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1
News Rover
The Ultimate Usenet News Browser
Copyright (c) 1997
S&H Computer Systems, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Usenet Newsgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Binary file attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Introduction to News Rover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Summary of features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 Obtaining the full, licensed version of News Rover . . 3
2. Configuring News Rover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Server configuration page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 General configuration page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1 Free disk space limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.2 Run delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.3 Newsgroup name display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.4 JPEG viewer selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Connection configuration page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3.1 Type of Internet connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3.2 Dialing information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3.3 Connection control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3.4 Disconnection control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Schedule configuration page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 Duplicates configuration page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.6 Split-message files configuration page . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.7 Getting the list of newsgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. Interest Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1 Creating an Interest Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Modifying an interest group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.1 General options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2.2 Newsgroups to search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2.3 Message selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.4 Attached file control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2.4.1 Attached file directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2.4.2 Attached file size limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2.4.3 JPG picture gallery control . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2.4.4 File type selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2.5 Scan date control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4. Running News Rover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.1 On-demand execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2 Scheduled execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5. Reading Messages and Getting Attached Files . . . . . . . . . 18
5.1 Reading messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2 The Picture Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
i
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Usenet Newsgroups
Usenet newsgroups are one of the most popular and fastest growing
parts of the Internet. Currently, there are over 30,000
newsgroups, and more are being added every day. There are
newsgroups for practically every topic you can imagine (and some
that you are better off not imagining). About a gigabyte of
messages are distributed through the newsgroups every day. Because
of the volume of messages, it is essential to have a tool such as
News Rover to identify messages of interest to you.
1.1.1 Binary file attachments
In addition to distributing messages, Usenet newsgroups also
distribute binary files that are attached to messages. There are
many newsgroups specifically designated for binary file
distribution (alt.binaries..., etc.) In these newsgroups you will
find picture files (JPG, GIF, etc.), sound files (WAV), multi-media
files (MPG, MOV, AVI), and compressed program and data files (ZIP).
In order to attach a binary file to a message, it must be converted
into a pseudo-text format that is suitable for distribution through
the newsgroup channels. There are two encodeding methods for doing
this: "UU-encoding" and "MIME base64 encoding". UU-encoding is the
traditional and most popular method, but it is gradually being
supplanted by the newer MIME base64 encoding. In order to use an
attached binary file, you must first download the message with the
attachment, and then decode the encoded binary file into the
original binary form.
Some computer systems are unable to handle very large newsgroup
messages. Because of this, when large binary files are attached to
messages they are usually split into multiple parts and attached to
several messages. The usual convention is to indicate this in the
subject of the message: for example, a subject such as "bigprog.zip
(1/8)" indicates that this message contains part 1 of bigprog.zip
which has been split into 8 messages. Sometimes a part 0 (zero) is
also distributed which contains a description of the file.
1
Chapter 1. Introduction 2
1.2 Introduction to News Rover
News Rover is the ultimate tool for browsing Usenet newsgroups. It
is your personal robot that will look for messages containing items
of interest to you. When it finds these messages it will store
them for you and automatically decode binary file attachments.
News Rover works for you while you are doing other things.
You define "Interest Groups" that specify what newsgroups you want
News Rover to search and what text or files you want it to collect.
When you run News Rover, it connects to your Usenet news server and
begins scanning all new messages. Whenever it finds one that
contains text or files that are wanted by an interest group, it
decodes the files and stores the message and files in an area
associated with the interest group. This searching, downloading,
decoding, and storing is done automatically without requiring your
time or attention. You can leave News Rover running while you are
sleeping or at work. The messages and files that News Rover
collects are stored on your personal computer so that they are
available for instant access when you are ready to review them.
1.2.1 Summary of features
Here are some of the key features of News Rover:
. News Rover saves you time. Instead of spending hours examining
messages in newsgroups, you can leave News Rover running while
you are sleeping or at work. When you are ready, you can
quickly review the messages and files that it has collected.
. Automatic file decoding. News Rover automatically decodes both
UU-encoded and MIME base64 file attachments. The decoded files
are stored in their natural binary form ready to be viewed,
played, or executed.
. Picture gallery. News Rover includes a built-in "Picture
Gallery" to display decoded JPG picture files. The gallery
displays an array of thumbnail images. You can quickly browse
pictures in the gallery, save the pictures that interest you
and delete the others.
. Message searching and selection. When you define an "Interest
Group" you can specify words or phrases that you want News
Rover to search for. This search text can occur in either the
header or body of messages. News Rover then scans the messages
in the newsgroups and saves only those messages that match what
you have specified. You can search for multiple words and
phrases joined with "and", "or", "near", and "not" operators.
You can also use parentheses to construct complex search
expressions.
. File selection. You can define interest groups specifically to
pick up messages with binary file attachments. News Rover will
discard any messages that do not have attached files for these
interest groups. This eliminates a great deal of clutter and
Chapter 1. Introduction 3
advertisements that are posted on binary newsgroups. You can
tell News Rover to collect all types of file attachments, or
you can set it to only store certain types of files (JPG, GIF,
MPG, etc.).
. Split-message file reconstruction. Large binary file
attachments are usually divided into parts and attached to
multiple messages. News Rover collects the messages that
comprise a split-message file. When all of the parts have been
found, News Rover combines them and decodes the complete file.
News Rover saves information about file parts in a database so
that it can continue to collect missing parts on subsequent
runs. It can also collect and combine parts found on multiple
newsgroups. This greatly increases the chances of finding all
of the parts of a many-part file.
. Duplicate file elimination. You will discover that some files
are reposted on newsgroups regularly. Some of these files are
commercial advertisement messages (i.e., "spam" messages),
others are just files that overly enthusiastic people want to
share over and over. In either case, it is a nuisance to
receive the same file repeatedly. News Rover maintains a
database with the names and sizes of all files that it has
collected for you. If a file is found that has the same name
and size as one that is already in the database, News Rover
does not collect it again. You can remove individual entries
from the database if you want to get the file again, or you can
disable this feature altogether if you wish.
. Scheduled runs. If you wish, you can set up News Rover to run
automatically at scheduled times. In this mode, News Rover
sleeps until a scheduled run time arrives. It then wakes up,
connects to your news server (dialing the phone if necessary),
and runs until all newsgroups have been processed or another
sleep time arrives. This can maximize the use of your Internet
connection and phone line by allowing News Rover to use your
connection and phone line at times when it would normally be
idle. News Rover can be set to release the line at times when
you wish to have it available for incoming calls.
1.2.2 Obtaining the full, licensed version of News Rover
There are two versions of News Rover: the shareware demonstration
version, and the fully licensed version. The shareware
demonstration version of News Rover is available for you to try out
News Rover for free. The demonstration version provides all of the
features of News Rover but is limited so that it will only collect
20 messages or files each time it is run. You can stop and restart
it to collect more messages and files. The demonstration version
also displays a shareware reminder screen each time it is started.
You are welcome to give copies of the shareware demonstration
version of News Rover to your friends or post it on computer
"bulletin boards" or Internet file download archives.
Chapter 1. Introduction 4
Once you try the demonstration version, we are convinced that you
will want to purchase the licensed version of News Rover which has
no restrictions on the number of messages and files that it can
collect during each run. The purchase price of the fully licensed
version is only $29.95.
When you purchase a license to use News Rover, you will receive an
installation key that converts your demonstration version into the
full, licensed version. In other words, the demonstration version
of the program is the same as the licensed version but a key must
be entered to unlock the full features.
There are several ways to license News Rover and obtain your
installation key:
. Web page registration. Probably the simplest way to connect to
our web page, www.NewsRover.com, fill out the on-line
registration form and provide credit card information. After
the credit card information is verified, the installation key
will be e-mailed to the address you specify on the form.
. E-mail registration. You can also purchase News Rover by
sending an e-mail message to "NewsRover@sandh.com". Provide
your credit card information including the expiration date.
The installation key will be sent to you via e-mail.
. Telephone registration. If you prefer to talk to someone on
the phone, you can call in your order to 615-327-3670.
. FAX registration. You can also FAX in your registration to
615-321-5929.
. Mail registration. Finally, if you don't like modern
conveniences, you are welcome to mail your order to: S&H
Computer Systems, Inc., 1027 17th Avenue South, Nashville, TN
37212, USA
Once you purchase a registration for News Rover, you will receive
two items of information (1) the registered name, and (2) the
installation key. The registered name is your name from your
credit card, or an alternative name if you requested it. Each time
you run the unlicensed version of News Rover, you are presented
with an initial welcome screen that reminds you that you are using
an unlicensed version. One of the tabs on this screen is
"Register". To apply the registration key, click on the "Register"
tab and enter the registration name and key into the appropriate
fields. Be sure to save the registration name and key in case you
need to reinstall News Rover.
Note: The licensed version of News Rover is not shareware and may
not be given to friends or distributed without the written consent
of S&H Computer Systems, Inc. News Rover is protected by the
copyright laws of the United States of America and cooperating
countries. "News Rover" is a trademark of S&H Computer Systems,
Inc.
Chapter 2
Configuring News Rover
News Rover works by connecting to a Usenet news server, searching
through messages in a set of newsgroups you select, and saving
messages that match criterion you set up. Before you can run News
Rover, you must do the following things:
1. Specify basic configuration information such as the address of
your news server.
2. Get the list of newsgroups that are available on your news
server.
3. Set up one or more "Interest Groups" that specify what types of
messages and files you are interested in and which newsgroups
are to be searched.
The first time you run News Rover, it will run a "wizard" to guide
you through the basic configuration setup. This wizard will prompt
you to enter the address of your news server and allow you to make
some other choices. Once the news server address has been
specified, News Rover will no longer present the configuration
wizard each time you start it.
The configuration wizard only prompts you to enter the basic
configuration information needed to get News Rover running. There
are a number of other controls that you can set or change later
while News Rover is running. To set or change configuration
options, start News Rover and click the "Configure" item that is on
the main menu. This will present a Windows property sheet with
several tabs that are related to various configuration options.
Each of these property pages is described below.
2.1 Server configuration page
The first item on the Server configuration page is the address of
your news server. Usually this address has the form
"news.myprovider.com". If you don't know the address of your news
server, you should contact your Internet service provider and ask
them. You should ask them for the address (or "domain name") of
your Usenet news server. Sometimes this is referred to as an "NNTP
server." Some sites may provide an IP address in "dotted notation"
such as "127.23.40.100" rather than a domain name.
5
Chapter 2. Configuring News Rover 6
The other items on the Server configuration page are optional and
are usually not required. Some news servers require an account
name and password to be specified by programs connecting to them.
Most news servers do not require this and do their only
authorization when you specify your account and password at the
time that you dial-in to them and log on. Your Internet service
provider should be able to tell you whether programs like News
Rover need to specify an account name and password when they
connect to the news server. If an account name and password are
required, click the box titled "Logon authorization required for
this server" and specify the account name and password.
If you have been using another program such as Microsoft Internet
Explorer to access your newsgroups, you should specify the same
news server address and logon name and password for News Rover that
you specified in the newsgroup configuration of your news browser.
2.2 General configuration page
2.2.1 Free disk space limit
The first item on the General configuration page is "Free space to
reserve on disk". News Rover is a very efficient program; if you
leave it running for a number of hours it can download hundreds of
messages and files. If the remaining free space on your disk
declines to the point that it is less than the amount you specify
in this field, News Rover will suspend its execution. This
prevents News Rover from completely filling up your disk with
downloaded files.
2.2.2 Run delays
The second field is "Minutes to delay between runs". Each time you
run News Rover, it examines the list of newsgroups that need to be
scanned, and it processes the newsgroup that has been scanned the
longest time ago. If a newsgroup has been scanned more recently
than the number of minutes specified by the "Minutes to delay
between runs" value, then News Rover does not rescan that newsgroup
until the specified time has elapsed. This prevents News Rover
from running continuously.
If your Internet service provider disconnects you if you are idle
for a certain number of minutes, you can avoid this disconnection
by setting this value to a time less than the idle-disconnection
time so that News Rover will generate some activity frequently to
maintain the connection.
2.2.3 Newsgroup name display
The next field is titled "Display newsgroup name in status box".
Normally, while News Rover is running, the name of the current
newsgroup is displayed in the status box on the main screen. If
you are scanning certain newsgroups whose names you would prefer
not to have displayed, you may uncheck this option.
Chapter 2. Configuring News Rover 7
2.2.4 JPEG viewer selection
This option allows you to select whether the built-in JPG picture
viewer should be used, or whether News Rover should invoke an
external program to view JPG pictures. The built-in News Rover JPG
viewer usually does an excellent job and is faster than invoking an
external viewer program. However, if you prefer to use an external
program such as LViewPro, Paintshop Pro, or some other program,
just select the "Use external JPEG viewer item". In order to use
an external JPG viewer, the viewer program must have declared
itself as the program to service ".JPG" type files. The built-in
viewer is always used to view the picture galleries.
If you select an attached file that has an extension other than
".JPG", News Rover always attempts to start the appropriate program
to service it. For example, if you select a GIF file, you must
have installed an external viewer program. Similarly, News Rover
will attempt to locate and start external program to service MPG,
WAV, and AVI files.
2.3 Connection configuration page
This configuration page is used to specify information about how
News Rover should connect to your Internet service provider. If
you establish the connection yourself by invoking the Windows
dialer, you do not need to set any fields on this page. However,
by setting some of the items you can take advantage of some News
Rover features such as automatically reconnecting if the connection
is dropped.
2.3.1 Type of Internet connection
You should select one of these three choices:
. "I will manually initiate dialing to connect to the Internet".
Select this item if you will connect to the Internet yourself
before running News Rover. When you select this item you must
connect to your Internet provider before running News Rover.
You should use the same technique for connecting to the
Internet that you use for other programs such as Netscape or
Microsoft Internet Explorer.
. "News Rover should automatically dial to connect to Internet".
Select this option if you want News Rover to initiate a dial-up
connection to your Internet service provider when it runs.
This option is especially useful when you use News Rover in
scheduled mode so that it can wake up at scheduled times,
dial-up your Internet service provider, and scan for messages
on an unattended basis. If you select this option, you must
also fill in the "Dialing information" fields.
. "I use a LAN (hardwired) Internet connection". If you are
connected to the Internet through a permanent (hardwired)
connection you should select this option.
Chapter 2. Configuring News Rover 8
2.3.2 Dialing information
If you click the down-arrow symbol at the right end of the field
labeled "Use this dial-up networking connection", a list will drop
down showing all of the dial-up connections that Windows knows
about. Select the dial-up entry that you want News Rover to use
when it dials your Internet service provider. Fill in the name and
password that News Rover should use when logging on to your
provider.
2.3.3 Connection control
In the first field, specify the number of attempts News Rover
should make to connect to your Internet service provider if a
dial-up connection fails.
If you check the "Redial if disconnected" box, and if you have
specified a dial-up connection, News Rover will attempt to
reconnect to your Internet service provider if the connection is
broken while News Rover is running. Checking this box also causes
News Rover to attempt a reconnection even if you have selected the
option "I will manually initiate dialing to connect to the
Internet".
2.3.4 Disconnection control
If you check the "Hold continuous connection" option, then News
Rover will never hang up the phone to your Internet service
provider even if it initiated the connection. If you do not check
this box, then the field titled "Disconnect if idle for this many
minutes" is enabled. If News Rover is in automatic dial-up mode,
and it needs to go to sleep for this many minutes, it will hang up
the connection. In automatic mode, it will redial your provider
when it needs to run again.
2.4 Schedule configuration page
The Schedule configuration page controls whether News Rover runs
only on your command (i.e., when you click the Run button), or
whether it runs automatically on a scheduled basis.
If you select the option labeled "Use this schedule", then News
Rover runs automatically on a scheduled basis and the matrix of
scheduling times is enabled. You should check those hours when you
want News Rover to run.
When scheduled mode is selected, News Rover sleeps until a
scheduled run time arrives. It then begins running, dials your
Internet service provider if it is in automatic dial-up mode,
connects to the news server, and begins scanning your selected
newsgroups for messages. It continues running until either their
are no more newsgroups that need to be scanned or a time arrives
when it is not scheduled to run. News Rover only stops running
between messages. So if it is downloading a large message when an
Chapter 2. Configuring News Rover 9
hour occurs that it is not scheduled to run, it completes the
current message download before suspending its execution.
Information about the current newsgroup and message is stored so
that it can restart at the same position when the next scheduled
time arrives.
You can override the run schedule and force News Rover to run by
clicking the Run button on the main menu. You can also click
Suspend or Quit to stop News Rover.
Unless you have a continuous Internet connection, you should go to
the Connection configuration page and specify the dial-up
connection that News Rover should use to connect to your Internet
provider.
2.5 Duplicates configuration page
If you enable duplicate file exclusion, then News Rover maintains a
database with the names and sizes of all files that it has
downloaded for you. Each time it downloads a file it compares the
name and size of the file against the entries in the database. If
the name matches and the size is approximately the same, it
considers the file to be a duplicate and it discards it. This
prevents you from seeing the same "spam" file uploads over and
over. If you disable duplicate file exclusion, then no database is
maintained and no files are excluded because they have been seen
before.
The next field is labeled "Expire duplicate entries after this many
days". When an entry is added to the duplicate file database, the
date is stored with it. When an entry in the duplicate file
database is as old as the number of days specified here, it is
expired and removed from the database. If a duplicate is found
after this, it will be saved (and a new entry made to the database
at that time). Usually, duplicate file entries show up on
newsgroups around the same time. Expiring entries is a way to keep
the duplicate database from growing without bound. If you set the
expiration period to 0 (zero), then the duplicate file entries are
never expired.
Below these options is a list of the files that are currently
stored in the duplicate file database. If you wish to remove a
particular entry, highlight it and click the button labeled
"Delete". You can click "Delete all" to remove all entries from
the duplicate file database.
2.6 Split-message files configuration page
Some computer systems are unable to handle very large newsgroup
messages. Because of this, when large binary files are attached to
messages they are usually split into multiple parts and attached to
several messages. The usual convention is to indicate this in the
subject of the message: for example, a subject such as "bigprog.zip
Chapter 2. Configuring News Rover 10
(1/8)" indicates that this message contains part 1 of bigprog.zip
which has been split into 8 messages. Sometimes a part 0 (zero) is
also distributed which contains a description of the file.
News Rover contains a very sophisticated system for reconstructing
files that have been split across multiple messages. If this
feature is enabled, News Rover examines the subject of each message
to determine if it is a segment of a multi-part file. If it is,
News Rover stores the message, and it records in a database which
parts have been collected. When all of the parts of the file have
been collected, News Rover merges the messages and decodes the
complete file. Because News Rover stores information about the
parts in a database, it can collect parts from multiple runs and
possible even over a period of several days or weeks. Also, News
Rover can combine parts from multiple newsgroups. This greatly
increases the chance of finding all of the parts of a file that has
been split into many parts.
In addition to allowing you to enable or disable the multi-part
file reconstruction, the configuration page also allows you to
specify how many days News Rover should store the parts of an
incomplete file before giving up and deleting those parts that were
collected. Usually, if all of the parts have not been found within
30 days, the missing parts will probably not show up. The date
recorded for files is reset each time a missing part is found, so
the expiration only takes place if no new parts are found within
the specified number of days. If you set the expiration period to
0 (zero), then the parts are never expired.
Below these controls is a list of the files for which News Rover is
looking for missing parts. The list shows the name of each file,
the total number of parts that comprise the file, the number of
parts that have been collected, and the date when the last part was
found. If you wish to delete an entry, highlight it by clicking on
it, then click the "Delete" button. This deletes all the pieces
News Rover has collected so far. You can delete all parts of all
pending files by clicking the "Delete all" button.
2.7 Getting the list of newsgroups
Once you have configured News Rover, the next step is to get the
list of newsgroups that are available on your news server. To do
this, connect to your Internet provider and then click
"Get-newsgroups" on the main News Rover menu. News Rover will
display a status box while it is accruing the list of newsgroups.
Once you have acquired the list of newsgroups, the next step is to
define an interest group, as described in the next chapter.
Chapter 3
Interest Groups
When you use News Rover you're saying, in essence, I want this kind
of information, from this set of newsgroups, with these criteria
for matching, and I want you to do this with what you extract.
This set of information is called an "Interest Group". You can
have more than one interest group active at a time, each scouring
some set of newsgroups for messages and files. For example, you
could have one interest group which searched through all of the
basketball newsgroups looking for messages that mention "Chicago
Bulls", a second interest group looking through all of the "for
sale" type newsgroups for messages containing the phrase "model
airplane", and a third interest group collecting all messages with
attached picture files in the "alt.binaries.pictures.celebrities"
newsgroup.
To manage interest groups, click "Interests" on the main News Rover
menu. You will be shown a screen listing each interest group that
you have defined. The screen also has a set of buttons. To
perform an action on an interest group, click on the name of the
interest group and then click one of the buttons. You can also
double-click an interest group name to modify the characteristics
of the interest group.
3.1 Creating an Interest Group
When you click the "New interest group" button, a "wizard" starts
which will guide you through creating a new interest group.
Hopefully, the wizard will be self explanatory. However, if there
are particular items which are not clear, please refer to the
description of these items in the following section that describes
the options available when modifying an interest group.
3.2 Modifying an interest group
To modify an interest group, first get to the screen that displays
the list of interest groups and control buttons (click "Interest"
on the main screen). Next, click on the name of an interest group
and then click the "Modify interest" button (you can also
double-click the interest group name).
11
Chapter 3. Interest Groups 12
You will be presented with a property sheet with a number of
property pages that you can select by clicking on a tab. The
following sections describe each of these property pages.
3.2.1 General options
The first field is the name of the interest group. This can be
anything meaningful to you.
The next choice is whether you want the interest group to store
messages, files, or both messages and files. If you are setting up
an interest group to collect binary picture files, it is best to
specify that you only want messages with attached files. This is
cause News Rover to discard messages that don't have attachments;
these are usually "spam" advertisements.
News Rover will construct the proposed name of the home directory
for the new interest group. If you wish to use the directory that
News Rover suggests, just proceed on to the next field. Otherwise,
edit the field to specify the home directory you want to use.
Subdirectories will be created below this home directory to hold
files and gallery images for the interest group.
3.2.2 Newsgroups to search
This property page displays the newsgroups which will be searched
for messages and files for this interest group. If you wish to
remove a newsgroup from the list, click its name and then click the
"Remove newsgroup" button. You can click "Remove all" to remove
all newsgroup names.
To add new newsgroups to the list for the interest group, click the
"Add newsgroup" button. News Rover then displays the list of all
newsgroups that are available on your news server. To select a
newsgroup, click on its name and then click the "Select" button.
You can also double-click on a name to select it. If you hold down
the Control key while clicking on a name, that name is selected and
any other names remain selected. You can use this method to
highlight several names before clicking the "Select" button.
Another way to select a set of names is to click on the first name
and then hold down the Shift key while clicking on the last name.
This selects all newsgroups between the first one you clicked and
the last one you clicked.
You can remove newsgroups from the interest group by clicking on a
name and then clicking the "Deselect" button.
A red triangle appears to the left of the names of newsgroups which
are currently selected for the interest group. You must select at
least one newsgroup and you can select as many as you wish. You
can also include the same newsgroup in several interest groups.
Initially, the names of all available newsgroups are displayed in
the list. However, it is frequently useful to display only the set
of names that contain some string such as "forsale" or "pictures".
Chapter 3. Interest Groups 13
To do this, simply type a string in the field labeled "Display
newsgroups which contain". Do not press Enter after typing this
string; just wait a second or two. The list will then change to
display only those newsgroups whose names contain the string you
specified. You can edit the selection string at any time to change
the list of newsgroups that are displayed.
3.2.3 Message selection
The Include and Exclude expressions control which messages News
Rover will collect for you. If you want to collect all messages
from a set of newsgroups, just leave the include and exclude
expressions blank.
Frequently, when interest groups are set up to collect binary
picture files the include and exclude expressions are left blank,
and the option is selected to cause News Rover to collect only
messages with attached files. However, you are welcome to use the
include and exclude expressions while collecting files.
If you specify an include expression, only those messages that
match the expression will be collected. The expression can be as
simple as a single word, or it can be a complex expression with AND
and OR operators and parentheses.
If you specify a word using all lower-case letters, the word is
compared with message text in a case-insensitive manner. For
example, the word "apple" would match "apple", "Apple", or "APPLE".
However, if the word you specify contains any upper-case
characters, then the comparison is case sensitive. So, if you
specify "Apple" it would not match "apple" or "APPLE".
You can also specify a sequence of words separated by spaces or
punctuation characters (i.e., a phrase). A match will occur only
if a message contains the same sequence of words in the same order.
The punctuation characters separating the words are not used in the
comparison. For example, the search expression "John Wayne" would
match "John,Wayne" but it would not match "Wayne John". Case
sensitivity is determined on a word-by-word basis depending on
whether words contain upper-case letters.
A word you specify using all lower-case letters will match a word
in a message if the word in the message begins with the word you
specified. For example, if you specify "apple", it will match
"apple" and "apples". If you want to require an exact match,
include the word (or phrase) in quote marks. If the word you
specify has any upper-case letters, it is considered to be a proper
noun and exact matches are performed. You can force a search word
with upper-case letters to match words beginning with that word by
specifying '*' as the last character of the search word. For
example, "Apple*" will match "Apple" or "Apples".
In addition to words and phrases, you can also use four operators:
AND, OR, NEAR, and NOT. The names of the operators are not case
sensitive.
Chapter 3. Interest Groups 14
The AND operator will match if a message contains both of the words
(or phrases). The words do not have to be adjacent and may be in
either order. For example, the search expression "John and Wayne"
would match any message that contained the two words "John" and
"Wayne" regardless of order or position.
The NEAR operator is similar to the AND operator. However, the
NEAR operator will only match words that are separated by no more
than 8 other words. The order does not matter. For example, the
expression "1965 near Mustang" would match "1965 blue Ford
Mustang".
The OR operator will match a message if either word (or phrase)
occurs in the message. For example, if you are looking for message
about either John Wayne or Henry Fonda, you could use the search
expression "John Wayne or Henry Fonda".
The NOT operator matches if the message does not contain the
specified word or phrase. For example, if you are interested in
messages about music but you don't want to hear about Michael
Jackson, you could use the expression "music and not Michael
Jackson".
If you wish, you can construct complex search expressions with many
words, operators, and parentheses. For example, the following
expression could be used to search for messages about Nikon or
Minolta cameras:
(Nikon near camera) or (Minolta near camera)
The exclude expression can include the same type of expressions as
the include expression. If the exclude expression matches a
message, the message is excluded even if the include expression
also matches it.
You can use the exclude expression to exclude messages containing
certain words or phrases. You can also use it to exclude messages
posted by a certain individual by specifying their name or Internet
address in the exclude expression.
3.2.4 Attached file control
Each interest group has several controls related to attached files.
3.2.4.1 Attached file directory
The first control is the directory where approved attached files
are stored.
When an attached file is extracted from a message and decoded, it
is initially stored in a subdirectory named "\files" below the home
directory for the interest group. Files are stored in this holding
directory until you review them by examining the messages for an
interest group or by browsing the picture gallery. If you delete a
message, or delete an entry from the picture gallery, the attached
Chapter 3. Interest Groups 15
file(s) are deleted from the holding directory. However, if you
specify that you want to save the files attached to a message, the
files are copied from the holding directory to the permanent
storage directory that you specify for the interest group.
3.2.4.2 Attached file size limits
The next two controls allow you to specify the range of sizes of
attached files that are acceptable to you. If the size of an
attached file is less than the minimum size you specify, or if it
is greater than the maximum, then the file is discarded and not
stored. If you leave a size limit blank (or if you specify 0) then
the limit is ignored.
The main uses of file size limits are to exclude picture files that
are too small to be interesting, and to exclude very large files.
3.2.4.3 JPG picture gallery control
The next controls for attached files relate to the JPG picture
gallery. If you enable the picture gallery for an interest group,
then when an attached file is decoded that has the extension
".JPG", a thumbnail image of the picture is generated and stored so
that it can be displayed in the gallery. If you disable the
gallery, no thumbnail images are generated.
The second gallery control specifies how large the thumbnail images
should be.
3.2.4.4 File type selection
The last control for attached files determines whether all types of
attached files are to be stored, or if you only want certain types
of files. If you choose the "Select only these file types" option,
then you should fill in the field with the types of the files that
you want to store. For example, if you set up an interest group to
collect multi-media files, you might want to specify that you only
want to store MPG and AVI files. Specify the file types with a
single space between them.
3.2.5 Scan date control
Each time you run News Rover, it scans the selected newsgroups and
examines messages that have been posted since the last scan. If
you interrupt News Rover while it is scanning a newsgroup, when it
restarts it starts over from the previous starting date, but it
skips over messages that it has already examined.
When you create a new interest group, News Rover initializes the
last-scan date to two weeks prior to the current date. This means
that the first scan will examine all messages posted during the
last two weeks.
If you wish, you can modify the last-scan date to cause News Rover
to examine messages posted within a certain number of days. To do
Chapter 3. Interest Groups 16
this, select the Dates tab on the set of interest group modify
pages, then specify the number of days that you want to go back
when News Rover next runs. Setting a date here causes all
newsgroups associated with the interest group to be scanned for
messages since that date.
Chapter 4
Running News Rover
Once you have configured News Rover, gotten the list of available
newsgroups, and set up at least one interest group, you are ready
to run News Rover. News Rover has two modes of operation:
on-demand and scheduled.
4.1 On-demand execution
On-demand is the most commonly used mode of execution. When you
are ready for News Rover to go to work, just click the Run button.
News Rover will connect to your news server and begin scanning
newsgroups for messages. If you click the Suspend button, News
Rover will suspend its scanning after it finishes downloading the
current message. You can click Run again to resume its execution.
Click the Quit button when you want News Rover to stop and exit.
Because of News Rover's efficient design, you can read messages and
view downloaded pictures while News Rover is running.
4.2 Scheduled execution
Scheduled execution is another way to run News Rover. In this mode
of operation News Rover sleeps until a time when it is scheduled to
run. It then wakes up, connects to your news server, and begins to
scan messages. It continues to run until a time when it is
scheduled to sleep.
To use scheduled execution mode you must first configure News Rover
so that it knows what times it should run. Do this by clicking the
Configure button on the main screen and then clicking the Schedule
tab on the property sheet. Check those hours when News Rover
should run.
If you want News Rover to dial your Internet service provider
automatically, you should also go into the Connection configuration
page and set up information about which dialing entry it should use
to establish the connection.
17
Chapter 5
Reading Messages and Getting Attached Files
As News Rover collects messages and attached files, it saves them
in files called "message bases" where they can be read, viewed,
stored into external files, deleted, and printed. If the messages
have attached files they can be displayed or processed while
reading their associated messages.
In addition, as News Rover processes JPG picture files it makes
thumbnail size copies of them to be displayed in the picture
gallery for the interest group.
Thus, there are two ways to see attached files which are pictures:
View the pictures as part of reading a message, or view the
contents of the picture gallery.
5.1 Reading messages
Click the "Messages" item on the main menu when you want to read
messages that News Rover has collected. This brings up the list
which displays the names of each interest group and shows how many
new messages and files have been collected during the current run.
To see the list of messages for an interest group, just click on
the name of the interest group. You will then be presented with a
screen showing all messages that have been collected for the
interest group. To read a message, click on the subject of the
message. A red check mark appears to the left of each message that
has been read. You can change the size of this window by clicking
on a border and dragging it in or out.
You can delete all messages that have been read by clicking the
"Delete-read" item on the message list menu. You can delete all
messages by clicking the "Delete-all" item. When a message is
deleted, all files attached to it are also deleted. However, if
you have saved files in a permanent storage area, those files are
not deleted.
When you click on a message subject, the text of the message
appears. If the message had an attached file then the text which
contained the attached file is replaced with a small message
indicating the name of the attached file. The attached files are
available via the menu option "Attachments".
18
Chapter 5. Reading Messages and Getting Attached Files 19
From this window you can do the following things with the message:
1. File -- This brings up options, some of which are also
available from the menu.
1. Save msg -- This will allow you to write the message to an
external file. This will not save an attached file, if
there is one, only the text of the message. This is the
same as the "Save-message" option on the menu.
2. Print msg -- This will print the text of the message. This
will not print any attached files, only the text of the
message.
3. Save file -- If there are attached files, this will save
them in the directory you specified for saving attached
files when you created the interest group. If you did not
specify a directory for saving files, a browse screen will
appear. This is the same operation as the "Save-file"
option on the menu.
4. Save file as -- If there are attached files, it will pull
up a browse screen and let you specify a file name and
directory where the attached files are to be stored.
2. Next -- This will advance to the next message saved for this
interest group.
3. Previous -- This will return to the previous message.
4. Save-message -- This will allow you to write the message to an
external file. This will not save an attached file, if there
is one, only the text of the message. This is the same as the
"Save file " option displayed in the File option.
5. Save file -- If there are attached files this will save them in
the directory you specified for saving attached files. If you
did not specify a directory for saving files a browse screen
will appear. This is the same operation as the "Save-file"
option on the File option. If there are no attached files
associated with the message this option will be grayed out.
6. Attachment -- If there are attached files associated with the
message, this will allow you to display the names of the files.
If you click on a name, News Rover will attempt to start the
appropriate program to process the file based on the type of
the file (JPG, GIF, MPG, WAV, etc.).
5.2 The Picture Gallery
One of the most popular uses for News Rover is downloading,
decoding, and viewing picture files attached to Usenet messages.
To make this process as efficient as possible, News Rover includes
a "Picture Gallery" feature.
Chapter 5. Reading Messages and Getting Attached Files 20
As pictures are received for an interest group, they are stored in
a holding directory associated with the interest group. When you
select the picture gallery for the interest group, you are shown an
array of thumbnail pictures of the pending pictures for the
interest group. You can control the size of the thumbnail
pictures, but usually 9 to 12 are visible at a time. You can
adjust the size of the gallery display to match your screen size.
You can use the scroll bar, the Page up/down keys, and the arrow
keys to move through the set of pictures in the gallery. You can
change the size of the picture gallery by clicking on a border of
the window and dragging it in or out.
If your video adapter has the capability of supporting "Truecolor"
(24 bit) display mode, you should select it while viewing the
picture gallery. 256-color mode is also supported, but the colors
will not be very good while viewing the collection of pictures in
the gallery because News Rover can not set the color palette to
optimize the colors for a particular picture.
If you wish to see the full size version of a picture in the
gallery, simply place the cursor over the thumbnail image and click
the left mouse button. To remove a picture, place the cursor over
the thumbnail image and press the Delete key.
As you find pictures in the gallery that you wish to add to your
permanent collection, just position the cursor over the thumbnail
image and click the right mouse button. A popup menu will appear
with the following options:
1. View fullsize -- Invoke the jpeg viewer and displays the image
full size. From the Configuration/General menu you can
configure News Rover to use either the built-in JPG viewer or
an external JPG viewer such as LViewPro or PaintShop.
2. Save picture -- Saves the picture in the directory that you
specified for images associated with the interest group. After
saving, the picture is not deleted from the gallery.
3. Save as -- Saves the picture but will allow you to specify the
name of the file and directory. After saving, the picture is
not deleted from the gallery.
4. Save and Delete -- This will save the picture in the directory
that you specified for the interest group and then delete it
from the gallery. When you delete the picture the
corresponding message is also deleted.
5. Delete -- Deletes the picture from the gallery. When you
delete the picture the corresponding message is also deleted.
You can view and manage pictures in the gallery while News Rover is
running and collecting more messages and pictures. With the
picture gallery you can review hundreds of pictures in a few
minutes and quickly select the ones that are worth saving.
Index 21
256-color video mode, 20 Quit button, 17
Account for news server, 6 Reading messages, 18
AND operator, 14 Redial control, 8
Attached files Registering News Rover, 3
configuration, 14 Registration key, 4
directory, 14 Run button, 17
size limits, 15 Run delays, 6
Base64 encoding, 1 Saving files, 19
Binary file attachments, 1 Scan date control, 15
Case sensitive comparisons, Scheduled execution, 17
13 Scheduling runs, 8
Configuring News Rover, 5 Shareware limitations, 3
Connection control, 8 Split-message files, 9
Continuous connection, 8 Suspend button, 17
Copyright notice, 4 Telephone registration, 4
Dial-up connections, 7 Trademark notice, 4
Disconnection control, 8 Truecolor video mode, 20
Disk space limit, 6 Usenet newsgroups, 1
Duplicate file elimination, 9 UU-encoding, 1
E-mail registration, 4 Web page registration, 4
Exclude expression, 14
FAX registration, 4
File attachments, 1
File type selection, 15
Free disk space limit, 6
Hold continuous connection, 8
Include expression, 13
Installation key, 4
Interest groups, 11
attached file control, 14
creating, 11
message selection, 13
messages and/or files, 12
modifying, 11
newsgroups, 12
JPG viewer selection, 7
LAN connections, 7
Licensing News Rover, 3
Mail registration, 4
Message selection, 13
MIME encoding, 1
Multi-part files, 9
NEAR operator, 14
News server address, 5
Newsgroups
getting list, 10
NNTP server, 5
NOT operator, 14
On-demand execution, 17
OR operator, 14
Password for news server, 6
Picture gallery, 19
configuration, 15
image size, 15
Printing messages, 19