaders are just easier to use than others)

Amen to that! Comcast may be $costly$ but it doesn't go down, its super fast and gives you a giganews subscription free for newsgroups, and a web page & up to 7??? email accounts. Well, one way or the other you still pay but its nice to think you get something from comcast for free. I've been using it with the newer vers of Netscape (7.2 now) for email and newsgroups with rarely a problem for almost 2 years. Don't like IE - icky poo caca! John