What are newsgroups? How can I set them up through Outlook Express?

Question: What are newsgroups? How can I set them up through Outlook Express?

Answer: Newsgroups are Internet discussion forums where groups of people with similar interests post messages about hobbies to politics to automobiles. The difference between emails and newsgroups is that emails are only visible between the sender and the recipient, while newsgroups are visible to everyone. If you subscribe to a newsgroup and post a message, then anyone else who subscribes to it can view your message.

To set this up, open Outlook Express (or Windows Mail if using Windows Vista). If you want to use a different email client / newsreader, feel free to do so, however the instructions may differ and you will need to get directions from that software’s manufacturer. We will need to first set up the NNTP, which stands for Network News Transfer Protocol. Go to Tools and then select Accounts. Select Add then choose News… Next you will go through the on screen prompts, first asks for your display name, type in your name that you want to display, whether it be your first name, first and last name, nick name, or handle (a self picked nickname), then select Next. Now you will be prompted to enter your email address, once entered select Next. The next item you will be asked for is the news (NNTP) server name; usually it is news.domain.com, replace domain with your ISP’s domain name. If you are not sure what it is, please contact your Internet Service Provider’s technical support. Once you have entered that in, select Next and then Finish. Close the Internet Accounts window. You will be asked if you want to download newsgroups from the news account you just added, select Yes. Now you will want to search for a newsgroup to subscribe to. Once you have found something to search for, you can select Subscribe and then you can view the messages from that newsgroup.

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