Thunderbird Windows Tutorial

Thunderbird Newsreader for Windows

Mozilla offers Thunderbird for e-mail and text Usenet newsgroups. Thunderbird is well designed and easy to use. The newsgroups reader functionality allows you to easily read and post to multiple discussion groups. The fact that it is open source and free is a big plus as well.

Step 1: Download Thunderbird

Visit the official Mozilla website (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/) to download the latest version of Thunderbird. After downloading the installation file, open it to launch the installer. After the installer has completed, open Thunderbird. A screen similar to our example should appear. Select “Tools” from the top menu, then “Account Settings”.

Step 2: Adding Usenet Server 1 of 3

Now select “Account Actions” and choose “Add Other Account”.

Step 3: Adding Usenet Server 2 of 3

The “New Account Setup” screen will appear. Newsgroup account should already be selected.

Step 4: Adding Usenet Server 3 of 3

Enter your name as you’d like it to appear on Usenet. Remember that the name you enter here will be publicly displayed when posting messages to the newsgroups.

Step 5: Server Address

Now we need to enter the Fast Usenet server address. Enter the following:

Newsgroup Server: news.fastusenet.org

Step 6: Account Name

Now give the account a name. This name will be used throughout Thunderbird to identify this Usenet server setup.

Step 7: Verify Server Settings

Please verify your server settings.

Step 8: Accounts Settings

Close the "Accounts Settings" windows to return to the Thunderbird main screen.

Step 9: Manage Newsgroups

You should now see Fast Usenet listed in the left menu of Thunderbird. Select it and then click on “Manage newsgroup subscription”.

Step 10: Newsgroup List Download

The “Subscribe” window should appear and ask for your username and password. Enter your Fast Usenet username and password in the respective fields.

Step 11: Filter Newsgroups

You should now see a complete list of the newsgroups. From here you can filter the groups based on a keyword. In this example, we are looking for groups related to the automaker BMW, so we are going to filter for the word BMW. Now only the groups which contain that wording will appear. Tick the box next to the group to subscribe. Click “OK” when finished.

Step 12: Downloading Headers

You should now see the newsgroups in the left menu of Thunderbird. Select the group title and a window should appear asking how many headers you would like to retrieve. If the newsgroup is heavily used you might not want to download “All Headers” as it would take some time. This this example we are going to download the latest 10,000 headers.

Step 13: Browsing the Newsgroup

The headers should now download from our Usenet servers and display in the main window of Thunderbird. You can now select which message you want to read and respond to. Please note that if you want to post to the newsgroups you must request posting privileges by contacting support.