America Online Users - According to our logs, over 80% our 65,000 visitors each month are using America Online.  If you are an AOLer, you have a newsreader program built in.  Just go to keyword "Newsgroups".  If it's your first time there, you'll receive a popup telling you to set your "Preferences".  You can do this later, when you get familiar with it.

  1. After clicking "Ok" on the popup, you will be presented with a window full of options.
  2. Click "Expert Add"
  3. In the "Internet Name" box, type   alt.baldspot  and click the "Subscribe" button.
  4. You will get a popup confirming that you've been subscribed.  Click "OK"
  5. Now you will see a window with a set of preferences for the specific Newsgroup.  Run through this quick checklist to ensure your preferences are set optimally:

    Not Checked - Hide Binary Files
    Not Checked - Enable Offline Reading (not necessary unless you pay per hour for AOL access)
    Not Checked - Don't show messages longer than 500 characters
    Show messages no more than ___ days old.  (You can set this to your liking)
    Select Filter Type - Leave these untouched.  You can come back here if you want to modify them later.
  6. Click "Save"
  7. The window will disappear, and you'll see the Expert Add window.  Click the X in the upper right corner to close it
  8. The window will disappear, and you'll see the main Newsgroups window you started at.
  9. Click "Read My Newsgroups"
  10. alt.baldspot will be listed at the top.  To the right you can see how many current messages are listed in the newsgroup.
  11. Double click the alt.baldspot item in the list.
  12. You're done!  You can now read the alt.baldspot newsgroup.
  13. First order of business.  Click once on the heart in the upper right corner of the window.  This will save the item to your "Favorites".  Your "Favorites" are listed as a menu item at the top of your AOL program.  In the future, all you will need to do is go up there and select it from the dropdown.  Very easy!



AOL User?  Hah!  No way!

Okay okay, settle down.  We know you think you're better than they are.  You will now get to make use of your superiority by paying dearly with a much less intuitive process for accessing newsgroups.  :)  But let's get to work.  We'll make it as painless as possible.

What you Need to Know

  1. Your ISP - If you're reading this right now, you have an ISP (Internet Service Provider).  Your ISP is what enables you to get online, read Email, and browse web sites.  Some examples of well known ISP's are Earthlink, Cox, Roadrunner, and BTInternet.  Your ISP can also be through your work or school or any of thousands of other companies out there.
  2. Your News Server - Before you can proceed, you will need to find out what your ISP's news server is.  If you don't already know, you'll need to contact your ISP and ask them.  You will need this information to proceed.  News server names typically start with "nntp".  An example of a news server name is "nntp.home.com" or "nntp.earthlink.net".  Your ISP will give you the appropriate name.

    FREE NEWS SERVERS - If you're a cheapskate, or your ISP doesn't have a news server (this is a sign that you need a better ISP by the way), there are free news servers out there.  They're typically not very reliable, and many times do not have all the newsgroups you want, but here are a couple links to a list of free news servers:

    http://w1.213.telia.com/~u21304873/usenet.htm
    http://ecalame.tripod.com/free.html
    http://www.alteasy.com 
    http://www.newsservers.net/ 
    http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Dell/1376/nntp.html 
    http://www.jammed.com/~newzbot/sorted-speed-table.html 
    http://www.kuth.de/pns/Liste/liste.html 
    http://frameister.virtualave.net/nlist/index.html 
    http://dir.lycos.com/Computers/Usenet/Public_News_Servers/ 
    http://freenews.maxbaud.net/ 
    http://frameister.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/nlist/ns_view.pl 
    http://www.muenz.com/sdienst/html/sgroup_e.html 
    http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Byte/7126/ 
    http://www.snafu.de/~hweede/pulin.htm 
    http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9594/public.htm 
    http://www.serverseekers.com/ 
    http://www.wnabb.freeserve.co.uk/ 

  3. Authentication - some news servers require authentication to retrieve and post to newsgroups.  This means that even though you're already online using your logon and password, to access the news server you must have your newsreader send that info through again.  Ask your ISP if your news server requires authentication and make a mental note.
  4. Your Mail Server - Before you can proceed, you will need to find out what your ISP's mail server is.  If you don't already know, ask them.  Mail server names typically have the following format:  smtp.yourisp.com or mail.yourisp.com  Your ISP will give you the appropriate name.
  5. Your News Reader - In order to access the newsgroups, you will need a program which connects you to newsgroups, just like you use a web browser to access web sites.  HairlossSucks.com has done a lot of research, and feel that "MicroPlanet Gravity" is the most user friendly, easiest to set up, and most feature-filled newsreader available.  We will be using this program as our example, but have included installation and setup instructions for XNews, and Outlook Express as well, for your convenience.

Gravity - The Most Functionality, Best features, Easiest Interface - $39 registration Fee with a fully functional 30 day evaluation period.

  1. Downloading the Newsreader - Please click the following link to download the Gravity newsreader:
    http://www.microplanet.com/download.htm (2.4MB, will take about 20 minutes at 56k)
  2. When it's done downloading, a window may pop up with an "Install" button on it.  If so, go ahead and click that button.  If not, simply find the file on your hard drive and double click it.  A window will pop up asking you to accept.  Click "I Accept".  Then click "Proceed with Install".
  3. Select the location you'd like to install the software to, then click "OK".  It will ask if you want to launch Gravity when you click a link your web browser.  This is up to you.  " Add to Start Menu?" - this is up to you.  ReadMe file will appear, click "OK".  "Do you want to start Gravity now?"  Click "Yes".
  4. The Gravity intro screen will appear, click "Ok".
  5. News Server Nickname:  "Newsgroups"
    News Server Address:  Example - nntp.yourisp.com  You must get this information from your Internet Service Provider to proceed.
    Mail Server:  Example - mail.home.com  You must get this information from your Internet Service Provider to proceed.
    Organization:  Anything you want
    Email Address:  Whatever email address you want displayed when posting
    Reply address for posts:  Where you want people's replies to be emailed to *IF* they decide to post to the newsgroup and email you as well.
    Advanced:  If your news server requires you to send your logon and password through again, enter that information here.  Please see step 3 above, under "What you Need to Know"
    When you're done, click "OK".
  6. Gravity will now retrieve all the newsgroups available in the usenet kingdom, and then a window will pop up.  In the "Search" box at the top right, type in "alt.baldspot" (without the quotes).  Click once to highlight it when it appears, and then click the "Add" button.
  7. Click "Done".  The program will load up the latest messages, and you're ready to go!  Double click "alt.baldspot" and you will see all the most recent messages in the middle window pane.  You wont need the top window pane again unless you plan to add new newsgroups, so you can drag the window frame below it to the top of the screen to hide it.
  8. Simply double click a message in the top window, and the body of the message will appear in the bottom. 
  9. To post to the newsgroup, click the icon that looks like a Megaphone at the top.  You're set!
  10. To learn about all the features this program has (it has hundreds of incredibly cool ways to mix and match your messages, killfile annoying posters, mark important threads, etc) use the Help feature at the top of the program, and click "Getting the Most out of Gravity".

XNews - Basic Program, Not as Many Features - No Registration Fee

  1. Downloading the Newsreader - Please click the following link to download the XNews newsreader:
    http://xnews.3dnews.net/#download (500k, will take about 5 minutes at 56k)
  2. When it's done downloading, extract the files to a location on your hard drive and double click the EXE file to run the program.  There is no install for this one.
  3. First you will be asked for your News Server name (example: nntp.yourisp.com).  You must get this information from your Internet Service Provider to proceed.  Enter this information and click "OK".
  4. Next you'll be asked for your "Alias".  This is just what you want to call your connection to the newsgroups.  (example:  My Newsgroups).  Click "OK".
  5. A rather complicated looking window will appear.  You only need to enter your User Name & Password if your ISP requires it.  This information should have been obtained when you got the news server name.  At the bottom of this window you can see a series of fields encased within a heading "Custom Identity Data".  This is the information people see when you post.  Enter your name in the appropriate field (what you're known by on the newsgroup), email address, etc.  When you're done, click "Okay".
  6. You will be asked "Retrieve List of newsgroups from the server?".  Click "Yes".  If you are on a modem, this could take up to 15 minutes, so be patient.  If you receive an error here, it's because either 1) you have the wrong news server name or 2) your server authentication settings were wrong.  Start the process over and this time enter the username and password you use to log on to your ISP in the "User Name" and "Password" fields.  This should fix the problem. 
  7. Now you will see a list of newsgroups in a box.  If you're lucky like us, the first newsgroup you see is 24hour.frogbuttdesk.  Believe it or not, this is a newgroup.  What it's about, we wont bother finding out.  
  8. You will see a toolbar underneath this list, and about 3/4 of the way to the right you'll see a yellow shaded section with an empty white box in it.  Here is where you type alt.baldspot.  As you type, you will see the list begin to reshuffle until it finds the newsgroup for you.
  9. To the left of the box you're typing in, you will see a button with a GREEN " + " sign in it.  Click this to subscribe to the alt.baldspot newsgroup.
  10. You may wish to maximize the window size at this time and make the program full screen if it already isn't.  Now simply double click alt.baldspot in the window, and you will see all the posts available.  You will want to Maximize this window to be full screen by clicking once on the middle button in the upper right corner of the window.
  11. You're in!  Simply click once on one of the messages listed in the top frame, and you will see it appear in the bottom frame.
  12. To Post, go up to "Article" at the top menu, and click "Post to Newsgroup".  For information on all the features this program has to offer, please review their docs at:  http://xnews.3dnews.net/manual.html

 

Outlook Express - Basic Program - Very Few Features - No Registration Fee

  1. If you have Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher installed on your system, you probably already have Outlook Express.  To use this method for reading newsgroups, simply go to your Start button at the bottom of the screen and click "Run".  

    In the box that pops up, type the following exactly as you see it here:  C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe  If this doesn't work, change the "C" to whatever your main hard drive letter is.
  2. Once the program has loaded, it may ask you if you want to make Outlook Express your default mail client.  If you are not already using this program to read your email, make sure you click "NO".  Uncheck the checkbox as well.
  3. Go up to "Tools" on the top menu, then click "Accounts".  Once this is up, click the "News" tab.
  4. Click "Add" then select "News".
  5. Enter your Display Name, click Next.  Enter your Email, click Next.
  6. Enter your News Server name (example: nntp.yourisp.com).  You must get this information from your Internet Service Provider to proceed.  If your ISP requires you to log on, check the checkbox here.  See Step 2 and 3 above under "What you Need to Know".  If you check the checkbox, you will be asked to enter your Username and Password on the next screen.  If not you'll see the "You are finished" screen.  Click "Finish".
  7. You will now see that you've added newsgroup reading to Outlook Express.  You should be back at the first popup window.  You may also notice that your news server name has popped in on the left side of the screen in the list of items.  For now, just click "Close" on the popup in front of you.
  8. You will now be asked if you want Outlook to download newsgroups.  Click "Yes".  Outlook is VERY slow, so give it time.
  9. You will see a window with a box at the top titled "Display newsgroups which contain"  In this box type alt.baldspot and then click the Subscribe button.  Now click the "Go To" button at the bottom.  If you plan to use Outlook express from here forward, click "Yes" on the question regarding whether you want to make it your default news client.  If not, click "No".
  10. You're in!  It should load the available messages in the top window pane, and when you click one, you will see the body of the message appear in the bottom window pane.
  11. To post a message, click the "New Post" icon at the top.  To reply to someone, make sure the message is showing in the bottom window pane, and click "Reply Group".