Thanks Doc,

I'll give it a go.

TP

Actually Doc I don't think it is what I need. I certainly can't get it to read what I want.

I am trying to read the 'chatter' group described on this page.

I thought one could access these chat groups with Google, but am getting nowhere fast.

TP

I'm pretty sure all that you need is available as a Download from HERE

(Not exactly easy to understand and 'user-friendly' is it?)

TP, years ago I used FreeAgent, these days I just use Outlook Express. There is a whole industry built around overplaying the security issues in Microsoft products.

The newsgroups are private groups hosted on their own server news.online-netz.de, I don't think Google reads those. The reason you may have failed with Outlook is that the server is password protected, you need to enter the username and password specified when creating the account.

As far as choosing a reader, this may help: http://www.newsgroupservers.net/usenet_groups/usenet_newsgroup_newsreaders.htm

Doc,

I know that page like the back of my hand - 'cause it does not tell me what I need to know and hence the wish to talk to some VA users.

I have been using VA since I first used Windows. It has migrated perfectly and does work under XP. However, the bit of software it uses to introduce a new 'service' does not like the 32 bit of XP. What I need to find out is how to upgrade my VA Ver 5 to 6 without losing twenty years of messages and addresses.

Kayak,

OK I'll look at Outlook - but also that URL first.

TP

Kayak,

I can get Outlook Express to log in to a Microsoft user group but not that one for VA.

If you have a moment to spare could you try that name Vaos and password Vaosforever and see if you can get in. I'm wondering if they are out of date - particularly since a message to the help line on that VA page has not been responded to yet.

Thanks in anticipation.

TP

TP, works for me.

You should have set up an account specifically for vaos, server name news.online-netz.de, tick 'this server requires me to log on', user name and password as you know it, and untick 'log on using Secure Password Authentication'.

K.

Great. Thanks. I had ticked that bottom box in the Server tab.

Works fine now. And now to see if it tells me what I need to know.....

TP

K.

Just an update to say I have already had about four replies. The system works.

Thanks again.

TP

I have e-mails stuck in Outlook Express that I cannot delete.
There are two that cannot be opened or deleted and send Outlook Express to Not Responding mode.
More recently there are an increasing number but not all that open but cannot be deleted.
Using select all then delete has not worked.
Any suggestions appreciated

View/Layout, turn off Preview Pane and then put cursor over title and press Del to delete.

Thanks
Unticked Show preview pane and Show preview pane header
then apply and ok?
When you say "put cursor over title" do you mean select then delete.

No joy so far

Yes that's it. The preview pane effectively opens the message. It's safer to turn it off anyway with regard to viruses. Normally if you do that you can delete the messages just by highlighting them and pressing Del since it's the opening that's causing OE problems rather than the deleting.

In the process of seting up my Cable wireless network, I've got my Network Gear work on the main computer, now trying to setup the wireless adapter on other compters and get them to talk to each other ;-)

Got Xp to find the computer, it then tells me to unplug adapter plug it into main computer and then wait till it flashes and updates, then unplug and put in back into the other computer you want connected to main computer, I do this and xp says it can not find adapter make sure you have unpluged and pluged it back in, windows maynot find this and quits, how do I get them to work ;-) tried everything even the Netgear software but nothing works

1pm got both pc's to use Internet thru wireless yeah

still cant find either computer, booooo

1.07pm DONE IT ;-) YEAH

about 2 weeks ago my wireless network stopped working.

Only managed to get round to looking at it today.

First the good news - i changed the ip address in my lan settings to check on the settings in the wireless box. changed nothing in the wireless settings and then changed the ip address for my lan back to what it was and now my wireless network is working fine.


but the bit that worries me/puzzles me.

I have no default gateway for my lan settings (i'm choosing my network settings rather than letting windows choose them). That doesn't seem right to me but I'm not sure. It's now over 5 years since I was involved in IT and my memory says i'm sure i've never seen a blank field there but I can't imagine windows just "lost the setting" either.

Should there be one?

CC

Why did you have to change the IP address on your computer in order to change the settigs on the wireless box?

You shold almost always set your IP address and the DNS server addresses to automatic via DHCP. This should ensure that everything on the netework can talk to each other.

If you manually select the IP address, then ou have to manually enter the deffault gateway and DNS server addresses. If you then change back to automatic settings, you have to also check the box to autoatically get the DNS addresses as windows does not change that back automatically.

To find out what settings your computer is using, open a command prompt and type 'ipconfig /all' (without the quotes) followed by enter.

If you have a stand alone WiFi gateway in addition to your ADSL router, make sure that only one of them - prefferably the router - have a DHCP server enabled. You can only have one DHCP server on a network.

i had to change the settings on my pc to access the wireless box as the wireless box comes preconfigured with a fixed ip address.

I decided to go for the "use the following ip address" as it worked whereas letting windows choose the ip address automatically just gave me problems.

Ps I don't have a adsl router. I have a adsl modem, a lan switch connecting my cat5 network and a wireless router attached to the lan. I think I could have been clearer.

CC

Do you mean that you have a USB or bult in ADSL modem on your computer that you wish to share with your network?

If tis is the case, you need to share the modem with your other network connections, and then configure your DHCP server with the gateway address (which will be the ip address of your the computer with the modem) and the DNS details. If you don't have a DHCP server, then this information will have to be entered on each computer on the network. In any case, your gateway computer will have to have the settings entered manually as for it, the gateway is the ADSL modem.

I don't like using ADSL modems (in fact I think they should be banned) because as you are finding out, they are far to difficult to set up and also they are not secure enough. You should get yourself an ADSL/Router/Firewall. This will handle your ADSL connection, the security from the Internet, act as a DHCP server and possibly provide a hub and wireless base station.

yup i've got a adsl usb modem.

a bit of history. I've got 3 pc's on the lan and a laptop on the wlan.

I've used internet connection sharing on the lan for 5 years. Now with adsl but in the old days with isdn. Never had a problem with it until 2 years ago when I bought a new pc running xp. This became the pc sharing the adsl modem. My network had big problems when I got this new pc. It was like 2 of the pc's were fighting to control the ip addresses so I just forced the ip addresses on all the pc's to be 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.2 etc.

Things then ran fine without a glitch for 2 years.


After I posted last night that things had fixed themselves it all went horribly wrong again. I've done an awful lot of fiddling and this is my conclusion.
1. I still don't know why there wasn't a gateway so that my pc could talk to the wireless box. However, I've now changed the factory default ip of that box to 192.168.0.4 so that it fits in the same range as the rest of my kit so I don't have to consider gateways in the problem

2. I've got someone else who was putting out wireless interference with me.
It suddenly became obvious to me this morning when I saw that there was a additional wireless network available in my area.
Now I live in the sort of place where you would not expect lots of wlans. not every house in our road can get broadband. I have 2 phone lines for example - one can, one can't and even then I can only get 1mbye bandwidth, no one has more than this.
I've also got a wireless tv signal transmitter to transmit sky to another room which has been degrading in quality recently.

anyway, changed the channel on the tv transmitter - helped that but not my wlan.

Now changed the channel on my wlan to 6 from 11 and it's working fine now. Hopefully it will still be working in a few hours time and this isn't another false dawn

CC

I think I understand your system now.

No reason why it should not work with those settings, but I'm not clear whether you have a DHCP server on your network. It could be that one or more of your PC's has this enabled.

I think that Windows automatically installs a DHCP server when you share an internet connection, so if you still have your old computer then it could be acting as a second DHCP server. You need to go into the services on all your client computers and dissable the DHCP Server service. Also make sure that your wireles base station does not have a DHCP server running.

Alternatively, if you have a DHCP server on the WiFi then use this and dissable the service on your modem computer. You will have to set the DNS info and set the gateway address to that of your modem computer.

In either case, you must enter manual ip settings on your modem computer.

Your problems are a good example of why it is better to use an ADSL/Router/Firewall instead of a shared modem. The latter can be made to work, but windows workstations were not designed for this neither is USB best suited for network devices.

An ADSL/Router/Firewall may increase your ADSL performance and reliability, it would simplify your network setup and stop your entire netork being dependent on one computer. Most importanly, it would provide an extra layer of security against internet attacks.