News Surfer
A simple but fast news reader program. You'll be amazed - nothing like this
exists anywhere on the web.
News Surfer version 3.0
(Allows logins to private newsgroups like microsoft.private.stationary.)
News Surfer version 2.30
News Surfer is a basic program for reading and replying to posts in newsgroups. It is simple and fast with no software bloat. News Surfer displays HTML stationery posts and can render and save images, sounds and other content in posts. Use it as your primary newsreader or to check the other groups while you are e-mailing or looking at your regular group with your usual newsreader.
Some of News Surfer's Features:
Newsgroup names can be easily added through the News Surfer program interface, or, when starting, by manually editing the newsgroups.ini file. Newsgroups in this file appear in the newsgroup drop down list.
News Surfer also records a history of what articles you view and marks them appropriately each time you enter a newsgroup.
News Surfer comes with an easy to use Kill-file and Find interface for advanced search and kill functions.
News Surfer comes with a "watch post" ability, to remind you of threads you want to keep track of.
News Surfer comes with a "spotlighted" post ability, so friends or others posts will be automatically marked.
News Surfer has signature ability, for signing posts with your own personal text signature.
LOAD POST gives you the ability to post a previously posted or previously composed article (sent or unsent) to any newsgroup. The article must exist in .NWS, .EML, or .MHT format.
With News Surfer you can post articles with attached files of all types.
News Surfer views images in binary newsgroups and decodes all UUencoded, Base64, Quoted-Printable, and 7-Bit encoded content.
News Surfer will decode, view, and save script content (images, sounds, Flash, etc.) via a new "Content Panel" in the post's display window.
News Surfer strips stationery (HTML) scripts right from the Message View window.
News Surfer converts previously saved posts or e-mails for retransmission, as if they had never been sent.
One of News Surfer's attributes is that you can view complicated HTML news posts. Many, if not most newsreader programs cannot view HTML, particularly HTML with complicated scripts. News Surfer will view almost all complicated scripts, with very few exceptions.
Download News Surfer 322k
Unzip the ZIP file supplied and save the unzipped files to a new folder. Click on the EXE to run News Surfer. To uninstall, simply delete the files and folder. Please read the help.txt file for help in using News Surfer.
Notice the newsgroups.ini file. It is a text file containing all the stationery newsgroups. Make your own newsgroups.ini file if you wish.
I hope you enjoy this program as much as I have in writing it. It has been a labor of love since the spring of 2001. Several hundred hours are involved in its development.
This is a Visual Basic program, so requires you to have the current VB6 Runtime files. You do have them, right? Most of you have them already, but if you get a program error, go to the VB Runtime Files page. They can be downloaded from there.
Screenshot of News Surfer:
News Surfer Goodies:
Things you can't do with Outlook Express
News Surfer Regular Edition
Front page display of the post's article number.
Easily retrieve a range of article numbers, back to day one if you like.
Unlimited exploration of all posts that are actually on a news server.
Quickly display a list of newsgroups on a server.
Easily add and delete newsgroups.
Sort the newsgroups list.
Top-level posts are highlighted in color for better visibility.
Flagging and relocation of straggler replies to posts that are past history.
Flagging of replies for which the original replied-to post has been deleted from the server.
Check for deleted posts. Once you download a post in Outlook Express (OE), it is always retrieved locally from your hard drive when you look at it again. Unless you reset the newsgroup, you will never know if the post has been deleted by the server. News Surfer shows the status at all times.
Post previously posted (posts sent by Outlook Express) or previously composed but unsent articles or e-mails to any newsgroup.
Statistics. See the statistics of all the posts on the newsgroup server.
See the actual receiver buffer of data downloaded from the news server.
Easily track server timeout delays and set server timeouts, right on the main window.
Full control over saving posts and other downloaded server information.
Grid lines on the Header Display Window make it easier to follow information across columns.
Edit or add headers and send custom content using the Edit Special/Send Special function (may require Outlook Express if MIME encoding).
Do multiple searches for messages based on From:, Subject:, article number, and/or E-Mail address right in the main window.
Establish a Kill-file based on From:, Subject:, and/or E-Mail address, yet retain the post in case needed. The post's position will still show up in the headers area.
A more sane "watched post" policy. No need to mark every reply in the thread making the window a jumble of icons - just mark article you want. The thread below it was always obvious anyway.
Add a signature, EASILY.
Spotlight posts in the main window, EASILY.
Strip stationery scripts.
Convert and save downloaded posts or other saved e-mail for retransmission.
EASILY decode, view, and save script content (images, sounds, Flash, etc.) via a new "Content Panel" in the post's display window.
Reply to a post without downloading it. Yes, there are times when you might want to do this!
Copy an article's complex ID to the clipboard with one click of the mouse.
News Surfer EXTRA Edition
Send commands to the newsgroup server and see the responses. Do unlimited newsgroup searches, check for new groups, analyze articles, server information, and more. A techie's delight.
Full buffer control of incoming information. Save, parse, chop, and strip buffer information or external files from your hard drive.
Full buffer search function. Can also be used to search private files.
Hexadecimal conversion of buffer information and external files from your hard drive.
Manipulate and use data pasted into the buffer display area.
A file compare function compares two files line by line and displays the differences.
View the detailed News Surfer connection and operations Log.