USENET

CS 297

Jan. 8, 1997

Work through these exercises. There is nothing that needs to be handed in. Some of the questions asked in these exercises will appear on the quiz. Remember your ``cheat sheet.''

Starting and Configuring USENET

There are two ways to do this, but we'll just access the College's USENET server through Netscape Navigator. The second way is by using the NetNews application within the Internet folder on the OS/2 desktop

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.cs14f with the subject CS297 Thread and follow the directions. The user id for that newsgroup is cs14f and the password is robust.

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.

Questions

Here are a few questions for you to answer.

1. What are the meanings of the columns in the newsgroup pane?

2. What are the meanings of the columns in the message headings pane?

3. How do you list all newsgroups?

4. How do you determine what newsgroups you're subscribed to?

5. How do you instruct the newsreader to check for more new messages?