Flushing Follies

If you set up an external editor, you simply click the "Ext. Edit" button in the reply window, and it will open your post in an editor (hopefully you set up one with spell-checking. :D) I use Aspell, it's very small and opens in a command window, so it's very fast too.

I've got Xnews and Aspell on D: I set it up according to XS11E's instructions, except substituted D: for C:

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I downloaded Aspell and a dictionary (English for me) from

Then I created a .bat file in the Xnews directory. Here's my file:

C:\Progra~1\ASPELL\bin\aspell.exe -c -e -x --dont-backup %1

Then I entered this as the "External Editor" in the Xnews setup under the "Compose" tab.

C:\Xnews\Aspell.bat

Now, to spell check I just click on the Ext. Edit button and it does the spell check.

Word can be used as well, just select it in the "External Editor" in the Xnews setup under the "Compose" tab.

sittingduck wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@nomail.afraid.org:

SD:

Well, I'm repling from Xnews here. I don't have near enough seat time with it to make any sort of cogent evaluation. But I will say it does seem to have a lot of options, and I'll keep it on my desktop for possible future use. T-Bird has all my related files, so I'll proably stick with that for now.

Just keep in mind the fact that much of what it can do, and many of its advantages are not obvious, and take a bit of tinkering to realize.

One of the things I like, is "hide groups with no unread messages". If you have xnews get message counts at startup, it will only display groups with unread messages. If you have large list of groups, it can save you the hassle of opening groups that don't contain anything new.

SD:

I saw some of the features it has, and it's kind of like using Pro-E/Pro-Manufacturing for milling a washer.

I'm not what you'd call a Usenet poweruser junkie, I only visit a couple of groups. I don't killfile people in newsgroups - although I have quite an extensive killfile for E-mail spammers.

So all in all, I think while Xnews seems to be a powerful program - it's overkill for my simple needs.

Well, it's not for everyone.... If you ever delve deeper into Usenet and want a program that lets you get the most out of it, you will know what to use. I commend you for giving it a shot though, most people are too lazy to even try. :) If we don't try new things once in a while, we miss many opportunities.

So you have mikes that also act as cutting tools?

Chuckle...

Try Agent. Want me to send you a cracked version?

Gunner

Gunner:

That's a poor analogy, since there are programs in existence that do both E-mail % Newsgroups. I'm not aware of any micrometer that can double as a cutting tool.

You seem to be very easily amused.

Why would I want a cracked version of ANYTHING, let alone Agent which has a FREE version. In fact Free Agent is on my desktop from trying it a couple of years ago - I didn't like it.

Want me to send you a link to Thunderbird so your can streamline your online access with a program that is able to do mail AND newsgroups?

Agent is pretty poor. It seems to appeal to trolls and wackos though, a good portion of them seem to use it.

Why..and have the same problems you have?

Btw...the cracked version I have has both Usenet and Email...

But hey..if you dont like it...shrug.

Gunner

Gunner:

Clicking on my shortcut for Free Agent, I get:

Version 1.93

That's pretty much the bottom line. If things change, it's there. Thanks for the suggestion of Agent though.