outlook express news reader sucks

"Shoe Salesman" wrote in news:C4DLe.376$UE2.45 @tornado.socal.rr.com:

I use XNews... but dont REALLY recommend it because it's not being maintained/updated since '02; and works VERY differently than OE (which does have its good points), takes a LOT of getting used to.

However.. it allows multiple servers and identities, advanced decoding options (at the time of build)

Let's face it ..MS aint gonna spend a lot on improving service for a function/feature that 95% of the on-line population doesnt know exists and

I'm betting FreeAgent will be back on my PC before very long... though, I have avoided it because of some maddening quirks it had at the time I tried it years ago.

What's the problem with OE? I find that it works great for discussion groups such as this. For binary groups, I still use XNews- I like the interface (probably because I'm used to it), and I have the full version of Agent installed, too.

Backyard, there's a new release of FreeAgent out that's supposed to fix numerous issues and quirks they had with the older versions.

SC Tom

"SC Tom" wrote in news:44GLe.48084$ snipped-for-privacy@fe07.lga:

Just to make it perfectly clear....I LIKE the way OE news works, esp how easy it is to set up/subscribe/unsub...That is what I meant by "does have its good points"

It's what I would install on a neophyte PC user's machine. Meaning I would ignore the need for graphics/binary features. ie; the 'elephant in the room' ;)

Sorry, Backyard. I replied to your post when I should have replied to the OP. SC Tom

The problem I have is it will just loose connection (like here for instance) To fix it I have to go to my inbox or somewhere then come right back then it works again. VERY annoying.

"Shoe Salesman" wrote in news:eTKLe.536$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.socal.rr.com:

Had the same problem with orig ver 6.0... but havent noticed it with ver

"Shoe Salesman" wrote

What do you mean "lose connection"? (I assume you don't mean "loose") Occasionally I will have several IE windows open too, flipping back and forth between them, and if it's been several minutes since using OE, I get "Finding host..." when downloading a new message or changing groups, sometimes taking a loooooooong time to "Connect" and get new messages.

If I keep OE busy, I don't have that problem. I think the server keeps your "connection" to the host (where they store the actual group's messages) active for a while, and if you don't "refresh" the connection by downloading something now and then, you get dropped off the bottom of the list and have to start again.

Of course, I may be talking out of my butt, as I didn't program the servers.

"MasterBlaster" Occasionally I will have several IE windows open too, flipping back and

Most broadband connections such as cable or DSL keep themselves alive without having to open an email or article. Dial up connections will drop the connection on the server end after a certain programmed period of inactivity. I've had problems in the past with OE appearing to hang when switching news groups or going back to my inbox, but not so much after the last round of MS updates.

SC Tom

"MasterBlaster" Occasionally I will have several IE windows open too, flipping back and

Actually, kinda the opposite of what you describe. It will lose connection the more stuff I go through. Especially bad with my laptop cause I use my arrow keys to scroll through the posts I think. Hard to describe. The only way to get it to work again is to click over to alt.autos.mitsubishi or my inbox, or whatever, then back to ford....

Thunderbird from Mozilla (the same people who make Firefox).

Jeff

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