Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Bice Eichler <eichler2@comcast.net>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Looking for USENET client recommendations for Windows
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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Message-ID: <vm3kpd$1vknb$1@dont-email.me>
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Injection-Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 19:07:41 +0100 (CET)
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User-Agent: Pan/0.146 (Hic habitat felicitas; d7a48b4
 gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/pan.git) Hamster/2.1.0.11
Cancel-Lock: sha1:Kk0E1Mi1VETubbif1c1GrKq5c/E=
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
X-Antivirus: AVG (VPS 250113-2, 1/13/2025), Outbound message
Bytes: 2531

Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped 
working on my Windows 10 computer.  I installed a bluetooth driver for 
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent.  I tried 
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online 
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

So I guess I have to find new client software.  I've spent most of this 
morning trying out a few (Mozilla Thunderbird, Pan, XPN) didn't like any 
of them for one reason or another. Pan probably came the closest to being 
acceptable, but it's missing one key feature that I'd like to have.

What I'm looking for is newsgroup reader software that:
 - runs in Windows
 - works with Eternal-September's server
 - can handle large unread message counts
 - can offload unread messages to a single text file

That last one is key. I used to download unread messages and use Agent's 
Save to File feature and it would make one nice big text file with a 
separator line between messages. I'd then email that to myself so I could 
read it on other computers where I don't have access to USENET (OK, I 
admit it, I read them at work).

A killfile would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker because I'm 
currently using Hamster as a filter and it works pretty well.

If anyone has any suggestions of other newsreaders I should try (or how I 
can get Agent up and working again), I'm all ears.

  -- Bob