═══ 1. What Is NewsReader/2? ═══ Welcome to NewsReader/2! NewsReader/2 is an OS/2* function that you can use to share information with the various newsgroups on the Internet. Note: To access Internet newsgroups, you must connect to a User's Network (USENET) news server. This help will assist you in starting, using, and exiting NewsReader/2. A summary of usability highlights is included. ═══ 1.1. What Is USENET? ═══ The User's Network (USENET) is a large collection of discussion groups accessible world-wide. Each group contains articles about a particular topic. You can read the articles in a newsgroup, post replies to articles, or post your own articles. If you are not familiar with news services, you should review the following topics: o What is news? o What is a newsgroup? o What is a post? o What are the rules of etiquette? ═══ 1.2. Etiquette Guidelines ═══ There are definite guidelines outlining Internet etiquette. The news.announce.newusers newsgroup contains information about the Internet and the etiquette guidelines for network interaction. This newsgroup contains valuable information for new users and should be reviewed in its entirety. Notes: 1. By default, the etiquette reminder dialog box is displayed when you begin posting activities. To suppress this dialog: . a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar. b. Select Posting from the Configure pull-down menu. c. Deselect the Warn about etiquette check box. 2. A sample news.announce.newusers newsgroup Article List is shown below: ═══ 2. What Can I Do with NewsReader/2? ═══ With NewsReader/2, you can: o View available newsgroups o Subscribe to newsgroups and cancel your subscriptions o View news articles o Post your own news articles o Post a reply to a news article o Mail a reply to a news article o Save an article to a file for viewing a later time o Specify a news server using the Configuration notebook ═══ 2.1. Starting NewsReader/2 ═══ Select by double-clicking on this icon in the Internet Connection for OS/2 folder. You can copy the NewsReader/2 icon to your desktop area for easier access. Unless you have preconfigured your news server using the Configuration notebook or your service provider, on your initial session you must supply the name of the news server to which you want to connect when the NewsReader/2 dialog box is displayed: When the connection to the server has been completed, the initial NewsReader/2 window is displayed. Notes: 1. You can also start NewsReader/2 by entering the NR2 command at an OS/2 command prompt. 2. If a message is displayed when your newsgroups are being loaded informing you that a newsgroup could not be found on the news server: o Browse the newsgroups listed in the main window until you locate the newsgroup with the notation Not found on server. o Delete the newsgroup (using the Unsubscribe option from the Actions pull-down menu of the main window). 3. If you are not connected to a news server, you can select Choose news server from the Actions pull-down menu of the main NewsReader/2 menu to connect to a news server. To start your session, select File from the main menu bar and then select Load newsgroups. 4. If you have previously connected to a news server other than Advantis and now want to use an Advantis news server, specify default as the server name in the Choose news server dialog box. ═══ 2.1.1. Main NewsReader/2 Window ═══ The name of your news server (for example, SERNEWS) is displayed in the title bar of the main window. This window contains a list of the newsgroups you have subscribed to. When you select a newsgroup by double-clicking on its name, the Article List window is brought to the foreground, allowing you to view the list of articles contained in that newsgroup. ═══ NR2 Command Line Syntax ═══ You can enter the following command at an OS/2 command prompt: ──nr2──┬─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────── ├─server──┬─────┬─┤ │ ├─/nc─┤ │ │ └─/u──┘ │ ├─/s──┬─────┬─────┤ │ └─/nc─┘ │ ├─/nc─────────────┤ ├─/?──────────────┤ └─-?──────────────┘ ═══ Copying the NewsReader/2 Icon to Your Desktop ═══ You can copy the NewsReader/2 icon to your desktop area for easy access. 1. Select by double-clicking on the Internet Connection for OS/2 folder. 2. Select with mouse button 2 the NewsReader/2 icon (shown above). 3. Select the Copy option from the cascaded menu. 4. Select the Desktop tab. 5. Select the Copy push button on the Internet Connection for OS/2 Copy window. You can now begin a NewsReader/2 session from your desktop area. ═══ Internet Connection for OS/2 Copy Window ═══ ═══ NewsReader/2 Icon ═══ ═══ 2.2. Listing Newsgroups ═══ To list of all the newsgroups available from your current news server, select List all newsgroups from the File pull-down menu on the main NewsReader/2 window. The following dialog box is displayed: You can select one of the following push buttons: o No to load your current NEWS.ALL file information, close the dialog box, and open the All Groups window, from which you can subscribe to newsgroups. o Yes to update the current list of newsgroups from your news server, build a new NEWS.ALL file, close the dialog box, and open the All Groups window, from which you can subscribe to newsgroups. During the build operation, the dialog box shows build status and allows you to cancel the build. o Cancel to cancel your request and close the dialog box. Notes: 1. For your first NewsReader/2 session, no newsgroups are displayed because you do not have any subscriptions yet. You must first set up your initial subscriptions. 2. If you chose to be informed about the creation of new groups, the New Groups window is displayed when you start a session, listing newsgroups formed since your last session. If no new groups were formed, the New Groups window is not displayed. ═══ 2.3. Viewing News Articles ═══ To view articles from your newsgroup subscriptions: 1. Select by double-clicking on the name of the newsgroup in your main window list box. The articles in the selected newsgroup are loaded into the Article List window. 2. Select by double-clicking on the name of the article you want to read in the Article List window. The selected article is loaded into the Article window for your review. You can choose from the many functions available from the Article List and Article windows. Notes: 1. To view another article from the same newsgroup, select by double-clicking on the name of that article in the Article List window. 2. To view another article from within the Article window, press: o n to view the next article in the current newsgroup o p to view the previous article in the current newsgroup 3. To view articles from another newsgroup, select by double-clicking on the name of the newsgroup in the main NewsReader/2 list box. 4. You can also save an article to a file for viewing a later time. ═══ 2.4. Subscribing to Newsgroups ═══ To subscribe to newsgroup(s) on your news server, you can do any of the following: o You can select by double-clicking on the name of a newsgroup in the New Groups window. This window is displayed when a session is started if any newsgroups have been formed since your last session and Inform about the creation of new groups is chosen. o If you know the group name, select Subscribe to from the Actions pull-down menu on the main NewsReader/2 window. The Add Group dialog box is displayed: To subscribe to a newsgroup, enter the group name and select the OK push button. o If you do not know the newsgroup name, you can view the All Groups window and select the Add Groups from the Actions pull-down menu to subscribe to selected newsgroups. You can also select by double-clicking on the name of the newsgroup in the All Groups window. ═══ 2.5. Cancelling Subscriptions to Newsgroups ═══ To cancel your subscription to a newsgroup: 1. Select (highlight) the newsgroup you want to delete. 2. Select Unsubscribe from the Actions pull-down menu of the main NewsReader/2 window. 3. You are asked to verify that you want to delete the highlighted group: o Select the Yes push button to delete the highlighted subscription and close the dialog box. o Select the No push button close the dialog box without deleting the subscription. Note: You can delete multiple newsgroups from your NEWS.GRP file after you have ended your NewsReader/2 session. ═══ 2.6. Posting News Articles ═══ To post a news article, select Post from the Actions pull-down menu of either the Article List or main NewsReader/2 windows: 1. If this is your first post and you are using a service provider other than Internet Connection Services, a dialog is presented for you to confirm or revise your posting information. Press the OK push button to continue. If you want to change your posting information after your initial post or if you are using Internet Connection Services: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar b. Select Posting 2. The etiquette reminder dialog box is displayed: o Select the Yes push button to continue. o Select the No push button to cancel your post. o Select the Help pushbutton for more information. Note: To suppress the etiquette reminder dialog: . a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar. b. Select Posting from the Configure pull-down menu. c. Deselect the Warn about etiquette check box. 3. Enter your post information in the dialog box displayed: o The newsgroup (or newsgroups separated by a blank space, a comma, or both) to which you want to post Note: If a newsgroup is selected (highlighted) in the main window or displayed in the title bar of the Article List window, it becomes the default newsgroup name. o The subject (title) of your post. o The text of your post in the window area provided. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one shown below. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Post to send the post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving the post. o Help for more information about posting. Note: You can designate a custom editor if you want to use an existing file or post a lengthy reply. ═══ 2.7. Posting Replies to a News Article ═══ To post a reply to an article, select Post reply from the Actions pull-down menu of the Article window: 1. If this is your first post and you are using a service provider other than Internet Connection Services, a dialog is presented for you to confirm or revise your posting information. Press the OK push button to continue. If you want to change your posting information after your initial post or if you are using Internet Connection Services: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar b. Select Posting 2. The etiquette reminder dialog box is displayed: o Select the Yes push button to continue. o Select the No push button to cancel your post. o Select the Help push button for more information. Note: To suppress the etiquette reminder dialog, select Posting from the Configure main window menu bar option and then deselect the Warn about etiquette check box. 3. Enter your post information in the dialog box displayed: o Confirm the To and Subject information provided. o Enter the text of your post in the window area provided. The article text is displayed (preceded by the > symbol), allowing you to easily identify your input. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one shown below. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Post to send the post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting to information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving the post. o Help for more information about posting. Notes 1. A return code of 441 indicates that your post failed. If the original article text is longer than the reply you are posting, your post can be rejected. You should delete part of the article text (marked by a > symbol) in order to minimize the size of your post. 2. You can designate a custom editor if you want to use an existing file or post a lengthy reply. ═══ 2.8. Mailing a Reply to a News Article ═══ To respond directly to the author of an article in the current Article window, select Mail reply from the Actions pull-down menu of the Article window. Enter your reply in the dialog box displayed: o Confirm the To and Subject fields and provide the carbon copy information, if applicable. o Enter the text of your e-mail message. The article text is displayed (preceded by the > symbol), allowing you to easily identify your input. o Select the Send push button to send your e-mail message or the Cancel push button to cancel the operation. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one described here. Your reply will be mailed via SENDMAIL. ═══ 2.9. Saving News Articles ═══ To save the current news article to a designated file: 1. Select Save as from the File pull-down menu of the Article window. The following dialog box is displayed: 2. If you do not want to save the article to a file in the current directory, select the appropriate drive letter and directory from the Directories list box. If you know the file name and path and you do not want to navigate through the Directories list box, you can enter the path and filename in the Filename field. This information is saved for future sessions. 3. Select the Append to file check box if you want the article appended to the bottom of the file. (If the file does not exist, NewsReader/2 will ask you if you want to create it.) If this option is not chosen, you are prompted to confirm that you want to write over existing files. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to save the article and close this dialog box. o Cancel to close the dialog box without saving the article. o Help to obtain more information on this topic. Notes: 1. Selecting Save from the File pull-down menu of the Article window appends the current article to the bottom of the TCPIP\ETC\LOG\USEFUL.NEW file. 2. You can also drag and drop articles to your desktop area. ═══ Specifying a Server Using the Configuration Notebook ═══ You can use the Configure Services (TELNET, HOSTS, RHOSTS) page of the Configuration notebook to configure NewsReader/2. This page contains a field where you can specify the host name or IP address of your news server. Note: This information should be provided by your system administrator or service provider. When you enter the host name or IP address of the news server and exit the Configuration notebook, TCP/IP sets the NEWSSERVER environment variable in your CONFIG.SYS file. This change is effective when you restart your system. ═══ 2.10. Ending a NewsReader/2 Session ═══ You can end your NewsReader/2 session in one of the following ways: o Select the Exit NewsReader/2 item from the File pull-down menu of the main NewsReader/2 window. o Press function key 3. o Close the NewsReader/2 window by clicking on the icon at the left of the window and then select the Close menu item. You will be asked to confirm that you want to end your session. ═══ server ═══ Specifies the host name or IP address of the news server to which you want to connect. Note: If you have previously connected to a news server other than Advantis and now want to use an Advantis news server, specify default as the server name. ═══ /s ═══ Causes NewsReader/2 to prompt you to enter the host name or IP address of a news server to access. ═══ /nc ═══ Starts NewsReader/2 without connecting to the news server. You can use this option to import a NEWSRC file from a UNIX system. For example, you could import a news file (NEWS.GRP) from a UNIX-format NEWSRC file in your ETC subdirectory. You can also use this option if you want to learn how to use NewsReader/2 but do not have a news server. ═══ /u ═══ Starts NewsReader/2 in update mode. In update mode, NewsReader/2 accesses the news server and obtains an updated set of all newsgroups for later display in your ALL GROUPS window. ═══ /? ═══ Displays help for the nr2 command. ═══ -? ═══ Displays help for the nr2 command. ═══ Post Edit Window ═══ When you chose a custom editor, you will use an edit window (similar to the one shown below) to create your post. ═══ Mail Edit Window ═══ When you chose a custom editor, you will use an edit window (similar to the one shown below) to create your reply. ═══ Posting with a Custom Editor ═══ If you have selected a custom editor, you can complete your post as follows: 1. Enter your post information in the dialog box displayed: o The newsgroup (or newsgroups separated by a blank space, a comma, or both) to which you want to post If a newsgroup is selected (highlighted) in the window you are posting from, that newsgroup becomes the default newsgroup name. o The subject (title) of your post. 2. Select the Edit push button and enter your post text in the editor window. Note: You can designate a custom editor by selecting Editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the NewsReader/2 main menu. 3. Select Save and close to return to the Post window. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Edit to revise your post text. o Post to send the post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting to information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving the post. o Help for more information about posting. ═══ Custom Editor Post Dialog ═══ Using the following dialog box, you can specify a custom editor that you can use for revising signature and blockfiles, posting activities, and mailing replies to news articles. ═══ Using Drag and Drop to Save Articles ═══ You can drag and drop an article to your desktop area from the Article window. Holding down mouse button 2, drag the NewsReader/2 title bar icon (in the upper left corner of the window) and release it on the desktop area. You cannot access the article from the desktop. It is stored in a file (DESKTOP\ARTICLE.TXT). If ARTICLE.TXT already exists, the following dialog box is displayed: 1. Select one of the following radio buttons: o Rename object to (or use the default name) to create a new file. o Replace existing object to write over the ARTICLE.TXT file. o Append to existing object to append your current article text to the bottom of the ARTICLE.TXT file. 2. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to save the article and close the dialog box. o Cancel to close the dialog box without saving the article. o Help to obtain more information about this dialog. ═══ Mailing Replies with a Custom Editor ═══ If you have selected a custom editor, you can complete your e-mail reply as follows: 1. Confirm the To and Subject fields and provide the carbon copy information, if applicable. 2. Select the Edit push button and enter your e-mail message in the editor window. The article text is displayed (preceded by the > symbol), allowing you to easily identify your input. Note: You can designate a custom editor by selecting Editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the NewsReader/2 main menu. 3. Select Save and close to return to the Post window. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Edit to revise your reply. o Send to mail your reply. o Cancel to close the dialog box without sending your reply. o Help for more information about this dialog. Your reply will be mailed via SENDMAIL. ═══ Custom Editor for Mail Reply ═══ ═══ NewsReader/2 Highlights ═══ NewsReader/2 provides the ability to: o Save article(s) to a file or drag and drop articles to your desktop area for future reference. o Improve NewsReader/2 performance by loading articles on demand (default value). You can deselect this option using the NewsReader/2 dialog from the Options pull-down menu of the main window. o Designate a custom Presentation Manager editor (using the Editor option from the Configure pull-down of the main menu) for posting a lengthy reply or using an existing file for your post. o Suppress the etiquette reminder dialog displayed when you begin posting activities. o Advance to the next newsgroup (type n) or the return to the previous newsgroup (type p) from within the Article List window. o Advance to the next article (type n) or the return to the previous article (type p) from within the Article window. o Manually delete multiple newsgroups from your NEWS.GRP file after you have ended your NewsReader/2 session. ═══ Local ETC Subdirectory ═══ Your local ETC subdirectory name differs according to the type of connection established: o TCPIP\ETC for a LAN account. o TCPIP\ETC\RNSPOOL\USERID for an Advantis service provider (the default). o TCPIP\ETC\RNSPOOL\NICKNAME (where nickname is the symbolic name assigned to the connection) for any other service provider. ═══ IBM Trademark ═══ Trademark of the IBM Corporation. ═══ 3. NewsReader/2 Function Reference ═══ The following NewsReader/2 functions are available (listed by window): o Main Window o Article List Window o Article Window o All Groups Window o New Groups Window ═══ 3.1. Main Window ═══ The main NewsReader/2 window contains the list of the newsgroups which you are subscribed to. To view an article from any of the newsgroups you subscribe to (listed in this window), select by double-clicking on the newsgroup name. The Article List window is opened, and the list of articles for the selected newsgroup is displayed. Note: If Load articles on demand is chosen, articles are loaded only when the newsgroup is selected. The following functions are available from this window: o File o Actions o View o Options o Configure o Help ═══ 3.1.1. File Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o List all newsgroups. o Read news on news readers using different subscription file formats with Export and Import. o Exit your NewsReader/2 session. ═══ 3.1.2. Actions Pull-Down Menu ═══ You can perform the following tasks from this menu: o Posting information to newsgroups o Subscribing to newsgroups o Canceling subscriptions to newsgroups o Advancing to the next newsgroup o Viewing the previous newsgroup o Loading newsgroups o Choosing a news server ═══ 3.1.3. View Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o View (bring to the foreground) open windows (for example, the Article List or Article windows). o Update the list of articles for all of the newsgroups or only the current (highlighted) newsgroup. ═══ 3.1.4. Options Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o Customize your NewsReader/2 sessions. o Customize the way the article list is displayed. o Customize the way individual articles are displayed within the article list. o Customize window colors. o Save the position and sizes of selected windows. o Restore the default settings for window position, sizes, and colors. o Select the fonts used for your session. o Create, customize and delete signature file(s). o Customize refresh options. ═══ 3.1.5. Configure Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can configure your: o Posting information o Presentation Manager Editor o Printer options ═══ 3.1.6. Help Pull-Down Menu ═══ This menu provides the following assistance: o Help Index o General Help o Using Help o Keys Help o Getting Started o Product copyright Information ═══ 3.2. Article List Window ═══ The Article List window contains the list of the articles in the current newsgroup (the name of the current newsgroup is shown in the title bar). To select an article for viewing, double-click on the article listed. You can select Options from the main window menu bar to customize this window. For example, you might want to change screen colors using the Colors option or way the window is displayed using Article list. The following functions are available from this window: o File o Edit o Actions o View o Help ═══ 3.2.1. File Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o Open the Next Group or the Previous Group. Note: You can advance to the next newsgroup containing articles group by typing n or the return to the previous newsgroup by typing p. o Delete the highlighted article from your Article List window. ═══ 3.2.2. Edit Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o Find an article about a particular subject from those in the Article List. (Only the header information is searched.) o Find the next article located by a previous Find request. o Search the Article List (both headers and article text) for a designated text string. ═══ 3.2.3. Actions Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu you can: o Post a reply to an article. o Indicate (Mark as read) articles you have already viewed. - Current - Current subject - Current and up - Current and down - By Subject name - All o Mark as unread articles you have already read but want to review again. - Current - Current subject - Current and up - Current and down - by Subject name - All o Exclude (Block author) a particular author from your Article List - Current group - All groups o Exclude (Block subject) a particular subject from your Article List. - Current group - All groups o Revise the information currently excluded from your Article List (Edit Blockfile). - Blockfile for current group - Blockfile for all groups ═══ 3.2.4. View Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can o Update (Refresh now) the article list o Define the articles listed: - Same subjects - Include All o Sort the articles listed by: - by Subject - by Author - by Number o Ascending o Descending ═══ 3.2.5. Help Pull-Down Menu ═══ You can select General Help to obtain information about the functions available from the Article List window. ═══ 3.3. Article Window ═══ The Article window displays the current article loaded from the Article List window. When an article is loaded, its number, group, and size (in lines) are shown in the title bar. You can select Options from the NewsReader/2 main menu to customize your Article window. For example, you might want to change screen colors using the Colors option or the way article information is displayed using article option. The following selections are available from the Article window: o File o Edit o Actions o Help ═══ 3.3.1. File Pull-Down Menu ═══ The following functions are available from this menu: o Open: - The Next Article - The Previous Article - The Next Reference - The Previous Reference o Append (Save) the article to your news file. o Save the article in a designated file (Save As). o Print the article. o Decode an encrypted article (Unrot13). o Convert ATOI-8 to ASCII format o Close the article window (Close article). ═══ 3.3.2. Edit Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o Copy text to your clipboard. o Search the article for a particular text string (Find). o Find the next occurrence (Find next) of a previous Find request. o Select (highlight) article text for the copy operation. - Select all - Deselect all ═══ 3.3.3. Actions Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o Post a reply to the newsgroup for the article you are currently viewing (Post reply). o Send an e-mail response to the article you are currently viewing (Mail reply). o Forward the article (Forward article to) o Cancel your post o Exclude the author of the article you are currently viewing from your article lists (Block author) for: - Current group - All groups o Exclude the article subject from your article list (Block subject) for: - Current group - All groups o Change the material you have excluded from your article lists (Edit Blockfile) for: - Blockfile for current group - Blockfile for all groups ═══ 3.3.4. Help Pull-Down Menu ═══ This menu contains information about the Article window functions. ═══ 3.4. All Groups Window ═══ This window contains a sorted list of all of the newsgroups available on your news server (the number of groups appears in the title bar). The following selections are available from this window: o Actions o Search o Help ═══ 3.4.1. Actions Pull-Down Menu ═══ You can perform the following functions from this menu: o Subscribe to newsgroups o Deselect all of your newsgroup selections o Exit (close) the All Groups window ═══ 3.4.2. Search Pull-Down Menu ═══ You can perform the following functions from this menu: o Search the newsgroups listed in the All Groups window to find one containing a specified string. o Repeat the previous search request. ═══ 3.4.3. Help Pull-Down Menu ═══ This ppull-down menu contains information about the All Groups window. ═══ 3.5. New Groups Window ═══ This window displays the newsgroups added to your news server since your last NewsReader/2 session if Inform about creation of new groups is chosen from the Options pull-down menu NewsReader/2 dialog box. (The number of new groups is displayed in the title bar.) The following functions are available from this window: o Actions o Help ═══ 3.5.1. Actions Pull-Down Menu ═══ Using this menu, you can: o Subscribe to newsgroups (all or selected) and close the New Groups window by selecting Add Groups. o Close the New Groups window without subscribing to any newsgroups (Exit New Groups). ═══ 3.5.2. Add Groups Pull-Down Menu ═══ To subscribe to newsgroups listed in the New Groups window, select Add Groups. From this menu, you can add: o Selected (highlighted) newsgroups only o All of the newsgroups listed in the New Groups window ═══ 3.5.3. Help Pull-Down Menu ═══ You can select General Help for information about the New Groups window functions. ═══ Initial Subscription ═══ The easiest way to subscribe to newsgroups is to select List all newsgroups from the File pull-down menu of the main NewsReader/2 window: o A NEWS.ALL file is built, containing information about the newsgroups available from your news server. o When the list is built, the All Groups window is displayed. From this window, you can: - Browse the list for newsgroups you are interested in. - Select by double-clicking on the name of a newsgroup for a single subscription. - Select (highlight) multiple newsgroups you want to subscribe to and select Add Groups from the Actions pull-down menu. - Deselect all of the groups previously selected. The main window list box contains a list of the newsgroups you can view. ═══ Using Blockfiles ═══ NewsReader/2 supports the use of blockfiles (commonly known as Killfiles) for each newsgroup and one blockfile for all groups (ALLGROUP.KIL). These files reside in your TCPIP\ETC\KILL subdirectory. The entries in these files allow you to filter (block) subjects and authors from your displayed newsgroup information. Notes: 1. An entry made to a blockfile will only affect headers not yet loaded. Loaded headers cannot be removed using a blockfile. 2. By default, you never see blocked headers. However, you can select Mark blocked headers instead of removing (from the NewsReader/2 pull-down menu of the Options main window menu bar) to display blocked article headers. 3. You can edit blockfiles to delete entries. 4. You should limit the size of your blockfiles to 64K. Files can be larger than 64K, but the excess data is ignored. You are encouraged to keep small blockfiles, especially for all groups (ALLGROUP.KIL). Since this file used loading and refreshing each group, a large file will dramatically increase load time. ═══ Using Sigfiles ═══ NewsReader/2 supports the use of signature files (sigfiles). Sigfiles contain a customized signature automatically appended to your posts, replies, and NewsReader/2 mail. Signature files not only make you more efficient by eliminating the need to sign each post, but also gives you the opportunity to be creative. Sigfiles should not exceed four or five lines in length. NewsReader/2 will support any length sigfile, but large sigfiles waste disk space on USENET Sigfiles (which reside in your TCPIP\ETC\SIG subdirectory) can be created, edited, and activated by selecting Options from the main window menu bar and then selecting Signature. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Keys Help ═══ Information is provided for the following windows: o All Windows o Main Window o Article List Window o Article Window o All Groups Window o New Groups Window ═══ Keys help - All Windows ═══ The following is a list of some of the accelerator keys that are available for all windows: Key: Function: Tab Shift the focus between the Subscriptions, Article List, Article, and All Groups windows. F1 If a control or menu item is highlighted, contextual help is given for it. Otherwise, General help for the application is displayed. F12 Minimize the NewsReader/2 main window. F3 Exit the NewsReader/2 session. Note: Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by entering that character. ═══ Keys help - Main Window ═══ The following is a list of the accelerator keys that are available for the main window: Key: Function: Alt Activates the menu bar. Alt+F Opens the File pull-down menu. Alt+A Opens the Actions pull-down menu. Alt+V Opens the View pull-down menu. Alt+O Opens the Options pull-down menu. Alt+C Opens the Configure pull-down menu. Alt+H Opens the Help pull-down menu. Ctrl+O Opens the dialog for adding a newsgroup. Ctrl+R Refresh the currently highlighted newsgroup. Ctrl+Shift+R Refresh all newsgroups. Ctrl+E Edit the blockfile for the currently highlighted newsgroup. Ctrl+Shift+E Edit the blockfile for all newsgroups (ALLGROUP.KIL). Ctrl+Shift+O Customize your NewsReader/2 session. Ctrl+Shift+H Customize your Article List window. Ctrl+Shift+A Customize your Article window. Ctrl+C Customize your screen colors. Ctrl+F Customize the fonts displayed. Ctrl+W Save window positions. Ctrl+Shift+S Customize your signature information. Ctrl+Shift+G Refresh the currently highlighted newsgroup. Ctrl+Shift+P Configure your posting information. Ctrl+Shift+D Select a custom Presentation Manager editor. Ctrl+Shift+T Select a printer. Del Deletes the highlighted newsgroup. F3 Exits the NewsReader/2 session. F5 Make a post to the currently highlighted newsgroup. F7 Page Up. F8 Page Down. Shift+A Opens the List all newsgroups dialog box. Home Go to the top of the window. End Go to the bottom of the window. Note: Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by entering that character. ═══ Keys help - Article List ═══ The following is a list of the accelerator keys that are available for the Article List window: Key: Function: Alt Activates the menu bar. Alt+F Opens the File pull-down menu. Alt+E Opens the Edit pull-down menu. Alt+A Opens the Actions pull-down menu. Alt+V Opens the View pull-down menu. Alt+H Opens the Help pull-down menu. F5 Make a post to the current newsgroup. Ctrl+R Refresh the current newsgroup. Ctrl+Shift+R Refresh all newsgroups. Ctrl+S Open an Article List with the same subject as the current article. Esc Exit Same subject mode, if it is in use, and view all articles. Ctrl+A Exit Same subject mode, if it is in use, and view all articles. Otherwise all the articles for the current newsgroup are retrieved. Del Delete the highlighted article and highlight the next one. Ctrl+B Sort the Article List window by subject. Ctrl+H Sort the Article List window by author. Ctrl+I Sort the Article List window by ascending number. Ctrl+G Sort the Article List window by descending number. Ctrl+C Mark the current (highlighted) article as read. Ctrl+J Mark all articles with the subject of the current (highlighted) article as read. Ctrl+U Mark the current (highlighted) article and all above it as read. Ctrl+D Mark current (highlighted) article and all below it as read. Ctrl+T Display a dialog to mark articles as read by subject string. Ctrl+L Mark all articles as read. Shift+C Mark the current (highlighted) article as unread. Shift+J Mark all articles with the subject of the current (highlighted) article as unread. Shift+U Mark the current (highlighted) article and all above it as unread. Shift+D Mark the current (highlighted) article and all below it as unread. Shift+T Display a dialog to mark articles as unread by subject string. Shift+L Mark all articles as unread. Ctrl+K Block the subject of the current (highlighted) article. Shift+K Block the author of the current (highlighted) article. Ctrl+F Search the article headers to find a text string. Ctrl+N Repeat the search. Shift+F7 Search article headers and text to locate a text string. Ctrl+E Edit the blockfile for the current newsgroup. Ctrl+Shift+E Edit the blockfile for all newsgroups. n Loads the next newsgroup containing articles. p Loads the previous newsgroup containing articles. F7 Page Up. F8 Page Down. Home Go to the top of the window. End Go to the bottom of the window. Note: Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by entering that character. ═══ Keys help - Article ═══ The following is a list of the accelerator keys that are available for the Article window: Key: Function: Alt Activates the menu bar. Alt+F Opens the File pull-down menu. Alt+E Opens the Edit pull-down menu. Alt+A Opens the Actions pull-down menu. F2 Append the article to USEFUL.NEW in the TCPIP\ETC\LOG subdirectory. F4 Save the article to a file of your choice. Ctrl+P Print the article to the default printer. Alt+F4 Close the current Article window. Ctrl+/ Select all article text for copy to your clipboard. Ctrl+\ Deselect (clear) all previously selected article text. Ctrl+Ins Copy selected article text to the clipboard. Ctrl+F Search the article for a string. Ctrl+N Repeat the search. n Load the next article. p Load the previous article. Alt+N Load the next article of the same subject. Alt+P Load the previous article of the same subject. F5 Post a reply to the current article. F6 Mail a reply to the author of the current article. F9 Cancel a post. You may cancel only posts that you create. Ctrl+M Mail the current article. Ctrl+Shift+U Decrypt the current article. Unrot13 the current article (Some articles use a rot13 encryption scheme to scramble the letters.) By doing so, you take full responsibility for any exposure to offensive material. Shift+R Convert the current article from the ATOI-8 character set into ASCII. Ctrl+K Block the subject of the current (highlighted) article. Shift+K Block the author of the current (highlighted) article. Ctrl+E Edit the blockfile for the current (highlighted) newsgroup. Ctrl+Shift+E Edit the blockfile for all newsgroups. Ctrl+Home Go to the top of the window. Ctrl+End Go to the bottom of the window. Note: Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by entering that character. ═══ Keys help - All Groups ═══ The following is a list of the accelerator keys that are available for the All Groups window: Key: Function: Alt Activates the menu bar. Alt+A Opens the Actions pull-down menu. Alt+S Opens the Search pull-down menu. Alt+H Opens the Help pull-down menu. Ctrl+C Deselect (clear) all of the groups previously selected. Ctrl+D Add the selected groups to the list of subscriptions. Esc Close the All Groups window. Ctrl+F Search the All Groups window for a string. Ctrl+N Repeat the search. Home Go to the top of the window. End Go to the bottom of the window. Note: Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by entering that character. ═══ Keys help - New Groups ═══ The following is a list of the accelerator keys that are available for the New Groups window: Key: Function: Alt+A Opens the Actions pull-down menu. Alt+H Opens the Help pull-down menu. Ctrl+S Add the selected groups to the list of subscriptions. Ctrl+A Add all groups to the list of subscriptions. Esc Close the New Groups window. F7 Page Up. F8 Page Down. Home Go to the top of the window. End Go to the bottom of the window. Note: Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by entering that character. ═══ View All Groups ═══ To bring the All Groups window to the foreground, select All Groups. The name of the current newsgroup is displayed with the menu item. ═══ View Article Window ═══ To bring the Article window to the foreground, select Article. The name of the current article is displayed with the menu item. ═══ View Article list ═══ To bring the Article List window to the foreground, select Article List. The name of the current newsgroup is displayed with the menu item. ═══ Using Help ═══ Select Using help for general help on how to use the OS/2* Help Facility. ═══ General Help ═══ Select General help for general help about the NewsReader/2 main window functions. ═══ Keys Help ═══ Select Keys help for a list of all accelerator keys and their function. ═══ Next group ═══ Selecting Next group displays the next newsgroup containing articles in the Articles List window. Note: You can also advance to the next newsgroup containing articles by typing n. ═══ Previous group ═══ Selecting Previous group displays the previous newsgroup in the Article List window. Note: You can also return to the previous newsgroup by typing p. ═══ Post ═══ To post news from the Article List window, select Actions and then select Post: 1. If this is your first post and you are using a service provider other than Internet Connection Services, a dialog is presented for you to confirm or revise your posting information. Press the OK push button to continue. If you want to change your posting information after your initial post or if you are using Internet Connection Services: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar b. Select Posting 2. The etiquette reminder dialog box is displayed: o Select the Yes push button to continue. o Select the No push button to cancel your post. o Select the Help push button for more information. Note: To suppress the etiquette reminder dialog: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar. b. Select Posting from the Configure pull-down menu. c. Deselect the Warn about etiquette check box. 3. Enter your post information in the dialog box displayed: o The newsgroup you want to post to. Note: By default, the selected newsgroup (the name is displayed in the Article List window title bar), becomes the post newsgroup. You can type over the default or add additional newsgroups (separated by a blank space, a comma, or both) to which you want to post. o The subject (title) of your post. o The text of your post in the window area provided. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one shown below. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Post to send your post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving your post. o Help for more information about posting. Note: You can designate a custom editor if you want to use an existing file or post a lengthy reply. ═══ Refresh Now ═══ Select Refresh now to update the list of articles for either: o The current (highlighted) group in the main window. o All of the newsgroups to which you are subscribed. New articles (since NewsReader/2 was started or refreshed) are added to the Article List. ═══ Edit Blockfile ═══ To modify the information used to filter the articles displayed for your newsgroups, select Edit blockfile. Notes: 1. A Blockfile is commonly known as a Killfile. 2. Deleting entries from the blockfile is the only way you can include those authors and subjects previously blocked (excluded) from your newsgroup. 3. Use Block Subject and Block Author to add entries. ═══ Blockfile for Current Group ═══ Selecting Blockfile for current group loads the blockfile for the current newsgroup into the custom Presentation Manager editor. You can review the file, add entries, or delete entries. Notes: 1. Deleting entries from the blockfile is the only way you can include those authors and subjects previously blocked (excluded) from your newsgroup. 2. Use Block Subject and Block Author to add entries. ═══ Blockfile for all groups ═══ Selecting Blockfile for all groups loads the blockfile for all of the newsgroups into the custom Presentation Manager editor. You can review the file, add entries, or delete entries. Notes: 1. Deleting entries from the blockfile is the only way you can include those authors and subjects previously blocked (excluded) from your newsgroups. 2. Use Block Subject and Block Author to add entries. ═══ List all newsgroups ═══ To view a list of all the newsgroups on your current news server, select List all newsgroups from the File main window menu bar. The following dialog box is displayed: You can select one of the following push buttons: o No to load your current NEWS.ALL file information, close the dialog box, and open the All Groups window. o Yes to update the current list of newsgroups from your news server, build a new NEWS.ALL file, close the dialog box, and open the All Groups window. During the retrieval operation, the dialog box shows build status and allows you to cancel the operation. o Cancel to cancel your request and close the dialog box. ═══ Refresh now ═══ Using this menu, you can refresh (update the list of articles) for the: o Current (highlighted) newsgroup in the Article List. o All of the newsgroups you are subscribed to. The news server is queried and new articles (since NewsReader/2 was started or refreshed) are added to the Article List. ═══ Current ═══ Selecting Current updates the list of articles for your current newsgroup from the news server. ═══ All ═══ Selecting All refreshes (updates the article list) the newsgroups to which you are subscribed: o If Load articles on demand is in effect (the default), all loaded newsgroups are refreshed. That is, those newsgroups you have already viewed. o If Load articles on demand is deselected, all of the newsgroups are refreshed. To set Load articles on demand: 1. Select the Options main window menu bar. 2. Select NewsReader/2 from the Options pull-down menu. 3. Select (or deselect) the Load articles on demand check box. ═══ View Same Subjects ═══ Selecting Same subjects loads all articles in the current newsgroup that have the same subject as the current article. Note: Select Include all to refresh your Article List so that all of the articles are displayed. ═══ Include all ═══ Selecting Include all refreshes your Article List window to include all of the articles for the newsgroup, including the ones you have already read. For example, you would want to refresh the Article List window if you selected Same subjects and want to view all of the articles now. ═══ Delete Article ═══ You can select Delete article to remove the currently highlighted article from the Article List window and highlight the next article. Note: You are not prompted to confirm that you want to delete the article. ═══ Sort ═══ You can Sort the articles displayed by subject, author, or number. ═══ Sort by Subject ═══ Select by Subject to sort the contents of your Article List alphabetically by subject. (The order of the articles within each subject listing depends on how the window is currently sorted.) ═══ Sort by Author ═══ Select by Author to sort the contents of your Article List alphabetically by author. ═══ Sort by Number ═══ Select by number to sort the contents of your Article List window by number, specifying either: o Ascending o Descending ═══ Sort by Ascending Number ═══ Selecting Ascending sorts the contents your Article List in ascending numerical order. (The latest articles appear at the bottom of the list.) ═══ Sort by Descending Number ═══ Selecting Descending sorts the contents of your Article List in descending numerical order. (The latest articles appear at the top of the list.) ═══ Mark as Read ═══ Select Mark as read to indicate which articles you have already viewed. Once marked, the articles are displayed in a colored font. You can change the color using the NewsReader/2 Colors option. You can mark the: o Current article o Current article and those above it o Current article and those below it o Current subject o Selected subject o All articles ═══ Mark Current ═══ Selecting Current marks the highlighted article as read. ═══ Mark Current Subject ═══ Selecting Current subject marks the highlighted article and all articles with the same subject as read. ═══ Mark Current and Up ═══ Selecting Current and up marks the highlighted article and all of the articles above it as read. ═══ Mark Current and Down ═══ Selecting Current and Down marks the highlighted article and all of the articles below it as read. ═══ Mark by Subject String ═══ Selecting by subject string marks the articles with the subject name entered on the dialog box as read. ═══ Mark All ═══ Selecting All marks all of the articles in the window as read. ═══ Mark as Unread ═══ When you view an article or mark an article as read, it is displayed in a colored font to indicate that you have already looked at the article. If you want to indicate that you have not yet viewed the article, you can select Mark as unread. Once marked, the article is no longer displayed in a colored font. You can mark the: o Current article o Current article and those above it o Current article and those below it o Current subject o Selected subject o All articles ═══ Mark Current ═══ Selecting Current marks the current article as unread. ═══ Mark Current Subject ═══ Selecting Current subject marks the current article and all of the articles with the same subject as unread. ═══ Mark Current and Up ═══ Selecting Current and up marks the current article and all of the articles listed above it as unread. ═══ Mark Current and Down ═══ Selecting Current and Down marks the current article and all of the articles listed below it as unread. ═══ Mark by Subject String ═══ Selecting by Subject String marks those articles with the subject name that you have entered in the dialog displayed as unread. ═══ Mark All ═══ Selecting All marks all of the articles in a window as unread. ═══ Block Subject ═══ To block articles by a specific subject, select Block subject. The subject(s) excluded from your article list are stored in a blockfile. You can exclude a particular subject from your current newsgroup or from all of your newsgroups. Note: To review blockfile information or delete entries, select Edit Blockfile. ═══ Block Current Group ═══ Selecting Current group blocks all articles with the subject of the current article in a newsgroup. All of the articles containing the selected (highlighted) subject will be excluded from your current newsgroup article listing. The articles are retained in your current session but will not be displayed for future sessions with the newsgroup. Notes: 1. To review blockfile information or delete entries, select Edit Blockfile. 2. You can also block a particular subject from all of your newsgroups. ═══ Block All Groups ═══ Selecting All groups blocks articles with the same subject as the current article in a newsgroup. All of the articles containing the selected (highlighted) subject will be excluded from all of the newsgroups you subscribe to. The articles are retained in your current session but will not be displayed for future sessions with any of your newsgroups. Notes: 1. To review blockfile information or delete entries, select Edit Blockfile. 2. You can also block a particular subject from your current newsgroup only. ═══ Block Author ═══ To block articles by a specific author, select Block author. The name of the author excluded from your article list is stored in a blockfile. Using this option, you can block an author from your current newsgroup or from all of your newsgroups. Note: To review blockfile information or delete entries, select Edit Blockfile. ═══ Block Current Author ═══ Selecting Current group filters out all articles by the author of the current article in a newsgroup. All articles by the author of the selected (highlighted) article are excluded from your current newsgroup listing. The articles are retained in your current session but will not be displayed for future sessions with the newsgroup. Notes: 1. To review blockfile information or delete entries, select Edit Blockfile. 2. You can also block a particular author from all of your newsgroups. ═══ Block All Groups ═══ Selecting All groups blocks articles by the author of the current article in a newsgroup. All articles by the author of the selected (highlighted) article are excluded from all of your newsgroup article listings. The articles are retained in your current session but will not be displayed for future sessions with any of your newsgroups. Notes: 1. To review blockfile information or delete entries, select Edit Blockfile. 2. You can also block a particular author from your current newsgroups only. ═══ Find ═══ You can select Find to search only the list of article headers in a newsgroup for a particular string, entered into the Find dialog box: If the string is found, the article containing the string is highlighted. Note: To search article headers, article content, or both, select Search Articles. ═══ Find Next ═══ You can select Find next to locate the next occurrence of the information requested by the previous Find. Note: This action is not available if there was no previous Find request. ═══ Search Articles ═══ Select Search Articles to locate the text string. The following dialog box is displayed: 1. Enter the search pattern in the Enter string to search for field. 2. Specify a Search Option, if applicable: o Case Sensitive o End the search with the first article containing the search string o Exclude articles you have already viewed o Include only articles you have already viewed 3. Specify if the search encompasses article headers only, the body of the articles only, or both. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Search to initiate the search. o Cancel to cancel the search operation and close the dialog box. o Help to obtain more information about this topic. Once the search begins: o The headers of the articles containing matches are displayed in the Result list box, followed by the line from the article that contains the search string. o The Search push button changes to Stop, which you can select to stop the search at any time. If a search is stopped, the push button changes back to Search, and you can restart the search from where it left off. o To load an article: 1. Wait until the search has completed or stop the search using the Stop push button. 2. Select by double-clicking on the article header, or the line of text from the article, in the Result list box. o You can use the Clear push button to delete articles from the Result list box once the search has ended. Note: If you initiate another Search action after a Clear, the search starts from the beginning of the newsgroup (instead of starting from where the previous search was stopped). o To close the dialog box, select Cancel. ═══ General Help ═══ Select General Help for more information about Article List window functions. ═══ Save ═══ Selecting Save appends the current article to the TCPIP\ETC\LOG\USEFUL.NEW file. The file is not overwritten; the article is appended to the bottom of the file. Notes: 1. To save the article to a different file, select Save as. 2. You can also drag and drop an article to your desktop area. ═══ Save As ═══ To save the current article to a designated file, select Save as. The following dialog box is displayed, allowing you to: o Specify a filename. o Select a drive/path where the file will reside. (D:\TCPIP\ETC\LOG is the default.) o Specify whether you want the article appended to the bottom of the designated file (default). If you deselect Append to file, the contents of the file is overwritten when the current article is saved. o Select one of the following push buttons: - OK to save the article in the designated file and close the dialog box. - Cancel to close the dialog box without saving the article. - Help to obtain more information about this topic. Note: You can also drag and drop an article to your desktop area. ═══ Print ═══ Selecting Print sends the current article to your default printer: 1. If you have not selected a default printer, a window is displayed listing available printers from which you can choose. 2. You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to send the article to the printer and close the dialog box. o Cancel to close the dialog box without printing the article. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog. To change your default printer: 1. Select Configure from the main window menu bar 2. Select Printer ═══ Close Article ═══ Selecting Close article closes the current Article window. ═══ Select ═══ To identify (highlight) article text to be copied to the clipboard, choose select. You can also: o Select all of the text. o Deselect all of the article text previously identified (highlighted). Note: To paste selected text from the clipboard into your current window, press the Shift and Insert keys simultaneously. ═══ Select all ═══ Select all marks (highlights) all of the text in the article window for copying to the clipboard. ═══ Deselect All ═══ Deselect all clears all of the text previously selected (highlighted). ═══ Copy ═══ Selecting Copy copies the selected (highlighted) text in the Article window to the clipboard. Note: To paste selected text from the clipboard into your current window, press the Shift and Insert keys simultaneously. ═══ Find ═══ Selecting Find searches the current article for the search pattern specified in the following dialog box: The text is selected (highlighted) if it is found. ═══ Find Next ═══ Selecting Find next repeats your last Find request. This selection is not available if there was no previous Find request. ═══ Next article ═══ Selecting Next article loads the next article into the current Article window. If you selected the Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference option from the NewsReader/2 options dialog, the articles you have already read are ignored when locating the next article. To advance to the next article (whether you have already read it or not), type n. ═══ Previous article ═══ Selecting Previous article loads the previous article into the current Article window. If you selected the Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference option from the NewsReader/2 options dialog, the articles you have already read are ignored when locating the previous article. To return to the previous article (whether you have already read it or not), type p. ═══ Next reference ═══ Selecting Next Reference loads the next article with the same subject as the current article in the Article window, if one exists. If you selected the Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference option from the NewsReader/2 options dialog, all of the articles you have already read are ignored when locating the next reference. To load the next reference (whether you have already read it or not), type Alt+Shift+N. ═══ Previous Reference ═══ Selecting Previous Reference loads the previous article with the same subject as the current article in the Article window, if one exists. If you selected the Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference option from the NewsReader/2 options dialog, the articles you have already read are ignored when locating the previous reference. To load the previous reference (whether you have already read it or not), type Alt+Shift+P. ═══ Post Reply ═══ To reply to the article in the current Article window, select Post reply: 1. Enter your post information in the dialog box displayed: o Confirm the To and Subject information provided. o Enter the text of your post in the window area provided. The article text is displayed (preceded by the > symbol), allowing you to easily identify your input. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one shown below. 2. Select one of the following push buttons: o Post to send your post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting to information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving your post. o Help for more information about this dialog. Notes: 1. A return code of 441 indicates that your post failed. If the original article text is longer than the reply you are posting, your post can be rejected. You should delete part of the article text (marked by a > symbol) in order to minimize the size of your post. 2. You can designate a custom editor if you want to use an existing file or post a lengthy reply. ═══ Mail Reply ═══ To respond directly to the author of an article in the current Article window, select Mail reply from the Actions pull-down menu. Enter your reply in the dialog box displayed: o Confirm the To and Subject fields and provide the carbon copy information, if applicable. o Enter the text of your e-mail message. The article text is displayed (preceded by the > symbol), allowing you to easily identify your input. o Select the Send push button to send your e-mail message or the Cancel push button to cancel the operation. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one described here. Your reply will be mailed via SENDMAIL. ═══ Cancel Your Post ═══ To request that the current article be removed from the news server you are connected to, select Cancel your post from the Actions pull-down menu of the Article window. If the news server acknowledges your request, the cancel is forwarded to other servers; however; there is no guarantee that the other servers will acknowledge it. Note: You cannot cancel an article that you did not post. ═══ Forward the Article To ═══ Selecting Forward the article to sends the current article to the e-mail address(es) which you specify in the following dialog: ═══ Unrot13 ═══ Selecting Unrot13 decodes the current article (assumed to be in the rot13 encrypted format). By doing so, you assume full responsibility for exposure to offensive material. Note The rot13 encryption scheme scrambles the letters of the alphabet; unrot13 unscrambles them. ═══ Convert ATOI-8 to ASCII ═══ Selecting Convert ATOI-8 to ASCII converts the current article (assumed to be in the ATOI-8 character set) into ASCII. Note: You will be unable to convert the article back to its original format. In order to perform a function that requires the article headers (for example, Post reply or Forward article to), you must reload the article. ═══ Help for General Help ═══ Select General Help for more information about the functions available from the Article window. ═══ Add Group(s) ═══ Selecting Add Group(s) will add the selected (highlighted) groups in the All Groups window to your subscriptions. Note: You can add individual groups to your subscriptions if you select by double-clicking on the name of the newsgroup in the All Groups window. ═══ Exit All Groups ═══ To close the All Groups window, select Exit All Groups. ═══ Deselect all ═══ To clear all of the newsgroups you have selected (highlighted) as potential subscriptions, select Deselect all. ═══ Find ═══ To search the list of newsgroups listed in the All Groups window (from the current newsgroup to the end of the list) for a specified pattern, select Find: 1. Specify the search pattern in the Find dialog box: 2. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to initiate your Find request. o Cancel to close the dialog box without initiating a request. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog. The search begins with the current (highlighted) newsgroup. If a newsgroup containing the specified string is found, it becomes the first one displayed in the All Groups window. If the string is not found, an informational message is displayed. Note: Select Find Next to locate further occurrences of the specified string. ═══ Find Next ═══ To repeat the last Find request issued, select Find Next. If the next occurrence of the specified string is found, the newsgroup containing that string becomes the first one displayed in the All Groups window. If the string is not found, an informational message is displayed. Note: This action is not available if you have not previously issued a Find request. ═══ Help for General Help ═══ Select General Help to obtain more information about the functions available from the All Groups window. ═══ Selected ═══ To add all of the highlighted groups in the New Groups window to your list of subscriptions, choose selected. Note: This action is not available if there no groups selected (highlighted). ═══ All ═══ Selecting All adds all of the groups in the New Groups window to your list of subscriptions. ═══ Exit New Groups ═══ Selecting Exit New Groups closes the New Groups window without adding any newsgroups to your subscriptions list. ═══ General Help ═══ Selecting General Help displays information about the functions available from the New Groups window. ═══ Colors ═══ Selecting Colors allows you to change the foreground and background colors of the Article List, Article, All Groups, New Groups, Search Articles, and Status windows. You can also set the background color for the Main window. To use the facility: o Select the Field you want to change. o Select either the Foreground or Background attribute. o Select one of the Colors. The Sample Text list box shows the current changes. Notes: 1. The Defaults push button restores the default values for all Fields. 2. You cannot select the same color for the foreground and background attributes. 3. You cannot change the background color for some of the fields (for example, Read text in the Article List window, Selected text in the All Groups window, and Found text in the Search Articles). You can select one of the following push buttons: o Save to close the dialog box and save your color selections for future sessions o Apply to close the dialog box and save your color selections for your current session only o Defaults to restore the default window colors o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Defaults Push Button ═══ Select Defaults to restore the default colors for all of the fields. Note: You must still select Save or Apply to activate the default colors. ═══ Color Push Buttons ═══ Select one of the Color push buttons to change the selected field to the color indicated. The Sample text list box shows the changes as you make them. ═══ Foreground Radio Button ═══ Select Foreground to change the foreground color of the field identified. The Sample text list box shows the changes as you make them. ═══ Background Radio Button ═══ Select Background to change the background color of the field identified. The Sample text list box shows the changes as you make them. ═══ Fields List Box ═══ You can change the colors of the windows listed in the Fields list box. A field must be selected (highlighted) before the colors can be changed. ═══ Save Push Button ═══ Select Save to close the dialog box, saves the selected colors for future sessions, and sets the windows to their new colors. ═══ Apply Push Button ═══ Select Apply to close the dialog box and sets the windows to the selected colors for the current session only. Note: Your selections will not be saved for future sessions. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box and discards your current selections. ═══ Save as Dialog ═══ Using this dialog box, you can save the current article to a designated file: 1. If you do not want to save the article in a file in the current directory, select the appropriate drive letter and directory from the Directories list box. If you do not want to navigate through the Directories list box, you can enter the path and filename in the Filename field. This information is saved for future sessions. 2. Select the Append to file check box if you want the article appended to the bottom of the file. (If the file does not exist, NewsReader/2 will ask you if you want to create it.) If this option is not chosen, you are asked to confirm that you want to write over the existing file. 3. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to save the article and close this dialog box. o Cancel to close the dialog box without saving the article. o Help to obtain more information on this topic. ═══ Directories List Box ═══ This list box displays all your drives and directories, allowing you to select a file in which to save your article: o To change your current drive, select the letter of the desired drive. o To advance to a deeper directory, select by double-clicking on a subdirectory or file name (or highlight the name and press Enter). o To back out of the current directory, select ·· if you are not already at the root directory. ═══ Filename Field ═══ This field contains the name of the file in which your article will be saved. If Append to file is disabled and the file already exists, you are prompted to confirm that you want to write over the file. ═══ Append To File Check Box ═══ When you select Append to, your article is appended to the bottom of the designated file. Note: If the file does not exist, NewsReader/2 will ask you if you want to create it. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK saves the current article in the file you entered in the Filename field. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without saving the current article to a file. ═══ Editor ═══ Selecting Editor allows you to customize a specified Presentation Manager editor to be used for certain NewsReader/2 activities (for example, posting appends and editing signature files). Using this menu, you can: o Select the default editor. o Designate a custom editor and the arguments passed to that editor o Specify that the custom editor will be closed upon task completion. Notes: 1. You can designate a custom editor if you want to use an existing file or post a lengthy reply. 2. The Enhanced Editor (EPM) is the default custom editor. 3. The custom editor is used to modify Signature and Blockfiles. ═══ Editor Name ═══ Use this field to enter the executable file name of your custom Presentation Manager editor. Notes: 1. Enter only the name and the .EXE or .COM extension of the executable filename. If the filename is not in your PATH statement, you must supply the full drive and path information. 2. The Enhanced Editor (EPM) is the default custom editor. ═══ Arguments ═══ Use this field to enter the arguments passed to your Presentation Manager editor when you start a session. Note: Arguments should be entered just as they would be at the command line. Specifying % rather than the name of the file to be edited. ═══ Auto-Close Upon Task Completion ═══ Selecting Auto-close upon task completion specifies that NewsReader/2 will close the editor upon completion of the editing task if you have selected a custom Presentation Manager editor. Note: The auto-close option is recommended. However, since you are using a Presentation Manager (PM) editor, you may be limited to running only one session at a time, since all editing windows are closed concurrently. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK activates your changes (verifying that you selected a valid editor) and closes the dialog box. If you did not select a valid editor, an error message is displayed. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel discards any changes you have made and closes the dialog box. ═══ Post Dialog ═══ To post information to a newsgroup using this dialog box: 1. Enter the newsgroup you want to post to. This is a required field. You can add additional newsgroups (separated by a blank space, a comma, or both). 2. Enter the subject of your post. This is a required field. 3. Enter your post in the dialog window. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Post to send your post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving your post. o Help for more information about this dialog. ═══ Newsgroups field ═══ Enter the names of all the newsgroup(s) that you want your post to be sent to. Each newsgroup must be separated by either a comma or space. ═══ Subject field ═══ Enter the title for your post into this field. ═══ Distribution Entry Field ═══ To override your default posting information, you can specify a distribution for your post in this field. Notes: 1. The distribution of a post specifies how far your post will be spread across the USENET. Valid examples are world, na, and usa. 2. This is an optional field. ═══ Summary Entry Field ═══ Enter a short summary for your post into this field. This information will be displayed in the Summary line of your post. Note: This is an optional field. ═══ Keywords Entry Field ═══ Enter the keywords for your post in this field. This information you supply is displayed in the Keywords line of your post. Note: This is an optional field. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK initiates your Presentation Manager editor session so that you can complete your post. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without posting the information. ═══ Signature ═══ Selecting Signature allows you to manage your signature files (sigfiles). Sigfiles (*.SIG) are stored in the SIG subdirectory of your local ETC subdirectory. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. The following dialog box is displayed, allowing you to customize your signature information: Using this dialog, you can: o Bypass signature file processing o Designate a single signature file for all of your posts and mail o Designate two signature files (one for posting and one for mailing) o Use (activate) a signature file o Create signature files o Edit existing signature files o Delete existing signature files You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and activate your new signature file. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog. ═══ Do Not Use a .SIG File ═══ Selecting Do not use a .sig file indicates that you will not use a signature file. ═══ Use One .SIG File ═══ Selecting Use one .sig file indicates that you want to use a single signature file for your mail and post activities. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Use Two .SIG Files ═══ Selecting Use two .sig files indicates that you want to use separate signature files for your mail (MAIL.SIG) and post (POST.SIG) activities. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Signature List Box ═══ This list box contains all of the signature files (*.SIG) in your TCPIP\ETC\SIG subdirectory. ═══ Use Push Button ═══ Selecting Use activates the highlighted signature file (*.SIG) in the list box. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Create Push Button ═══ Selecting Create allows you to create a new signature file. You will be prompted for the filename, which must have a .SIG extension. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Edit Push Button ═══ Selecting Edit allows you to modify the highlighted (*.SIG) signature file in the list box if you selected a custom editor. ═══ Delete Push Button ═══ Selecting Delete removes the highlighted signature file from your local ETC subdirectory. You are prompted to confirm deletion. Once you delete the file, it cannot be retrieved by selecting Cancel. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK activates the highlighted signature file in the list box and closes the dialog box. Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel discards your changes and closes the dialog window. Note: If you delete the active signature file and select Cancel, no signature file is used. ═══ Printer ═══ Selecting Printer allows you to designate a default printer for printing NewsReader/2 articles. A list of available devices is presented in this dialog. Select (highlight) your default printer. You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and activate your changes o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Printer List Box ═══ This list box contains a list of available printer devices. To choose a default printer select (highlight) the printer you want to use and then select the OK push button. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK saves your default printer selection and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box and discards any of the changes you have made. ═══ Mail Dialog ═══ Using this dialog box, you can: 1. Confirm the To and Subject fields and provide the carbon copy information, if applicable. 2. Enter the text of your e-mail message. The article text is displayed (preceded by the > symbol), allowing you to easily identify your input. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one described here. 3. Select one of the following push buttons: o Send to send your response and close the dialog box o Cancel to close the dialog box without sending your response o Help for more information about the dialog Your reply will be mailed via SENDMAIL. ═══ To Field ═══ Enter the e-mail addresses of the people to whom you want to send the article. The name of the author is the default when mailing a reply to an article. ═══ CC Field ═══ Enter additional e-mail s addresses of the people you want to receive carbon copies. ═══ Edit Push Button ═══ Selecting Edit loads your Presentation Manager editor, allowing you to create or edit your mail if you have chosen a custom editor. ═══ Send Push Button ═══ Selecting Send mails your response via SENDMAIL. Note: You are NOT notified of mailing success or failure by NewsReader/2. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes this dialog box without sending your mail. ═══ Create Dialog ═══ Using this dialog box, you can create a new signature file: 1. Enter the filename (with a .SIG extension). 2. Enter your signature information using your custom Presentation Manager editor. Notes: a. Sigfiles should not exceed four or five lines in length. NewsReader/2 will support any length sigfile, but large sigfiles waste disk space on USENET b. Sigfiles reside in your TCPIP\ETC\SIG subdirectory. 3. Save your signature file and close the editor. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to invoke the editor, allowing you to create your signature file. When you end the editing session, this dialog box is closed. o Cancel to close the dialog box without creating a signature file. o Help for more information about this dialog box. ═══ Create Entry Field ═══ Enter the signature file name (with a .SIG extension) in this field. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK loads the current Presentation Managereditor, allowing you to create your new signature file. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without creating a new signature file. ═══ Posting ═══ To specify the information used for creating posts, sending replies, and forwarding articles, select Posting. 1. Select the default values for the following fields: o From (required) o Reply To (optional) o Organization (optional) o Scope of Distribution (optional) Note: Select the Advanced push button to override these defaults for individual posts. 2. Select Check group postability if you want NewsReader/2 to check whether the newsgroup(s) to which you are posting will accept posts. Otherwise, you may waste time composing an append that cannot be posted. Note: A positive response is not necessarily a guarantee that your post will be accepted, since some newsgroups have restricted posting. However, a negative response guarantees that your post will not be accepted. 3. Select Warn about etiquette if you want the etiquette reminder dialog box displayed each time you begin your posting activities. If this check box is chosen (the default), the dialog box is displayed. You can select: o The Yes push button to continue. o The No push button to cancel your post. o Select the Help push button for more information. If this check box is deselected, the dialog box is not displayed. You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to activate your posting information and close the dialog box. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog box. o Help to obtain more information about this dialog. ═══ Organization Field ═══ Enter your organization name in this field. For example: o If you work at the New York University Courant Institute: Courant Institute, New York University o If you work for Joe's Tires Inc located in New York state: Joe's Tires Inc, NY, USA Note: This field is optional. However, if you do not supply an organization name, your local server may assign a default. ═══ From Field ═══ This field contains the e-mail address used by NewsReader/2 when you post information and forward articles. This is a required field. ═══ Reply-To Field ═══ The information in this field overrides your default posting information. Notes: 1. When you post news, NewsReader/2 includes a Reply-To: line in the header information providing your alternate address. 2. The e-mail address in this field is used by other news reader applications when generating e-mail replies to your posts or articles. 3. This field is optional. If you do not enter Reply-To: address, posting information is used. ═══ Default Distribution Field ═══ This field defines the default distribution scope used when making posts. Valid values include world, na, and usa. ═══ Check Group Postability ═══ When you select Check group postability, NewsReader/2 checks whether the newsgroup will accept your post. Otherwise, you may waste time composing an append that cannot be posted. Note: A positive response is not necessarily a guarantee that your post will be accepted, since some newsgroups have restricted posting. However, a negative response guarantees that your post will not be accepted. ═══ Warn About Etiquette ═══ You can chose whether the etiquette reminder dialog box is displayed when you begin posting activities: o If this check box is chosen (the default), the dialog box is displayed. You can select: - The Yes push button to continue. - The No push button to cancel your post. - The Help push button for more information. o If this check box is deselected, the dialog box is not displayed. Notes: 1. The news.announce.newusers newsgroup contains information about the Internet and the etiquette guidelines for network interaction. This newsgroup contains valuable information for new users and should be reviewed in its entirety. 2. A sample Article List window for this newsgroup is shown below. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK closes the dialog box and saves the changes you have made. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel discards the changes you have made and closes the dialog box. ═══ Subscribe To Dialog ═══ To subscribe to a newsgroup: 1. Enter the name of the newsgroup to which you want to subscribe. 2. Select the appropriate push button from this dialog box: o OK to subscribe to the newsgroup. The group is added to your subscriptions and can be accessed from the main window. o Cancel to close the dialog box without adding subscriptions. o Help for more information about this topic. Note: If you are already subscribed to the requested newsgroup, an error message is displayed. The dialog box is not closed, and you can subscribe to another newsgroup. ═══ Add Group field ═══ Enter the name of the newsgroup that you want to subscribe to in this field. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK closes the dialog box and starts the specified newsgroup subscriptions. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without adding subscriptions. ═══ Find Dialog ═══ To initiate a search (from the current item to the end of the list) using this dialog: 1. Enter the string to be the target of the search. 2. Select the Case Sensitive check box, if applicable. 3. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to initiate the search and close the dialog box o Cancel to close the dialog box without performing a search o Help to obtain more information about this dialog ═══ Enter Search Pattern Field ═══ Enter the pattern for which you want to search. Note: You cannot perform a wildcard search (for example, bus*. ═══ Case Sensitive Check Box ═══ Select this check box if you want the search to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letter. For example, if you specify the following search pattern: PC articles containing the string pc would not be found by the search. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK starts the requested search and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting the Cancel closes the dialog box without performing a search. ═══ Refreshing ═══ Selecting Refreshing allows you to customize the way NewsReader/2 updates its display of articles. The following refresh options are available: o Removing headers for the articles you have already viewed. o Removing cancelled headers (those headers that no longer exist on the news server because they have been cancelled by the author). o Setting up automatic-refresh activity when NewsReader/2 is idle. o Selecting automatic-refresh activity. Note: To start auto-refreshing, you must specify a time interval between refreshes by scrolling the scroll bar. You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog box and activate your Refresh options. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog box. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog. ═══ Auto-Refresh ═══ When you chose Auto-refresh, NewsReader/2 performs automatic updates for you. If you do not select this checkbox, your news information will be updated only when you chose Refresh now from the View pull-down menu of the main or Article List windows. ═══ Remove Read Headers ═══ Selecting Remove read headers deletes the headers for the articles you have already viewed. ═══ Remove Cancelled Headers ═══ Selecting Remove cancelled headers deletes cancelled article headers during the refresh activity. Note: Selecting this option increases refresh processing time considerably. ═══ Auto-Refresh Only When Idle ═══ Selecting Auto-refresh only when idle specifies the time interval (using the scroll bar) that the news server must be idle before auto-refreshing can occur. (You can select < to decrease the interval and > to increase the interval.) ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK activates your selections and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel discards your changes and closes the dialog box. ═══ Include Article Number ═══ Selecting Include article number displays the article numbers in the Article List window. ═══ Include Subject ═══ Selecting Include subject displays the article subjects in the Article List window. ═══ Include Author's Name ═══ Selecting Include author's name displays the authors' names in the Article List window. ═══ Include Line Count ═══ Selecting Include line count displays the total number of lines contained in each article in the Article List window. ═══ Move Left Push Button ═══ Selecting the Move Left push button swaps the current (highlighted) header field with the header field preceding it. ═══ Headers List Box ═══ This list box contains all of your current header fields. To move the position of a field, select (highlight) the field and use the Move Left/Right buttons. ═══ Move Right Push Button ═══ Selecting the Move Right push button swaps the current (highlighted) header field with the header field following it. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK closes the Article list dialog and activates the changes. ═══ Defaults Push Button ═══ Selecting Defaults loads the default header fields and their default positions. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog without changing any of the header configuration options. ═══ NewsReader/2 ═══ This dialog box is displayed when: o You select the Choose news server option from the Actions pull-down menu option of the main NewsReader/2 menu. o You first initiate a NewsReader/2 session, unless you have preconfigured your news server using the Configuration notebook or your service provider. To open a news server connection: 1. Enter the name or IP address of a news server. 2. Select the OK push button. Note: Once a connection is opened, server information is saved for future sessions. You will not have to provide it again unless you want to choose a different news server. You can select the following push buttons: o OK to open a connection with the specified news server and close the dialog box o Cancel to close the dialog box without opening a connection to a news server o Help to obtain more information about this dialog ═══ Local News Server Field ═══ Enter the name of the news server you want to connect to in this field. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK initiates a NewsReader/2 session with the specified local news server and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without starting a NewsReader/2 session. ═══ Inform about creation of new groups ═══ To receive notification when new newsgroups are created, select NewsReader/2 from the Options main menu bar and then select Inform about creation of new groups. If any newsgroups were created on your news server since your last session, the New Groups window is displayed when you start a session. Note: Since your news server may have a different time stamp for new groups than NewsReader/2, you can miss some new groups notification. ═══ Skip read articles ═══ Selecting Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference allows you to skip the articles you have already viewed when searching for the next (or previous) article (or reference). ═══ Mark Blocked Headers ═══ Selecting Marked blocked headers instead of removing marks (highlights) blocked headers instead of deleting them. Note: Blockfiles are used to exclude designated newsgroups, authors, or subjects from your newsgroup listings. ═══ Show Read Article Statistics ═══ Selecting Show read article statistics as percentages displays the percentage of articles viewed (in the main and status windows). The default is to show these statistics in an x unread articles format. Note: If Load articles on demand is chosen, the newsgroup statistics might not be current. You might need to refresh the Article List, load the newsgroup, or double-click on a newsgroup name to update the information. ═══ Keep Posting Log File ═══ Selecting Keep posting log file indicates that a log file (NR2POST.LOG) will contain a history of your posting activity. This file resides in your local TCPIP\ETC\LOG subdirectory. ═══ Keep Mailing Log File ═══ Selecting Keep mailing log file indicates that a log file (NR2MAIL.LOG) will contain a history of your NewsReader/2 mail activity. This file resides in your local TCPIP\ETC\LOG subdirectory. ═══ Beep on New News ═══ Selecting Beep on new news plays a little chime when new news is received. ═══ Restore Window on New News ═══ Selecting Restore window on new news restores a minimized NewsReader/2 window each time a refresh of the newsgroups occurs (either a manual or automatic refresh). ═══ Sort by Ascending Number ═══ Selecting Sort by ascending number arranges the articles in the Article List window in ascending numerical order. (The older posts appear at the top, and the newer posts appear at the bottom.) ═══ Sort by Descending Number ═══ Selecting Sort by descending number arranges the articles in the Article List window in descending numerical order. (The older posts appear at the bottom, and the newer posts appear at the top.) ═══ Sort by Subject ═══ Selecting Sort by subject arranges the articles in the Article List window alphabetically by subject. ═══ Sort by Author ═══ Selecting Sort by author arranges the articles in the Article List window alphabetically by author. Note: Articles are sorted by the first letter in the author field, which is usually an author's first name. ═══ Statistics on Current Group ═══ Selecting Statistics on current group displays statistics, in the Status window, about the newsgroup articles you have already read. The default is to show statistics in an x unread articles format. Note: If Load articles on demand is chosen, the newsgroup statistics might not be current. You might need to refresh the Article List, load the newsgroup, or double-click on a newsgroup name to update the information. ═══ Statistics on All Groups ═══ Selecting Statistics on all groups displays statistics, in the Status window, about all of the newsgroup articles you have viewed. The default is to show statistics in an x unread articles format. Note: If Load articles on demand is chosen, the newsgroup statistics might not be current. You might need to refresh the Article List, load the newsgroup, or double-clicking on a newsgroup name to update the information. ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK saves the selected options and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without saving any data. (Your previous options remain in effect.) ═══ Article Dialog ═══ Using the following dialog, you can select the options for your NewsReader/2 Article windows: o Multiple windows o Highlight subject o Terse viewing mode o Word wrap long lines o Define Spacebar o Define Enter key You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and activate the new header configuration o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Multiple Windows ═══ Selecting Multiple windows allows you to open up to eight multiple Article windows at a time. When this option is chosen and you select a header from the Article List window, a new Article window is loaded instead of overwriting the existing window. ═══ Highlight Subject ═══ Selecting Highlight subject highlights the subject of the article in the Article window after the article is loaded. ═══ Terse Viewing Mode ═══ Selecting Terse viewing mode removes all of the unnecessary header information (for example, Xref, Path, Organization, Disclaimer, and X-Newsreader) from articles before they are loaded into the Article window. ═══ Word Wrap Long Lines ═══ Selecting Word wrap long lines wraps long lines (those which extend past the right side of the window) onto the next line of the Article window. ═══ Define Spacebar Push Button ═══ Selecting Define Spacebar defines the action the spacebar will perform while you are viewing articles. Available actions are listed in the following dialog box: ═══ Define Enter Key Push Button ═══ Selecting Define Enter key defines the action the Enter key will perform while you are viewing articles. Available actions are listed in the following dialog box: ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK saves the options you have selected and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without saving new options. (Your old options remain in effect.) ═══ Define Spacebar/Enter key ═══ Selecting Define Spacebar or Define Enter key allows you to define the action performed when these keys are selected. The following dialog box is used to define the Spacebar action: The following dialog box is used to defined the Enter key action: The following key actions are available: o Nothing o Next Article o Next Reference o Page Down o Page Down, with next Article at end o Page Down, with next Reference at end To choose a key definition, select its corresponding radio button. You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and activate the new header configuration o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Nothing Radio Button ═══ Select Nothing if you do not want the key to perform an action. ═══ Next Article Radio Button ═══ Select Next Article if you want the key to load the next article. ═══ Next Reference Radio Button ═══ Select Next Reference if you want the key to load the next article with the same subject. ═══ Page Down Radio Button ═══ Select Page Down if you want the key to perform a page down action. ═══ Page Down, Next Article Radio Button ═══ Select Page Down, with Next Article at end if you want the key to either: o Move down a page within an article o Load the next article if at the end of an article ═══ Page Down, Next Reference Radio Button ═══ Select Page Down, with Next Reference at end if you want the key to either: o Move down a page within an article o Load the next reference if at the end of an article ═══ OK Push Button ═══ Selecting OK saves the selected key definition and closes the dialog box. ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog box without saving any new key definitions. ═══ Search Articles Dialog ═══ To search the articles of the current newsgroup for a particular string: 1. Enter the search pattern in the Enter string to search for field. 2. Specify a Search Option, if applicable: o Case Sensitive o End the search with the first article containing the search string o Exclude articles you have already viewed o Include only articles you have already viewed 3. Specify whether the search encompasses article headers only, the body of the articles only, or both. 4. Select one of the following push buttons: o Search to start the search o Cancel to cancel the search operation and close the dialog box o Help to obtain more information about this topic Once the search begins: o The headers of the articles containing matches are displayed in the Result list box, followed by the line from the article that contains the search string. o The Search push button changes to Stop, which can be used to stop the search at any time. If a search is stopped, the push button changes back to Search, and you can restart the search from where it left off. o To load an article: 1. Wait until the search has completed or stop the search using the Stop push button. 2. Select by double-clicking on the article header, or the line of text from the article, in the Result list box. o You can use the Clear push button to delete articles from the Result list box once the search has ended. Note: If you initiate another Search action after a Clear, the search starts from the beginning of the newsgroup (instead of starting from where the previous search was stopped). o You can select Cancel to close the dialog box. ═══ Results List Box ═══ The headers of the articles containing a match for the search string are displayed in this list box. The line following each header shows the text string found. You can select by double-clicking on either the header or the line to load the corresponding article. ═══ Enter String field ═══ Enter the desired search pattern in this field. ═══ Case Sensitive Check Box ═══ Check this check box if you want the search to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters. For example, if you specify the following search pattern: PC articles containing the string pc would not be found. ═══ Stop at First Article Check Box ═══ Check this option if you want the article search to stop at the first article containing the search string. ═══ Skip Read Check Box ═══ Check this option if you want the article search to exclude those articles you have already viewed. ═══ Skip Unread Check Box ═══ Check this option if you want the article search to include only those articles you have already viewed. ═══ Article Headers Radio Button ═══ Select Article Headers if you want the article search to include article headers only. ═══ Article Body Radio Button ═══ Select Article Body if you want the article search to include the article body only. ═══ Both Radio Button ═══ Select Both if you want the article search to include both the article body and headers. ═══ Search/Stop Push Button ═══ This push button is used for both the Search action (to initiate a search) and Stop (to end the search). After stopping a search, you can select Search to restart the search where it left off. ═══ Clear Push Button ═══ Selecting Clear deletes the article headers displayed in the Result list box. Note: If you initiate another Search action after a Clear, the search starts from the beginning of the newsgroup (instead of starting where the previous search was stopped). ═══ Cancel Push Button ═══ Selecting Cancel closes the dialog window without initiating a search. ═══ Post Confirmation ═══ This dialog is displayed to confirm that you want to post a file you are creating. You can select one of the following push buttons. o No to cancel the post and return to the Presentation Manager editor o Yes to post the append ═══ Yes Push Button ═══ Selecting Yes sends your post to the news server. Note: You cannot load news while NewsReader/2 is sending the post. ═══ No Push Button ═══ Selecting No cancels your post request and returns to the editor to finish the post. ═══ NewsReader/2 ═══ Selecting NewsReader/2 allows you to customize your NewsReader/2 session. To chose an option, select the checkbox or radio button for that option. When you have chosen your options, select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and save your options o Cancel to close the dialog (and keep the previous options) o Help to obtain more information about this topic The following options can be chosen: o Inform about creation of new groups o Load articles on demand o Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference o Mark blocked headers instead of removing o Show read article statistics as percentages o Keep posting log file o Keep mailing log file o Beep on new news o Restore window on new news o Send keep alive message o Article List Auto-sorting - Sort by ascending number - Sort by descending number - Sort by subject - Sort by author o Status Window - Statistics on current group - Statistics on all groups ═══ Article list ═══ Selecting Article list allows you to customize your Article List window, using the dialog box presented. The following options are available: o Header Fields - Include article number - Include line count - Include author's name - Include subject o Field Ordering - Move Left - Move Right - Field display box The Sample Header list box shows the revised header format as changes are made. You can select one of the following push buttons: o Defaults to restore the default header fields and their positions. o OK to close the dialog and apply your changes. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog. ═══ Article Window ═══ The Article window displays the text of selected USENET articles. This window is opened by double-clicking on an article header in the Article List window. When an article is loaded, its number, group, and size (in lines) are shown in the title bar. You can advance to the next article (by typing n) or the return to the previous article (by typing p). ═══ Etiquette Reminder Dialog ═══ This dialog is displayed when you create a post if Warn about etiquette is chosen (default value) from the Posting dialog box of the Configure main window menu bar. Note: You can suppress this dialog box by deselecting the Warn about etiquette check box. ═══ Article Window ═══ The Article window displays the text of selected USENET articles. This window is opened double-clicking on an article header in the Article List window. When an article is loaded, its number, group, and size (in lines) are shown in the title bar. ═══ NewsReader/2 Options Dialog ═══ This dialog is displayed when you chose Options from the main window menu bar and then select NewsReader/2. It allows you to customize your NewsReader/2 session. ═══ Editor Dialog ═══ This dialog is displayed when you chose Configure from the main window menu bar and then select Editor. It allows you to specify a custom Presentation Manager editor to use for modifying signature and block files, creating posts, and using existing files for your posts. ═══ Advanced Posting Dialog ═══ This dialog is displayed when you select the Advanced push button from the posting menu. Using this dialog, you can override your default posting information. ═══ Article List Dialog ═══ This dialog is displayed when you select NewsReader/2 from the Options main window menu bar and then select Article. It allows you to customize the way your Article List window is displayed. ═══ Choose News Server ═══ To choose another news server on the Internet, select Choose News Server. Note: This does not automatically connect you to the specified news server. You must load all newsgroups to open a connection. News servers often track article numbers differently. Therefore, if you switch from one server to another, NewsReader/2 might not be able to accurately track the articles you have already viewed. To obtain an accurate article count, you must either: o Erase the NEWS.GRP file in the local ETC subdirectory and start a new session. o Edit the NEWS.GRP file, removing the article number information, leaving only the newsgroup names. Notes: 1. This option is not available when you are connected to a news server. 2. You can also specify a news reader in your Configuration notebook. 3. If you have previously connected to a news server other than Advantis and now want to use an Advantis news server, specify default as the server name in this dialog box. ═══ Use NewsReader/2 Editor Check Box ═══ You can use this check box to select an editor: Presentation Manager editor: o Select Use NewsReader/2 editor to choose the default editor o Deselect Use NewsReader/2 editor to choose the Presentation Manager editor specified in the Custom Editor list box Notes: 1. If you select a custom editor, the Enhanced Editor (EPM) is the default custom editor. 2. Some of the dialogs presented differ when you use a custom editor. For example, when using a custom editor for posting, the dialog presented (and the procedure for posting) differs slightly from the dialog displayed when using the default editor. 3. A custom editor is required if you want to include a file in your post or for lengthy posts. ═══ Subject ═══ Confirm the subject (the default is the subject of the article you are viewing.) You can enter a different subject in this field. ═══ Edit Push Button ═══ Selecting Edit loads your Presentation Manager editor, allowing you to compose your post, if you have selected a custom editor. ═══ Advanced Push Button ═══ Selecting Advanced allows you to specify additional posting information using the Advanced Posting Fields dialog. This option overrides your default posting information. ═══ Posting List Box ═══ Enter the text for your post in this list box. ═══ Advanced Posting Fields Dialog ═══ Using this dialog box, you can: o Change your default distribution o Add Summary information o Specify Keywords o Change your default Reply To e-mail address o Designate a Followup-To newsgroup o Change your default organization Note: All of these fields are optional. ═══ Distribution Field ═══ Enter an alternate distribution for your post in this field. The default distribution is displayed if previously configured. The distribution of a post dictates how far your post will be distributed on the USENET. Valid examples are world, na, and usa. This is an optional field. ═══ Summary Field ═══ Enter a short summary for your post into this field. When NewsReader/2 posts your information, a Summary line will be included in the header. This is an optional field. ═══ Keywords ═══ Enter the keywords for your post into this field. When NewsReader/2 posts your information, a Keywords line will be included in the header. This is an optional field. ═══ Reply-To Field ═══ Enter a Reply To e-mail address, if you want to override your default posting information. This address is used by other newsreader applications when generating e-mail replies to your posts or articles. ═══ Followup-To Field ═══ Enter the name of newsgroup(s) that you want respondents to post to when they reply to your post. NewsReader/2 will include a Followup-to line in the header information in your post. ═══ Organization ═══ Enter an organization name in the Organization field, if you want to specify a different organization than the default posting information. NewsReader/2 will include an Organization line in the header information. This field is optional; however, if you do not provide this information, your local news server may assign a default. ═══ Load Articles on Demand ═══ Selecting Load articles on demand (default) specifies that newsgroup articles are loaded only when selected. When this option is chosen: o Performance is improved because newsgroup articles are loaded only when you request them. o The newsgroup article counts might not be current. You might need to refresh the Article List, load the newsgroup, or double-click on a newsgroup name to update the article count. o If you select a newsgroup that is not loaded, an empty Article List is displayed. ═══ Save Dialog ═══ You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to append the current article to the TCPIP\ETC\LOG\USEFUL.NEW file and close the dialog box o Cancel to close the dialog box without saving the article o Help to obtain more information about this dialog Note: To save the article to a different file, select Save as. ═══ NEWS.ALL File ═══ TCPIP\ETC\NEWS.ALL is a binary file containing entries for all of the USENET newsgroups known to your news server and the newsgroups you can post to. The file is used when you subscribe or post to any newsgroups. When you connect to your first news server, a resource file is created, NEWS.ALL, containing information about your session activities. As you access other news servers, additional resource files are created (NEWS1.ALL, NEWS2.ALL, etc.). ═══ List All Newsgroups ═══ To list of all the newsgroups available from your current news server, select List all newsgroups. The following dialog box is displayed: You can select one of the following push buttons: o No to load your current NEWS.ALL file information, close the dialog box, and open the All Groups window, from which you can subscribe to newsgroups. o Yes to update the current list of newsgroups from your news server, build a new NEWS.ALL file, close the dialog box, and open the All Groups window, from which you can subscribe to newsgroups. During the build operation, the dialog box shows build status and allows you to cancel the build. o Cancel to cancel your request and close the dialog box. ═══ Export NEWS.GRP to NEWSRC ═══ You can select the Export NEWS.GRP to NEWSRC option to convert your NewsReader/2 subscription file (NEWS.GRP) to an acceptable format for a news reader using a standard UNIX subscription format (NEWSRC). This allows you to standardize your subscription windows across operating systems. Note: This option is available only when you are connected to a news server. ═══ Import NEWS.GRP from NEWSRC ═══ You can select the Import NEWS.GRP from NEWSRC option to convert a UNIX subscription file (NEWSRC) to an acceptable format for NewsReader/2 (NEWS.ALL). This allows you to standardize your subscription windows across operating systems. Note: This option is only available when you are not connected to a server. For example, if you start NewsReader/2 by entering the NR2 command at an OS/2 command prompt specifying the nc parameter. ═══ Exit NewsReader/2 ═══ To end your session, select Exit NewsReader/2. You are asked to verify that you want to end your session. ═══ Post News ═══ To create news articles from the main menu: 1. Select Post from the Actions pull-down menu. 2. If this is your first post and you are using a service provider other than Internet Connection Services, a dialog is presented for you to confirm or revise your posting information. Press the OK push button to continue. If you want to change your posting information after your initial post or if you are using Internet Connection Services: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar b. Select Posting 3. If this is your first post and you are using a service provider other than Internet Connection Services, a dialog is presented for you to confirm or revise your posting information. Press the OK push button to continue. If you want to change your posting information after your initial post or if you are using Internet Connection Services: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar b. Select Posting 4. The etiquette reminder dialog box is displayed: o Select the Yes push button to continue. o Select the No push button to cancel your post. o Select the Help push button for more information. Note: To suppress the etiquette reminder dialog: a. Select Configure from the main window menu bar. b. Select Posting from the Configure pull-down menu. c. Deselect the Warn about etiquette check box. 5. Enter your post information in the dialog box displayed: o The newsgroup (or newsgroups separated by a blank space, a comma, or both) to which you want to post. If a newsgroup is selected (highlighted) in the Article window, that newsgroup becomes the default newsgroup name. o The subject (title) of your post. o The text of your post in the window area provided. Note: If you designated a custom editor from the Configure pull-down menu of the main window, the dialog box (and the corresponding procedure) vary slightly from the one show below. 6. Select one of the following push buttons: o Post to send the post to the newsgroup(s) indicated. o Advanced to include optional posting information. o Cancel to end posting activity without saving your post. o Help for more information about posting. Note: You can designate a custom editor if you want to use an existing file or post a lengthy reply. ═══ Subscribe To ═══ To subscribe to a newsgroup on your news server (if you know the group name), select Subscribe to. The following dialog is displayed: To subscribe to a newsgroup: 1. Enter the group name 2. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to subscribe to the newsgroup and close the dialog box. o Cancel to close the dialog box without subscribing to a newsgroup. o Help for more information about the dialog. Notes: 1. If you do not know the newsgroup name, you can peruse the All Groups window by selecting Load Newsgroups from the Actions main window menu bar. The All Groups window is displayed when all the newsgroups have been loaded. You can subscribe to a newsgroup by double-clicking on its name. 2. You can also subscribe to newsgroups from the New Groups window when you start a session if you chose Inform about creation of new groups from the NewsReader/2 dialog box of the Options main window menu bar. ═══ Unsubscribe ═══ Select Unsubscribe to delete the current (highlighted) newsgroup subscription. You are asked to confirm that you want to delete the newsgroup. If you select Yes, your subscription is removed. Note: You can manually delete multiple newsgroups from your NEWS.GRP file after you have ended your NewsReader/2 session. ═══ Next Group ═══ To advance to the next newsgroup containing articles, select Next Group. ═══ Previous Group ═══ To view the previous newsgroup containing articles, select Previous Group. ═══ Load newsgroups ═══ To connect to the specified news server and load the newsgroups listed in your NEWS.GRP file, select Load Newsgroups. The NEWS.GRP file contains information about your subscriptions and the articles you have viewed. Note: If a message is displayed when your newsgroups are being loaded informing you that a newsgroup could not be found: o Browse the newsgroups listed in the main window until you locate the newsgroup with the notation Not found on server. o Delete the newsgroup. The All Groups window is displayed when all the newsgroups have been loaded. You can subscribe to a newsgroup by double-clicking on its name. This option is available only when you are connected to a news server. ═══ Choose a News Server ═══ You can specify a news server to which you want to connect. Notes: 1. This does not automatically connect you to the specified news server. You must load all newsgroups to open a connection. 2. You can also specify a news reader in your Configuration notebook. 3. If you have previously connected to a news server other than Advantis and now want to use an Advantis news server, specify default as the server name in this dialog box. ═══ Current ═══ Selecting Current updates the current (highlighted) group from the news server. ═══ All ═══ Selecting All updates newsgroups to which you are subscribed: o If Load articles on demand is in effect (the default), all loaded newsgroups are refreshed. That is, those newsgroups you have already viewed. o If Load articles on demand is deselected, all of the newsgroups are refreshed. To set Load articles on demand: 1. Select Options from the main window menu bar. 2. Select NewsReader/2 from the Options pull-down menu. 3. Select (or deselect) the Load articles on demand check box. ═══ NewsReader/2 ═══ Selecting NewsReader/2 allows you to customize your NewsReader/2 sessions using the following dialog box: To chose an option, select the checkbox or radio button for that option. When you have set up your options, select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and save your options o Cancel to close the dialog (and keep the previous options) o Help to obtain more information about this dialog The following options can be chosen: o Inform about creation of new groups o Load articles on demand o Skip read articles with Next/Previous Article/Reference o Mark blocked headers instead of removing o Show read article statistics as percentages o Keep posting log file o Keep mailing log file o Beep on new news o Restore window on new news o Send keep alive message o Article List Auto-sorting - Sort by ascending number - Sort by descending number - Sort by subject - Sort by author o Status Window - Statistics on current group - Statistics on all groups ═══ Article List ═══ Selecting Article list allows you to customize your Article List window, using the following dialog box: The following options are available: o Header Fields - Include article number - Include line count - Include author's name - Include subject o Field Ordering - Move Left - Move Right - Field display box Note: The list box shows revisions as changes are made. You can select one of the following push buttons: o Defaults to restore the default article header fields and their positions. o OK to close the dialog and apply your changes. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog. ═══ Article ═══ Using this menu, you can customize NewsReader/2's presentation of articles in the Article window using the following dialog box: The following options are available: o Multiple windows o Subject line highlighting o Terse viewing mode o Word wrap o Define Spacebar o Define Enter Key ═══ Colors ═══ By selecting Colors, you can chose the colors of your Article List, Article, All Groups, New Groups, and Search Article windows. You can also chose the color for the headers of articles that you have read, as well as the background color for the main window. Using the following dialog box, you can select (highlight) an item from the Fields list box, select colors, and view the results in the Sample text list box: You can select one of the following push buttons: o Save to activate the colors, close the dialog box, and save your selections for future sessions. o Apply to activate the colors and close the dialog box. Your selections will not be saved for future sessions. o Cancel to close the dialog box without making any changes. o Help for more information about this dialog. ═══ Save Window Positions ═══ Using this menu, you can save the current positions and sizes of your main, New Groups, Article List, and Article windows. Note: All of the window positions are saved. There is no way to save individual window positions. ═══ Use Default Settings ═══ To reset the default window positions, sizes, and colors, select Use Default Settings. ═══ Signature ═══ Using this menu, you can create, edit, and delete signature file(s). Note: Sigfiles are used for mail generated by NewsReader/2 only (for example, when you mail a reply to a news article). The file is not used by other TCP/IP electronic mail functions. ═══ Refreshing ═══ Selecting Refreshing sets the refresh activity for your newsgroups, using the following dialog: You can choose from the following options: o Removing previously-viewed or cancelled articles. o Automatically refreshing when NewsReader/2 is idle. o Bypass automatic refreshing activity. ═══ Fonts ═══ Selecting Fonts allows you to change the fonts used in the Subscriptions, Article List, Article All Groups, New Groups, and Search Articles windows. The following dialog box is displayed: 1. Select one of the following font options: o Font (monospace, proportional, and so on) o Style (bold, italic, and so on) o Size of the font used o Emphasis (underlined, outlined, and so on) 2. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and activate your font selections. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Posting ═══ Select Posting to customize the information used by NewsReader/2 when posting news, sending replies, and forwarding articles. The following dialog box is displayed: 1. Select the default values for the following fields: o From (required) o Reply To (optional) o Organization (optional) o Scope of Distribution (optional) Note: Select the Advanced push button to override these defaults for individual posts. 2. Select Check group postability if you want NewsReader/2 to query if the newsgroup(s) to which you are posting will accept posts. Otherwise, you may waste time composing an append that cannot be posted. Note: A positive response is not necessarily a guarantee that your post will be accepted, since some newsgroups have restricted posting. However, a negative response guarantees that your post will not be accepted. 3. Select Warn about etiquette if you want the etiquette reminder dialog box displayed each time you begin your posting activities. If this check box is chosen (the default), the dialog box is displayed. You can select: o The Yes push button to continue. o The No push button to cancel your post. o The Help push button for more information. If this check box is deselected, the dialog box is not displayed. You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to apply your posting information and close the dialog box o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog box o Help to obtain more information about this dialog ═══ Editor ═══ From this menu, you can specify your Presentation Manager editor support for NewsReader/2's editing tasks, using the following dialog: Note: You can use a custom Presentation Manager editor to bring in an existing file for your post, post a lengthy reply, or update signature or blockfiles. ═══ Printer ═══ Using this menu, you can designate a default printer for printing NewsReader/2 articles. Select (highlight) the printer you want to use in the following dialog box: You can select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and select the new printer default o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Help Index ═══ Select Help index for an index of NewsReader/2 topics. ═══ Getting Started ═══ Select Getting Started for information about starting, using, and exiting NewsReader/2. ═══ Product Information ═══ Select Product information for NewsReader/2 version and copyright information. ═══ All Groups Window ═══ This window contains a list of all USENET groups on the news server. It is not opened by NewsReader/2 when you start a session. To open the window, select File from the main window menu bar and then select List all newsgroups. (The number of groups is displayed in the window title bar.) Using this menu, you can: o Subscribe to a single newsgroup by double-clicking on its name. o Subscribe to multiple newsgroups by selecting Add Group(s) from the Actions pull-down menu. ═══ Advanced Posting Fields Dialog ═══ This dialog is displayed when you select the Advanced push button from the posting menu. This option overrides your default posting information. ═══ Article List Window ═══ The Article List window is created when you start a NewsReader/2 session. It contains a list of the articles for a selected newsgroup. (The newsgroup name is displayed in the title bar.) You can select by double-clicking on an article header to load an article into the Article window. You can advance to the next newsgroup containing articles (by typing n) or the return to the previous newsgroup (by typing p). ═══ New Groups Window ═══ The New Groups window displays the newsgroups added to your news server since your last NewsReader/2 session if you choose Inform about creation of new groups from the NewsReader/2 dialog box of the Options main menu item. (The number of new groups is displayed in the title bar.) ═══ NEWS.GRP File ═══ The NEWS.GRP file contains a record of NewsReader/2 subscriptions and status. Each line in the file contains a newsgroup name, followed by a list of the article numbers you have already read. NewsReader/2 uses the information in this file to load newsgroups (from the Actions pull-down menu of the main window). Notes 1. You can manually delete multiple newsgroup subscriptions by deleting those entries from this file after you have ended your NewsReader/2 session. (You can delete individual newsgroup subscriptions by using the Unsubscribe option from the Actions pull-down menu of the main window.) 2. When you connect to your first news server, a resource file is created, NEWS.GRP, containing information about your session activities. As you access other news servers, additional resource files are created (NEWS1.GRP, NEWS2.GRP, etc.). ═══ Sample Etiquette Information ═══ The following is an excerpt from the news.announce.newusers newsgroup. A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community Chuq Von Rospach *** You now have access to Usenet, a network of thousands of computers. Other documents or your system administrator will provide detailed technical documentation. This message describes the Usenet culture and customs that have developed over time. All new users should read this message to find out how Usenet works. *** USENET is a large collection of computers that share data with each other. It is the people on these computers that make USENET worth the effort to read and maintain, and for USENET to function properly those people must be able to interact in productive ways. This document is intended as a guide to using the net in ways that will be pleasant and productive for everyone. This document is not intended to teach you how to use USENET. Instead, it is a guide to using it politely, effectively and efficiently. Communication by computer is new to almost everybody, and there are certain aspects that can make it a frustrating experience until you get used to them. This document should help you avoid the worst traps. The easiest way to learn how to use USENET is to watch how others use it. Start reading the news and try to figure out what people are doing and why. After a couple of weeks you will start understanding why certain things are done and what things shouldn't be done. There are documents available describing the technical details of how to use the software. These are different depending on which programs you use to access the news. You can get copies of these from your system administrator. If you do not know who that person is, they can be contacted on most systems by mailing to account "usenet". Never Forget that the Person on the Other Side is Human Because your interaction with the network is through a computer it is easy to forget that there are people "out there." Situations arise where emotions erupt into a verbal free-for-all that can lead to hurt feelings. Please remember that people all over the world are reading your words. Do not attack people if you cannot persuade them with your presentation of the facts. Screaming, cursing, and abusing others only serves to make people think less of you and less willing to help you when you need it. If you are upset at something or someone, wait until you have had a chance to calm down and think about it. A cup of (decaf!) coffee or a good night's sleep works wonders on your perspective. Hasty words create more problems than they solve. Try not to say anything to others you would not say to them in person in a room full of people. Don't Blame System Admins for their Users' Behavior Sometimes, you may find it necessary to write to a system administrator about something concerning his or her site. Maybe it is a case of the software not working, or a control message escaped, or maybe one of the users at that site has done something you feel requires comment. No matter how steamed you may be, be polite to the sysadmin -- he or she may not have any idea of what you are going to say, and may not have any part in the incidents involved. By being civil and temperate, you are more likely to obtain their courteous attention and assistance. Never Assume That a Person is Speaking for Their Organization Many people who post to Usenet do so from machines at their office or school. Despite that, never assume that the person is speaking for the organization that they are posting their articles from (unless the person explicitly says so). Some people put explicit disclaimers to this effect in their messages, but this is a good general rule. If you find an article offensive, consider taking it up with the person directly, or ignoring it. Learn about "kill files" in your newsreader, and other techniques for ignoring people whose postings you find offensive. Be Careful What You Say About Others Please remember -- you read netnews; so do as many as 3,000,000 other people. This group quite possibly includes your boss, your friend's boss, your girl friend's brother's best friend and one of your father's beer buddies. Information posted on the net can come back to haunt you or the person you are talking about. Think twice before you post personal information about yourself or others. This applies especially strongly to groups like soc.singles and alt.sex but even postings in groups like talk.politics.misc have included information about the personal life of third parties that could get them into serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands. Be Brief Never say in ten words what you can say in fewer. Say it succinctly and it will have a greater impact. Remember that the longer you make your article, the fewer people will bother to read it. Your Postings Reflect Upon You -- Be Proud of Them Most people on USENET will know you only by what you say and how well you say it. They may someday be your co-workers or friends. Take some time to make sure each posting is something that will not embarrass you later. Minimize your spelling errors and make sure that the article is easy to read and understand. Writing is an art and to do it well requires practice. Since much of how people judge you on the net is based on your writing, such time is well spent. Use Descriptive Titles The subject line of an article is there to enable a person with a limited amount of time to decide whether or not to read your article. Tell people what the article is about before they read it. A title like "Car for Sale" to rec.autos does not help as much as "66 MG Midget for sale: Beaverton OR." Don't expect people to read your article to find out what it is about because many of them won't bother. Some sites truncate the length of the subject line to 40 characters so keep your subjects short and to the point. Think About Your Audience When you post an article, think about the people you are trying to reach. Asking UNIX(*) questions on rec.autos will not reach as many of the people you want to reach as if you asked them on comp.unix.questions or comp.unix.internals. Try to get the most appropriate audience for your message, not the widest. It is considered bad form to post both to misc.misc, soc.net-people, or misc.wanted and to some other newsgroup. If it belongs in that other newsgroup, it does not belong in misc.misc, soc.net-people, or misc.wanted. If your message is of interest to a limited geographic area (apartments, car sales, meetings, concerts, etc...), restrict the distribution of the message to your local area. Some areas have special newsgroups with geographical limitations, and the recent versions of the news software allow you to limit the distribution of material sent to world-wide newsgroups. Check with your system administrator to see what newsgroups are available and how to use them. If you want to try a test of something, do not use a world-wide newsgroup! Messages in misc.misc that say "This is a test" are likely to cause large numbers of caustic messages to flow into your mailbox. There are newsgroups that are local to your computer or area that should be used. Your system administrator can tell you what they are. Be familiar with the group you are posting to before you post! You shouldn't post to groups you do not read, or post to groups you've only read a few articles from -- you may not be familiar with the on-going conventions and themes of the group. One normally does not join a conversation by just walking up and talking. Instead, you listen first and then join in if you have something pertinent to contribute. Be Careful with Humor and Sarcasm Without the voice inflections and body language of personal communications, it is easy for a remark meant to be funny to be misinterpreted. Subtle humor tends to get lost, so take steps to make sure that people realize you are trying to be funny. The net has developed a symbol called the smiley face. It looks like ":-)" and points out sections of articles with humorous intent. No matter how broad the humor or satire, it is safer to remind people that you are being funny. But also be aware that quite frequently satire is posted without any explicit indications. If an article outrages you strongly, you should ask yourself if it just may have been unmarked satire. Several self-proclaimed connoisseurs refuse to use smiley faces, so take heed or you may make a temporary fool of yourself. Only Post a Message Once Avoid posting messages to more than one newsgroup unless you are sure it is appropriate. If you do post to multiple newsgroups, do not post to each group separately. Instead, specify all the groups on a single copy of the message. This reduces network overhead and lets people who subscribe to more than one of those groups see the message once instead of having to wade through each copy. Please Rotate Messages With Questionable Content Certain newsgroups (such as rec.humor) have messages in them that may be offensive to some people. To make sure that these messages are not read unless they are explicitly requested, these messages should be encrypted. The standard encryption method is to rotate each letter by thirteen characters so that an "a" becomes an "n". This is known on the network as "rot13" and when you rotate a message the word "rot13" should be in the "Subject:" line. Most of the software used to read usenet articles have some way of encrypting and decrypting messages. Summarize What You are Following Up When you are following up someone's article, please summarize the parts of the article to which you are responding. This allows readers to appreciate your comments rather than trying to remember what the original article said. It is also possible for your response to get to some sites before the original article. Summarization is best done by including appropriate quotes from the original article. Do not include the entire article since it will irritate the people who have already seen it. Even if you are responding to the entire article, summarize only the major points you are discussing. When Summarizing, Summarize! When you request information from the network, it is common courtesy to report your findings so that others can benefit as well. The best way of doing this is to take all the responses that you received and edit them into a single article that is posted to the places where you originally posted your question. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and write a short summary. Try to credit the information to the people that sent it to you, where possible. Use Mail, Don't Post a Follow-up One of the biggest problems we have on the network is that when someone asks a question, many people send out identical answers. When this happens, dozens of identical answers pour through the net. Mail your answer to the person and suggest that they summarize to the network. This way the net will only see a single copy of the answers, no matter how many people answer the question. If you post a question, please remind people to send you the answers by mail and at least offer to summarize them to the network. Read All Follow-ups and Don't Repeat What Has Already Been Said Before you submit a follow-up to a message, read the rest of the messages in the newsgroup to see whether someone has already said what you want to say. If someone has, don't repeat it. Check the Headers When Following Up The news software has provisions to specify that follow-ups to an article should go to a specific set of newsgroups -- possibly different from the newsgroups to which the original article was posted. Sometimes the groups chosen for follow-ups are totally inappropriate, especially as a thread of discussion changes with repeated postings. You should carefully check the groups and distributions given in the header and edit them as appropriate. If you change the groups named in the header, or if you direct follow-ups to a particular group, say so in the body of the message -- not everyone reads the headers of postings. Be Careful About Copyrights and Licenses Once something is posted onto the network, it is *probably* in the public domain unless you own the appropriate rights (most notably, if you wrote the thing yourself) and you post it with a valid copyright notice; a court would have to decide the specifics and there are arguments for both sides of the issue. Now that the US has ratified the Berne convention, the issue is even murkier (if you are a poster in the US). For all practical purposes, though, assume that you effectively give up the copyright if you don't put in a notice. Of course, the *information* becomes public, so you mustn't post trade secrets that way. When posting material to the network, keep in mind that material that is UNIX-related may be restricted by the license you or your company signed with AT&T and be careful not to violate it. You should also be aware that posting movie reviews, song lyrics, or anything else published under a copyright could cause you, your company, or members of the net community to be held liable for damages, so we highly recommend caution in using this material. Cite Appropriate References If you are using facts to support a cause, state where they came from. Don't take someone else's ideas and use them as your own. You don't want someone pretending that your ideas are theirs; show them the same respect. Mark or Rotate Answers and Spoilers When you post something (like a movie review that discusses a detail of the plot) which might spoil a surprise for other people, please mark your message with a warning so that they can skip the message. Another alternative would be to use the "rot13" protocol to encrypt the message so it cannot be read accidentally. When you post a message with a spoiler in it make sure the word "spoiler" is part of the "Subject:" line. Spelling Flames Considered Harmful Every few months a plague descends on USENET called the spelling flame. It starts out when someone posts an article correcting the spelling or grammar in some article. The immediate result seems to be for everyone on the net to turn into a 6th grade English teacher and pick apart each other's postings for a few weeks. This is not productive and tends to cause people who used to be friends to get angry with each other. It is important to remember that we all make mistakes, and that there are many users on the net who use English as a second language. There are also a number of people who suffer from dyslexia and who have difficulty noticing their spelling mistakes. If you feel that you must make a comment on the quality of a posting, please do so by mail, not on the network. Don't Overdo Signatures Signatures are nice, and many people can have a signature added to their postings automatically by placing it in a file called "$HOME/.signature". Don't overdo it. Signatures can tell the world something about you, but keep them short. A signature that is longer than the message itself is considered to be in bad taste. The main purpose of a signature is to help people locate you, not to tell your life story. Every signature should include at least your return address relative to a major, known site on the network and a proper domain-format address. Your system administrator can give this to you. Some news posters attempt to enforce a 4 line limit on signature files -- an amount that should be more than sufficient to provide a return address and attribution. Limit Line Length and Avoid Control Characters Try to keep your text in a generic format. Many (if not most) of the people reading Usenet do so from 80 column terminals or from workstations with 80 column terminal windows. Try to keep your lines of text to less than 80 characters for optimal readability. If people quote part of your article in a followup, short lines will probably show up better, too. Also realize that there are many, many different forms of terminals in use. If you enter special control characters in your message, it may result in your message being unreadable on some terminal types; a character sequence that causes reverse video on your screen may result in a keyboard lock and graphics mode on someone else's terminal. You should also try to avoid the use of tabs, too, since they may also be interpreted differently on terminals other than your own. Please Do Not Use Usenet as a Resource for Homework Assignments Usenet is not a resource for homework or class assignments. A common new user reaction to learning of all these people out there holding discussions is to view them as a great resource for gathering information for reports and papers. Trouble is, after seeing a few hundred such requests, most people get tired of them, and won't reply anyway. Certainly not in the expected or hoped-for numbers. Posting student questionnaires automatically brands you a "newbie" and does not usually garner much more than a tiny number of replies. Further, some of those replies are likely to be incorrect. Instead, read the group of interest for a while, and find out what the main "threads" are - what are people discussing? Are there any themes you can discover? Are there different schools of thought? Only post something after you've followed the group for a few weeks, after you have read the Frequently Asked Questions posting if the group has one, and if you still have a question or opinion that others will probably find interesting. If you have something interesting to contribute, you'll find that you gain almost instant acceptance, and your posting will generate a large number of follow-up postings. Use these in your research; it is a far more efficient (and accepted) way to learn about the group than to follow that first instinct and post a simple questionnaire. Please Do Not Use Usenet as an Advertising Medium Advertisements on Usenet are rarely appreciated. In general, the louder or more inappropriate the ad is, the more antagonism it will stir up. The accompanying posting "Rules for posting to Usenet" has more on this in the section about "Announcement of professional products or services". Try the biz.* hierarchies instead. Avoid Posting to Multiple Newsgroups Few things annoy Usenet readers as much as multiple copies of a posting appearing in multiple newsgroups. (called 'spamming' for historical reasons) A posting that is cross-posted (i.e lists multiple newsgroups on the Newsgroups: header line) to a few appropriate newsgroups is fine, but even with cross-posts, restraint is advised. For a cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the most suitable group for the rest of the discussion. Summary of Things to Remember Never forget that the person on the other side is human. Don't blame system admins for their users' behavior. Never assume that a person is speaking for their organization. Be careful what you say about others. Be brief. Your postings reflect upon you; be proud of them. Use descriptive titles Think about your audience. Be careful with humor and sarcasm. Only post a message once. Please rotate material with questionable content. Summarize what you are following up. Use mail, don't post a follow-up. Read all follow-ups and don't repeat what has already been said. Double-check follow-up newsgroups and distributions. Be careful about copyrights and licenses. Cite appropriate references. When summarizing, summarize. Mark or rotate answers or spoilers. Spelling flames considered harmful. Don't overdo signatures. Limit line length and avoid control characters. Please do not use Usenet as a resource for homework assignments. Please do not use Usenet as an advertising medium. Avoid posting to multiple newsgroups. Note: This document is in the public domain and may be reproduced or excerpted by anyone wishing to do so. ═══ Custom Editor Post Dialog ═══ ═══ Custom Editor Mail Dialog ═══ ═══ Open ═══ Using this menu option, you can open either either the: o Next Group displayed in the Article window. o The Previous Group displayed in the Article window. Note: You can advance to the next newsgroup containing articles group by typing n or the return to the previous newsgroup by typing p. ═══ Posting Dialog Box ═══ ═══ Fonts Dialog Box ═══ Using this dialog box, you can change the fonts used in the Subscriptions, Article List, Article All Groups, New Groups, and Search Articles windows: 1. Select one of the following font options: o Font (monospace, proportional, and so on) o Style (bold, italic, and so on) o Size of the font used o Emphasis (underlined, outlined, and so on) 2. Select one of the following push buttons: o OK to close the dialog and activate your font selections. o Cancel to discard the changes you have made and close the dialog. o Help to obtain more information about the dialog ═══ Send Keep Alive Message ═══ If you select Send keep alive message, you will not be automatically disconnected from the dialer because your connection is idle. When keep alive messages are sent, your session remains active and your connection open. If this option is not chosen, your connection is automatically closed after a specified (server-dependent) period of inactivity. ═══ 4. NewsReader/2 Terms and Concepts ═══ Like many terms used in describing the internet, the terms used to describe NewsReader/2 may be unfamiliar at first. Also, some terms have a specific meaning to NewsReader/2. These terms are described here. o Dialog box o Directory o Drag and drop o News o Newsgroup o News server o Post o Pull-down menu o Push button o Subdirectory o Workstation ═══ Drag and drop ═══ Drag and drop refers to an OS/2* desktop procedure where you drag an icon (by pressing and holding the right mouse button) from one point on the desktop and drop (releasing the right mouse button) it at another, usually onto a window or icon. This an intuitive and powerful method of transferring information. Not all windows or objects can be dropped onto. A black circle with a horizontal white bar indicates that the window or object will not accept the dropped item. Additionally, some objects will allow NewsReader/2 to drop onto them, but will not recognize it because it is not a recognizable format to the application. ═══ News ═══ The term news applies to the USENET in only the most general sense. For the most part, what you will see on USENET newsgroups does not correspond with the average person's definition of news. The USENET is not a collection of electronic newspapers. On USENET, you will find facts and opinions on almost any subject. If you are not familiar with news services, you should review the following topics: What is a newsgroup? o What is a post? o What are the rules of etiquette? ═══ Newsgroup ═══ A newsgroup (or group) is a collection of articles in the USENET that fall under a certain topic. For example, there are newsgroups about baking, computing, law, Star Trek, and so forth. A newsgroup may or may not be moderated. There are several major hierarchies of newsgroups on the USENET. Each hierarchy deals with a general area of concentration. For example: alt Alternate newsgroups covering diverse topics. biz Newsgroups with business-related topics. comp Topics covering many aspects of computing such as computer programming, operating systems, hardware, etc. misc Miscellaneous topics, which do not fall under any other hierarchy. news Topics dealing with USENET networking and maintenance. rec Groups covering numerous types of recreation, hobbies, and interests. sci Scientific groups, dealing with both research and application. soc Socializing newsgroups. Many different world cultures are represented. talk Discussion newsgroups, which host debates on various topics. ═══ News server ═══ A news server is a workstation, on the Internet, that is a repository for the news database. ═══ 4.1. Post ═══ The terms post, article, and append are synonymous. They refer to the smallest informational package on the USENET. They are quite similar to electronic mail in their structure, but the audience is very different. Usually e-mail is sent to a limited number of individuals. On the other hand, posts to the USENET generally have the whole world as their audience. Literally, thousands may read what you post to the USENET. To better understand just what a post is and to understand its basic structure, let's look at an example: Xref:yktnews.watson.ibm.com ibm.watson.test:73 ibm.test:60 Newsgroups:ibm.watson.test,ibm.test Path: yktnews.watson.ibm.com!news From:rrogers@danzig.watson.ibm.com (Ryan Rogers) Subject:Testing NewsReader/2 for OS/2! Summary:A short little test Sender:news@yktnews.watson.ibm.com (NNTP News Poster) Message-ID: Date:Mon, 2 Aug 1993 05:53:40 GMT Expires: 08/04/93 Distribution: watson Lines: 6 Reply-To:rrogers@danzig.watson.ibm.com (Ryan Rogers) Disclaimer:The poster's views follow, not necessarily IBM's. Nntp-Posting-Host:danzig.watson.ibm.com Organization:IBM T.J. Watson Research Center X-Newsreader:IBM NewsReader/2 v1.00 Followup-To: ibm.watson.test Keywords: test, USENET, fun This is a test. Reading USENET news is fun! -- Regards, Ryan Rogers Notes 1. NewsReader/2 generates many of these headers for you using the posting information you provide. The headers are used for networking purposes and are removed by NewsReader/2 before viewing. 2. Not all news servers are configured the same. Some servers may not use all of the above headers, while others may allow more. Also, the ordering of the headers after Xref is insignificant. ═══ 4.1.1. Xref Header ═══ The Xref header contains a list of the newsgroups which also have the same post (a cross-reference list). By using this information, news-reading software can prevent you from viewing the same article twice. ═══ 4.1.2. News Groups Header ═══ The Newsgroup header contains the name(s) of the newsgroup(s) to which the article was posted. ═══ 4.1.3. Path Header ═══ The Path header contains the path of machine names over which the post travelled before finally arriving at your news server. ═══ 4.1.4. From Header ═══ The From header contains the e-mail address of the user who created the post. ═══ 4.1.5. Subject Header ═══ The Subject header contains the title of the post. The subject should be short yet informative. ═══ 4.1.6. Summary Header ═══ The Summary header contains a brief summary of the post's contents. ═══ 4.1.7. Sender Header ═══ The Sender header contains the name or IP address of the news machine that posted the article to the USENET. ═══ 4.1.8. Message-ID Header ═══ The Message-ID header contains the unique message identification code for that post. Every post on the news server has a unique message-ID. ═══ 4.1.9. Date Header ═══ The Date header contains the date of when the news server first received the post. ═══ 4.1.10. Expires Header ═══ The Expires header contains a date indicating when the news server will drop the post. ═══ 4.1.11. Distribution Header ═══ The Distribution header dictates how far across the USENET the post was sent. Specifying a distribution does not guarantee that the distribution will be adhered to. ═══ 4.1.12. Lines Header ═══ The Lines header contains the number of lines in the body of the post. ═══ 4.1.13. Reply-To Header ═══ The Reply-To header contains the e-mail address that the author of the post wants people to use when responding. ═══ 4.1.14. Disclaimer Header ═══ The Disclaimer header contains a standard legal disclaimer that may be added by some news servers if you do not specify one. ═══ 4.1.15. Nntp-Posting-Host Header ═══ The Nntp-Posting-Host header contains the name or IP address of the workstation from which the post originated. ═══ 4.1.16. Organization Header ═══ The Organization header contains the organization to which the author of the post belongs. ═══ 4.1.17. X-Newsreader Header ═══ The X-Newsreader header contains the name and version of the news reader software used to create the post. ═══ 4.1.18. Followup-To Header ═══ The Followup-To header contains the names of the newsgroup(s) to post to when doing a follow-up post. Specifying this field will force users who reply to your articles to follow-up to the group(s) you specify. ═══ 4.1.19. Keywords Header ═══ The Keywords header contains relevant keywords that the author may have included with this post. ═══ accelerator key ═══ A key or combination of keys that invokes an application-defined function. ═══ action bar ═══ The highlighted area at the top of a panel that contains the choices currently available in the application program that a user is running. ═══ address ═══ The unique code assigned to each device or workstation connected to a network. A standard internet address (or IP address) is a 32-bit address field. This field contains two parts. The first part is the network address; the second part is the host number. ═══ AIX ═══ Advanced Interactive Executive. The AIX operating system is IBM's implementation of the UNIX operating system. ═══ ANSI ═══ American National Standards Institute. ANSI is an organization consisting of producers, consumers, and general interest groups that establishes the procedures by which accredited organizations create and maintain voluntary industry standards in the United States. ═══ application ═══ A collection of software components used to perform specific types of user-oriented work on a computer. ═══ argument ═══ Any value of an independent variable; for example, a search key. ═══ ASCII ═══ American National Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII is the standard code used for information interchange among data processing systems, data communication systems, and associated equipment. The ASCII set consists of control characters and graphic characters. ASCII is the default file transfer type for FTP, used to transfer files that contain ASCII text characters. ═══ attribute ═══ A characteristic or property of a file, directory, window, or object; for example, the color of a line, or the length of a data field. ═══ authorization ═══ The right granted to a user or group of users to communicate with, or to make use of, a computer system, network, database, or service. ═══ button ═══ A mechanism on a pointing device, such as a mouse, or an area on the computer screen, used to request or initiate an action. ═══ cascaded menu ═══ A menu that appears when the arrow to the right of a cascading choice is selected. Cascaded menus are used to reduce the length of a menu. ═══ case-sensitive ═══ A condition in which entries for a field must conform to a specific lowercase, uppercase, or mixed-case format in order to be valid. ═══ click ═══ To press and release the select button on a mouse without moving the pointer off the choice. ═══ client ═══ A function that requests services from a server and makes them available to the user. ═══ clipboard ═══ An area of memory that temporarily holds data being passed from one program to another. ═══ command ═══ A statement used to request a function of the system. A command consists of the command name abbreviation, which identifies the requested function, and its parameters. ═══ command prompt ═══ A displayed symbol that indicates where you enter commands. ═══ CONFIG.SYS ═══ A file that exists in the root directory and contains statements that set up the system configuration each time you restart the operating system. ═══ configuration file ═══ A file that describes the devices, optional features, communications parameters, and programs installed on a workstation. ═══ connection ═══ A communication link from a local device to a shared resource on a server. ═══ default ═══ A value, attribute, or option that is assumed when none is explicitly specified. ═══ dialog box ═══ A movable window, fixed in size, which provides information that is required by an application to continue your request. ═══ directory ═══ A named grouping of files in a file system. ═══ domain ═══ In an internet, a part of the naming hierarchy. A domain name consists of a sequence of names (labels) separated by periods (dots). ═══ domain name ═══ A name of a host system in a network. A domain name consists of a sequence of names (labels) separated by a periods (dots). ═══ dotted-decimal notation ═══ The syntactical representation for a 32-bit integer that consists of four 8-bit numbers, written in base 10 and separated by periods (dots). It is used to represent IP addresses. ═══ drive ═══ The device used to read and write data on disks or diskettes. ═══ entry field ═══ A panel element, usually highlighted in some manner and usually with its boundaries indicated, where users type in information. ═══ File Transfer Protocol (FTP) ═══ An application protocol used for transferring files to and from host computers. FTP requires a user ID and sometimes a password to allow access to files on a remote host system. ═══ folder ═══ A container used to organize objects, programs, templates, documents, other folders, or any combination of these. ═══ FTP ═══ File Transfer Protocol. ═══ gateway ═══ A functional unit that connects a local data network with another network having different protocols. See also router. ═══ host ═══ Any system that has at least one Internet address associated with it. A host with multiple network interfaces may have multiple Internet addresses associated with it. ═══ interactive ═══ Pertaining to a program or a system that alternately accepts input and then responds. An interactive system is conversational, that is, a continuous dialog exists between user and system. ═══ International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ═══ An organization of national standards bodies from various countries established to promote development of standards to facilitate international exchange of goods and services, and develop cooperation in intellectual, scientific, technological, and economic activity. ═══ Internet ═══ A wide area network connecting thousands of disparate networks in industry, education, government, and research. The Internet network uses TCP/IP as the standard for transmitting information. ═══ internet address ═══ The unique 32-bit address identifying each device or workstation in the Internet. Also known as IP address. See also address. ═══ ISO ═══ International Organization for Standardization. ═══ LAN ═══ Local area network. ═══ local area network (LAN) ═══ A network in which communications usually cover a moderate-sized geographic area, such as a single office building, warehouse, or campus, and that does not extend across public rights-of-way. ═══ mapping ═══ The process of relating internet (IP) addresses to physical addresses in the network. ═══ mark ═══ A method of highlighting text or graphics that you want to perform clipboard actions on (cut, copy, paste, or delete). ═══ menu bar ═══ The highlighted area at the top of the panel that contains the choices currently available in the application program that a user is running. ═══ menu item ═══ An item on a pull-down menu. ═══ modem (modulator/demodulator) ═══ A device that converts digital data from a computer to an analog signal that can be transmitted on a telecommunications line, and converts the analog signal received to data for the computer. ═══ mouse ═══ A device that is used to move a pointer on the screen and select items. ═══ Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) ═══ The operating system that manages System/370* computers. ═══ MVS ═══ See Multiple Virtual Storage. ═══ name server ═══ A host that provides name resolution for a network. Name servers translate symbolic names assigned to networks and hosts into the Internet (IP) addresses used by machines. ═══ network ═══ A configuration of data processing devices connected for the purpose of sharing resources and for information exchange. ═══ OS/2 ═══ Operating System/2. OS/2 is an IBM licensed program that can be sued as the operating system for personal computers. OS/2 can perform multiple tasks at the same time. ═══ parameter ═══ A variable used in conjunction with a command to affect its result. ═══ parse ═══ To analyze the operands entered with a command and create a parameter list in the command processor from the information. ═══ path ═══ A statement that indicates where a file is stored on a particular drive. The path consists of all the directories that must be opened to get to a particular file. The directory names are separated by the backslash (\). ═══ PMANT ═══ An OS/2 application used to access computers that support 3270 sessions, such as MVS and VM host computers. ═══ port ═══ A 16-bit number used to communicate between TCP and a higher-level protocol or application. Some protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), use the same port number in all TCP/IP implementations. ═══ Presentation Manager (PM) ═══ A component of OS/2 that provides a complete graphics-based user interface, with pull-down windows, menu bars, and layered menus. ═══ protocol ═══ The set of rules governing the operation of functional units of a communication system if communication is to take place. Protocols can determine low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces, such as the order in which bits from a byte are sent; they can also determine high-level exchanges between application programs, such as file transfer. ═══ pull-down menu ═══ An extension of the action bar that displays a list of choices available for a selected menu bar choice. ═══ push button ═══ A rectangle labeled with text or graphics or both. Push buttons are used in windows for actions that occur immediately when the push button is selected. ═══ remote host ═══ Any host on a network other than the (local) host you are using. ═══ remote logon ═══ To begin a session with a remote host. ═══ router ═══ A device that connects two or more networks. A router can send information from a device on one network to a device on another network by the most efficient route. See also gateway. ═══ SENDMAIL ═══ The OS/2 mail server that uses Simple Mail Transfer Protocol to route mail from one host to another host on the network. ═══ serial line ═══ A network medium that is the de facto standard, not an international standard, commonly used for point-to-point TCP/IP connections. Generally, a serial line consists of an RS-232 connection into a modem and over a telephone line. ═══ server ═══ A resource that provides shared services to workstations over a network; for example, a file server, a print server, a mail server. ═══ socket ═══ An endpoint for communication between processes or applications. A pair consisting of TCP port and IP address, or UDP port and IP address. ═══ subdirectory ═══ A directory contained within another directory in a file system hierarchy. ═══ subnet ═══ A networking scheme that divides a single logical network into smaller physical networks to simplify routing. ═══ subnet mask ═══ A bit template that identifies to the TCP/IP protocol code the bits of the host address that are to be used for routing to specific subnets. ═══ TCP ═══ Transmission Control Protocol. ═══ TCP/IP ═══ Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. ═══ Telnet ═══ The Terminal Emulation Protocol, a TCP/IP application protocol for remote connection service. Telnet allows a user at one site to gain access to a remote host as if the user's workstation were connected directly to that remote host. ═══ terminal emulator ═══ A program that allows a device such as a microcomputer or personal computer to operate as if it were a particular type of terminal linked to a processing unit and to access data. ═══ time stamp ═══ The identification of the day and time when a file was created. ═══ TN3270 ═══ An informally defined protocol for transmitting 3270 data streams over Telnet. ═══ Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) ═══ A suite of protocols designed to allow communication between networks regardless of the communication technologies used in each network. ═══ Virtual Machine (VM) ═══ A virtual data processing system that appears to be at the exclusive disposal of a particular user, but whose functions are accomplished by sharing the resources of a real data processing system. ═══ VM ═══ Virtual machine. ═══ window ═══ An area of the screen with visible boundaries within which information is displayed. A window can be smaller than or the same size as the screen. Windows can appear to overlap on the screen. ═══ workstation ═══ Personal computer. ═══ working directory ═══ The directory in which an application program is found. The working directory becomes the current directory when the application is started. ═══ Trademark ═══ Trademark of International Business Machines.