Using T-Bird as a Newsreader

I have it set (under View) : Messages - All......... Thread - Unread. Is this a reasonable way to set up the view for newsgroup reading?

Secondly, I'm wondering about maintenance. When I download message headers from a group like Windows XP, I get a few hundred (I have it limited for 300). I will generally read no more than two - three dozen. I then mark the rest as Read and close the newsreader. If I try to compact after that, nothing happens. So I'm wondering... are those newsheaders that downloaded building up on my computer? Am I maintaining the newsreader properly? Should I be doing anything differently? Thanks.

 

Hi James,

Yes, the newsreader messages will build up on your HD, however if you have a large HD I don't think you will need to worry. Your settings are the same as mine. I download 500 messages, in each newsgroup, of which I have 19. My total HD space used is approximately 12 MB. I don't really worry about it too much as I have beaucoup disk space, but if I see that the secnews.netscape.com NG grows too large, I take the easy way out and delete the NG, then resubscribe...

This is from the Mozilla Help file, which may be useful to you:

The following settings help to save disk space and download time. Specify which messages you don't want to download locally:

* Read messages: Select this option to only download message bodies from messages you haven't already read.
* Messages larger than ___ KB: Select this option to conserve disk space by preventing large messages from being downloaded. Enter the maximum size for downloaded messages.
* Messages more than ___ days old: Select this option to only download messages that are not older than the number of days you enter here.

Mozilla can automatically delete newsgroup messages for you. You can configure this process with the options listed below Keep:

* All messages: Keep all messages. Never delete messages automatically.
* The newest ___ messages: Enter the number of messages to keep. With this setting only messages older than these messages are deleted.
* Messages which have arrived within the last ___ days: Keep all messages that arrived within the given number of days.

With last two settings you can further constrain the three options to delete messages automatically. This is especially useful in combination with the option to keep all messages.

* Only unread messages: Select this option to deny Mozilla the deletion of unread messages.
* Only message bodies less than ___ days old: Select this option to deny Mozilla the deletion of messages that are newer than the number of days you specify here.
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HTH,

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona

It helped a great deal. I've taken the necessary steps to severely limit the number of message headers that I download and followed the configuring settings.

I have a large hard drive (120 GB) so like you, Ramona, I don't really have to worry. It's a hang-up I have. I don't want clutter around if I can help it.

Anyway, I appreciate your help and I've made a few adjustments accordingly.