Finding Help in the Windows XP Newsgroups: The Best Things in Life Are Free
Published: October 15, 2001
By Barb Bowman, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
Editor's Note: Past articles by members of the online community are archived for your use. The information may become outdated as technology changes. For the most current information, please search the Web site or post a question in the newsgroups.
Need help on solving a computer or software problem and haven't found any answers in online Help? Try the free support resources called newsgroups (or communities) where the very best information, help, and peer–to–peer assistance are available. Newsgroups are collections of messages about a particular topic that people post to a news server. You can participate in newsgroups without paying a fee. Best of all, from nearly any Internet connection, from almost anyplace in the world, you can access Microsoft newsgroup forums. How good is free support? Some of the world's very best computing experts and consultants offer advice and assistance and follow these newsgroups on a daily basis.
Newsgroup support is an integral part of Windows XP's built in Help and Support Center and all you'll need is a working connection to the Internet to tap into it!
If you need help with Windows XP, the best place to start is in the Help and Support Center by searching for answers and information within Help and the Microsoft Knowledge base. If you aren't able to find the information you need with these tools, you may be able to find answers in one of the Windows XP newsgroups. You can start your search without leaving the Help and Support Center
1. | Click Start, and then click Help and Support. |
2. | Under Ask for Assistance, click Get support, or find information in Windows XP newsgroups. |
3. | In the left pane, click Go to a Windows Web site forum, and then click Go to Windows Newsgroups, which opens the list of available Windows XP newsgroups. |
Outlook Express automatically opens when you click the name of any newsgroup on the Windows XP Newsgroups Web page and the most recent (up to 300 by default) message headers are displayed. (When you close Outlook Express, a window will open with the option of subscribing to the newsgroup(s) you've sampled.)
Have it Your Way!
By default, threads (conversations) are shown collapsed and replies are not displayed beneath them. I've found that I prefer to see all threads expanded, and have enabled this setting by clicking Tools, clicking Options, clicking the Read tab, and then selecting the Automatically expand grouped messages check box.
The Read tab contains many other important program preferences, such as the number of headers to retrieve, and the elapsed time before a message should be marked as read when displayed in the message window. Because I'm a speed reader on a fast broadband connection, I've changed the default settings so that 600 headers are retrieved at a time (from the default of 300 headers) and messages are marked read after 2 seconds (from the default of 5 seconds).
If you are a dial–up user, or planning to read newsgroup messages when not connected to the Internet, you should plan to synchronize (download) messages so that they can be read offline. In Outlook Express, select the name of the news server (msnews.microsoft.com hosts the Windows XP newsgroups) in the left pane, which opens options for customizing settings for message retrieval and offline browsing. By selecting a newsgroup in the right pane, you can customize individual settings for each newsgroup. The default setting doesn't synchronize/download messages, but you can elect to download all messages, new messages, or headers only. In fact, you can specify unique settings for different newsgroups hosted on the same news server. After establishing your preferences, any time you want to download messages for offline viewing, click the name of the news server on the left, and then click the Synchronize Account button, or click the Tools menu and select Synchronize Newsgroup.
After you've subscribed to Windows XP support newsgroups, you can access them from Outlook Express from the Windows XP Start menu without opening the Help and Support Center first.
Note Outlook Express can be used for any newsgroup on any server that supports the standard news protocol and can be used for multiple news servers. Just start Outlook Express from the Start menu and follow the built–in help to setup a new account. If you click Web links to discussion forums that use the special HTML hyperlink format news:servername.com/newsgroup.name, Outlook Express will open automatically as described above.
Finding Help Fast Within Newsgroup Threads
If you have a problem to solve or need information on a specific hardware or software component, start by performing a simple Find in Outlook Express. On the Edit menu, point to Find, and then click Message. For example, I'm looking in the microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web newsgroup for updated information on my 3Com Air Connect 802.11b wireless card that is not working properly in Windows XP Professional. I've entered the search word wireless in the Message (body) field.
The first thread meeting my search requirements is displayed. To find the next thread that contains the content I am looking for, I close the Find Message window and press F3. Each time I press F3, the next thread that meets my search criteria is displayed.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any new information on my problem wireless card yet, so this is a good opportunity to use the industrial strength message rule functionality built into Outlook Express when I synchronize and read newsgroup messages each morning.
Specifying News Rules
Setting up a newsgroup message rule allows you to establish criteria for content you want called to your attention on a continuing basis. You can specify keywords in subjects, within specific newsgroups, or words (names or other information) to look for in the From line. Outlook Express can highlight messages that meet your criteria with a specific color, flag them, delete them, mark as read, or mark as watched. To get started, on the Tools menu, point to Message Rules, and then click News. You can modify, copy, and apply new rules on messages already synchronized from this window, too. If you return in another session to establish additional news rules, existing rules will be displayed, and then simply click the New radio button to add a rule.
In addition to looking for a solution to my non–working Air Connect card, I've been following and participating in newsgroups discussions on 802.11b wireless networking in general. I've implemented a newsgroup rule that identifies messages that contain either the word wireless or 802.11b within the microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web newsgroup and highlights those messages for me.
The result? I can quickly scroll through the message list and focus on highlighted messages first before browsing general content on other subjects.
At the beginning of this column, I noted that some of the leading computing experts and enthusiasts are regular participants in the Windows XP newsgroups. You'll find MVPs (Microsoft Most Valued Professionals) and Microsoft Associate Experts ready and willing to help in any way they can. I hope you'll find their help and advice to be as invaluable as I do!
Barb Bowman enjoys sharing her own experiences and insights into today's leading edge technologies. She is a product development manager for AT&T Broadband Internet Services, but her views here are strictly personal.
