E-Mail and USENET

CS 14A

Feb. 7, 1997

Work through these exercises. There is nothing that needs to be handed in. This material, along with the readings, will be covered in the quiz.

Starting and Configuring a Browser for Mail and News

You know how to start Netscape. Did you know you can send e-mail from it? But first, you must configure Netscape so that the e-mail recipient knows where the e-mail's coming from:

1. From netscape, open the Options menu. Next, open the Mail and News preferences menu. Bring the identity tab forward.

2. Fill-in the information for the first four lines.

3. Click OK.

4. We just opened a big security/privacy problem. Working with those around you, determine what the problem is. If you stumped, grab the instructor. Don't move on until you understand this problem. Why isn't it a such a big deal with a home computer?

5. Open the Windows menu and choose Netscape Mail. It might complain about a missing POP server. You can ignore that; the POP server is used for reading e-mail and we'll only send it from here.

6. Send a piece of e-mail to the person sitting next to you.

7. Use GroupWise to read the e-mail you received.

Two GroupWise Features

Personal Groups

Suppose you frequently send e-mail to the same 10 people. You don't have to type in everyone's e-mail address each time. Instead, you can put them into a personal group (of which you can have as many as you want), and send the e-mail to the group.

1. Get the names of each person in your row.

2. Start GroupWise.

3. Open the Send menu and choose Address Book. Click Create/Edit Group.

4. For each name that you got, find their name (start typing their last name to search through) in the address book, highlight it, then click TO. You might want to put someone in CC or BC, as an experiment, to see what happens.

5. When you're finished, click Save Group, then name your group.

6. Double click the Mail icon to send a piece of e-mail. Click Personal Groups to see your personal group, then put it in the TO list.

7. Send a piece of e-mail to your row. If you would prefer to remove the group and need help, call me over. Stay in GroupWise.

Additional E-Mail Folders

You can create additional folders to keep related e-mail together. For instance, I have a folder for CS14A correspondence.

1. Open the File menu and choose Folders.

2. Make sure that your ``main'' folder is highlighted. Click the Create button and enter a name for your folder (any name will do). Save the folder and then choose OK.

3. Now, open your ``In'' box. You should see your new folder. Take a piece of junk e-mail from your main folder and drag it into your new folder. It should disappear from your main folder. Click your new folder to switch to it and to verify that the e-mail is now in your new folder.

4. If your would prefer to remove the new folder and need help, call me over.

USENET from a WWW Browser

1. Start Netscape Navigator.

2. Open the Options menu. Fill-in your identity again. Under the Servers tab, make sure that the News (NNTP) Server is set to news.westminster.edu. Click OK.

3. Open the Windows menu and choose Netscape News.

4. Let's see if you can take it from here. I want you to read the article I posted to wc.acad.cs14a with the subject ``CS14A thread'' and follow the directions. The user id for that newsgroup is cs14a and the password is cocoa.

5. If you're stuck, try the Netscape Handbook first. Open the Help menu and choose Handbook. Once you've opened the handbook, follow the Mail, News, and Bookmarks link. If after reading the handbook you're still stuck, call me over.