To send a message to a group you have to set the server you will use first in MesNews To set a new server use the menu Server\New server. The properties of a server can be changed via menu Server\Properties server. In both cases you will see the following screen:

The screen has 6 tabs :

Tab General :

This tab lets you fill in the settings to connect to the server :

Address server : fill in the actual name of the server. You can also fill in the IP address.
Port server : port that gives access to server. Default port is 119 : in most case you don't have to change this setting.
Name to be given locally to server : If you want to give the server a different name (that you will see in tree of servers/groups and in the serversbar, fill in the name you prefer.
Use default parameters: when ticked (default), the server will use the parameters that were filled in in the screen Default parameters. When unticked you have to fill in this servers parameters.
• Name : The name that will be shown when sending message to groups or by email. It can be changed on the level of servers or group.
• Organization : your organization (optional)
• Email : mail address that will be used in the groups and that readers can use to answer you directly. Attention: this address can be used by people with bad intentions, better to use an unimportant emailaddress or an invalid mailaddress You can add the word "invalid" at the end of the mailaddress (without the ")
• Reply-To :When this box is filled in this address will be used by readers to answer you directly. It is better to put in a working emailaddress here, opposite to the field Email. Otherwise why bother to fill one in. When you don't fill in this box then the data filled in in the field Email will be used.

Remark :
- this data can be adjusted in the settings for groups the data filled in here will be used for groups that have no specific parameters.
- when you don't change things under the other tabs the data that is filled in in the screen Default parameters will be used.

Tab Authenticate :

Some servers demand a login and password. This is also the case with the server news.zoo-logique.org where the group MesNews is.

Login/password required : tick when there is a login/password required to get to serve. Fill in following:
• Login : login that will give you access to server
• Password : pasword that is needed with login to get access to server.

Remark :
- to get to the newsgroup MesNewson the news.zoo-logique.org server, you have to use this tab, the for this server needed login/pasword are : login="zoo", pasword="entrer".
- the lamp next to the pasword lets you view the pasword uncoded.

Tab signature :

Under this tab you can set the signatures that will be used when sending messages to this server. Signatures can be set at group level.

Signatures : use default parameters: when ticked the signatures will be used as set in the screen Default parameters. When not ticked you have to fill in the specific settings for this server :
• Random signature : when ticked the signatures will be used random, like set in the screen signatures (push button signatures ). Otherwise you have to fill in a signature in the field signatures.
• Signature : lets you set a fixed signature, when the box Random signature is not ticked. This field can stay empty when you don't want to use a signature.
XFace : use server XFace : when ticked an XFace is generated like set in the screen default settings. When not ticked you have to set an XFace you want to use on this server (it is also possible not to use an XFace on a server).

Remark :

• A signature has to be as short as possible. Try to keep it less than 4 lines and max 80 characters a line.
• The XFaces can be used in random mode, for this you have to use a plug-in. Make no mistake between "XFaces" and "Faces",the last is a colored version. To generate a Face you will need a Plugin. A link for this you will find in the help page for XFaces

Tab Formulations :

Like with signatures it is possible to set the formulations (under this tab) for messages for this server. You can also set this on group level.

Random formulation : When ticked, the formulations will be used in random order. The formulations from the screen Formulations will be used. (push the button Formulations). Otherwise you have to fill in a formulation in the field Formulations.
Formulation : lets you set a fixed formulation, when the box next to Random formulation is not ticked. This field you can leave empty, this way you won't use a formulation (not advised in the newsgroups) You can use the samevariables (words between brackets [ xxx ] ) like you were able to use in the screen Formulations ([NOM] for the name of person you reply to , [DATE] for the date the message was posted etc.)

Remark :

• A formulation has to be as short as possible. Even if it sounds nice, you have to avoid using formulations with extensions, like : "[NOM] has written on [DATE] at [HEURE] in the message[ID] the following: ")
• Formulations are only used in the replies you send. There are no formulations for new messages

Tab Plus :

Search new groups : when ticked MesNews will check at first synchronization if there are new groups on server. When there are new groups the name of the server will be set in color in the tree of server and you will see a small icon next to the name of the server in the serversbar.
No synchronization for this server : when ticked the group of this server will be ignored at synchronization. You can use this to turn off the sync temporary when a server has problems.

Tab Expert :

ATTENTION : change the settings under this tab only if you know what you are doing. A bad setting can make it impossible to send messages. (yesyes, really true :-) )

Use default parameters : when ticked the data from the screen Default parameters will be used. Otherwise you can change the parameters for this server:
• Header Date : when ticked (default), MesNews adds the header "Date:" to your messages. This field is optional, most servers add this header automatically. But there are servers that refuse messages without this header.
• Header Message-ID : each message send to a group has to have its own unique ID. When this header isn't added the server will add it automatically. If it is created by the newsreader it has to be unique. Default MesNews generates an unique ID by using a counter from the date, the time and the time elapsed since starting up Windows, also the domain used for mail. This option can be unticked to let the server generate it's own ID or to force the domain (the right part of the message-ID after the symbol @).

Remark : by setting a message-ID it is easier to add a message rule to let your messages stand out in color.