Looking for good newsreader program

Question

I am looking for good newsreader (NNTP) program, which 1) is preferrably free, 2) allows me to see older posts, not just latest, 3) can download posts for offline reading, 4) has good indexing/searching capabilities, 5) downloads new posts in interesting threads automatically, but doesn't download posts from ignored threads.

I started with Thunderbird, as that's what I use for email, but I don't know how to get to older posts in Thunderbird.

I don't need handling of binary data, archives, etc. Just regular newsreader.

Which newsreader software do you prefer?

Answer 1

Thunderbird is fine as a newsreader. Just go to the group and click on File->Download next 500 messages

(It is a bit cumbersome if you want to download ALL newsgroup posts, but you can probably find an extension at Thunderbird Addons)

Answer 2

Opera

Newsgroup reader in Opera is the same as the RSS feeds and email look, use and feel.

• Free
• Able to set time interval on auto download threads
• Option to download for offline reading
• Allows for threads to be ignored (possibly skipped)
• Search is fairly done, same as searching Opera mail messages

No idea if it allows for calling back to older posts, this may be set by who you access the newsgroups through.

_{Other Opera users should update this wikied answer if they can expound or clarify points}

Answer 3

Emacs Gnus is fantastic, once it is set up. Despite all the hard work of the developers to make it easy, it still requires a fair bit of fiddling to set it up. Once it's up and running, it has no equal.

Gnus comes with Emacs. The included info docs are enough to get it running. The newsgroup gnu.emacs.gnus exists and is active.

Answer 4

I've used various version of Agent, since 1996 (I still have email in my current database from back then), and use it daily now. Several upgrades have happened since then though. It's not entirely free, but you can try it out for 30 days at least.

You don't say what OS you are using, but I've also used previous versions of it on a Linux desktop under WINE (it's ben extensively rewritten since those days however)

Answer 5

I use XanaNews, developed by Colin Wilson. Updated binaries are available here.

Answer 6

Without a doubt,

Pan

Description from the site:

What is Pan?

Pan is a Usenet newsreader that's good at both text and binaries. It supports offline reading, scoring and killfiles, yEnc, NZB, and multiserver. It's also the only Unix newsreader to get a perfect score on the Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval evaluations. It runs on Unix and Unix-like operating systems, Mac OS X, and Windows.

I've used installs on both Linux and Windows. Here's a newsreader that threads discussions painlessly; can detect multipart posts and display them as a single entry, instead of 8 segments; allows you to actually reconfigure the font in each window pane for optimal (read: fast) viewing; and in general, gets things done, easily.

I've tried Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Outlook, Agent (briefly), Mozilla(aka Netscape) Mail and News, Google Groups, nn (from a command line), and probably a few others that I've forgotten. I kept coming back to Pan because each of them was missing some useful (and constantly used) feature that I wanted. In the end...it was just easier to stop hunt, and get on with life with something that works.

Answer 7

I use 40tude Dialog, despite the fact that is is no longer actively developed...

Answer 8

Have you tried Google Groups? It provides a pretty decent interface to Usenet groups, including extensive archives. It doesn't meet all your criteria (offline mode, specifically), but might still be worth a try.

Answer 9

What would you recommend for the following situation?

1. Have used Microsoft email/newsreader programs heavily for years - Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail.

2. Want a new newsreader with a larger limit on how many unread messages it can handle; both Windows Mail and Window Live Mail use an index file that, for me, have approached the size of the total installed RAM memory (8 GB) and their speed drops drastically in that situation. ESTIMATED at 6,000,000 unread messages, in over 150 newsgroups. The motherboard won't allow installing any more RAM.

3. Want to run it first under Windows Vista, and later under Windows 7, both 32-bit versions and 64-bit versions. (Outlook Express won't.)

4. Want better filtering of unread posts - for example, find all the posts that even mention a certain website or webpage, and move them to a folder reserved for later manual handling as spam. Also, want to be able to detect all messages posted through certain sites, especially Google Groups, and subject them to heavier filtering.

5. Want to be able to import my current sets of read and unread messages from both Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail, without disturbing their folder structure.

6. Want to be able to detect when the same post has been downloaded from two different servers, or even twice from the same server, and discard the extra copies.

7. Want the filtering rules to be saved in a format that allows me to select the portion applying to a certain newsgroup, and send them to someone else interested in that newsgroup but unable to write such filtering rules.