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Accounting Configuration Handbook | |
 NewsWatcher is an application for accessing the UseNet newsgroups. These newsgroups can be imagined as ongoing email correspondence with virtually the whole world. You will find a wealth of knowledge and information in these groups. The newsgroups are listed in group domains by topic. The name of the group will give you a good idea of the subject matter. For example "comp." is the heading for the computer groups, "rec." are the recreation groups, and "alt." is the heading for the groups that don't fall under any other heading. The groups are also separated from one another in each group domain. A group like "comp.sys.mac.comm" would translate into "computer.system.macintosh. communication" and would deal with facets of communications on the Macintosh System. During the installation process, your MaineStreet technician showed you where to go to submit a request for your own PIN number and how to configure NewsWatcher after you received your PIN. This PIN is needed to access the full list of groups supported by MaineStreet. Without this PIN you will receive only a truncated list comprised of the Computer and Science groups. If you need extra help in either requesting a PIN or configuring NewsWatcher, Contact MaineStreet. You can get phone support, or we can send you written instructions via e-mail anytime.
How to use your NewsWatcher Application During the installation process, an icon named "newsgroups" might have been created. To start the application you can double click on this icon. If you did the installation yourself, you may not have created a seperate icon so you may need to double click on the NewsWatcher icon itself. Once your program opens you may see two screens. One will be the Full Group List on the right hand side of your screen. The other will be in the upper left hand corner and will be named either "newsgroups" or "untitled." The Full Group List is useful for browsing all the groups and selecting those that strike your fancy . If you find a group that you want to keep track of, you can "subscribe" to that group by dragging that group from the Full Group List to the window in the upper left hand corner. This will cause that group to appear in that window each time you open NewsWatcher. You can browse newsgroups easily from the Full group List, but it's still a good idea to subscribe to the groups you plan to read regularly, for two reasons. First, it's easier and quicker to browse interesting groups from your personal group list. Second, when you read an article from groups in your list, NewsWatcher remembers that you have read the article. The next time you open that group, NewsWatcher will show you only new articles and articles that you have not yet read. Opening articles from the Full group List shows you all articles for that group that are on your news server-even if you've seen the article before.
After you've subscribed to the groups that interest you, save your group list. If your left hand window is named "newsgroups" you are all set. When you quit NewsWatcher you will be asked if you want to save the changes. Click on save. If your window is named "untitled" you will want to save and name it at the same time. With the "untitled" window selected, go to the File menu and select the Save command. Name the group "newsgroups" (without the quotes) or whatever else you like. By default, this creates a new icon in your Internet folder. In the future, whenever you want to open NewsWatcher, double-click your saved groups icon. NewsWatcher will open automatically and check the server for new messages in your subscribed groups. Unsubscribing a news group is just as easy. Simply select the group from your saved window and, from the Special menu, choose Unsubscribe. Reading articles is probably what you'll do 90 percent of the time with NewsWatcher. You will most likely not be posting too many articles at first. Spend some time lurking so that you get use to the Netiquette of the UseNet. Before you can read an article, you must open that group's subject window. the subject window displays all the articles that are currently in that list, allowing you to pick the articles you're interested in reading. To open a subject window for a particular newsgroups, double-click the name of the newsgroups from either your Full Group List, or from your personal list. NewsWatcher will then retrieve all the articles posted to that group and present them to you in a new window. At this point you can double-click on a specific message to read it.
Final Thoughts This article doesn't cover all the capabilities of this application, but we have looked at the basics. For a great source of help and information, simply go to the Balloon Help icon up in your menu bar and click on that. You will be presented with a long list that will allow you to select the topic you need help with. This is a very useful file.
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http://WWW.MaineStreet.Com/Extranet/handbook/newswatcher/newswatcher.html rev 2000-11-24 |
