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Newsgroups and Message Boards
A favorite way to get expert help is by posting to one of the many
technical support newsgroups on the Microsoft servers. To receive
more support and information on many technologies, including the Tablet PC
and related products and software, please visit the Microsoft public
newsgroups at
news://msnews.microsoft.com.
The best way to access these newsgroups is by using a
newsreader such as Outlook Express, Agent, Gravity or XNews, to name a
few. Since Outlook Express is available on most computers, it's a
good way to start. For help on configuring Outlook Express to get
all the newsgroups you might want to read or follow, the following will
help.
Post your question to other Tablet PC users who understand
this new technology.
Newsgroups are a wonderful way to get help using
peer-to-peer support. You'll find many MVPs available to help fix
problems and direct you to more support.
How to Configure Outlook Express as the
news reader.
Full directions for accessing the Microsoft news servers using Outlook Express are as
follows. If you prefer, you can access them from here, but it's generally
recommended that they be set up on your own computer using either Outlook
Express or another news reader. Bookmark
this page to return easily:
news://msnews.microsoft.com.windows/tabletpc
news://msnews.microsoft.com.windows/tabletpc.developer
If you prefer
to use your browser to access the web-based message boards, or don't
have access to a newsreader client such as Outlook Express or Agent, use
this link -
Web-based groups
To set up newsgroups on your computer -
Open Outlook Express / Tools/ Accounts / Add / News and follow the
wizard. The server name is msnews.microsoft.com - no password or
logon required. Once finished, when you hit the Close button on the
Internet Accounts window, you'll
be asked if you want to download newsgroups. Say yes, then once
downloaded, you can type in tabletpc (or any other subject you like) in
the top window and subscribe to the groups you want to follow.
To see answers to posts, you can either
click on the plus sign (+) next to the original post, or to avoid having
to do this all the time, you can set OE to automatically expand messages.
Open OE / Tools / Options and on the Read tab, click "Automatically expand
grouped messages."
Tip - Since you don't see the full name of
the newsgroups when you download, hover your cursor over the line between
Newsgroups and Description on the title line. Once it changes to a
double arrow, left click and hold and drag the line to the right until you
can see more of the newsgroups.
You may also want to make sure your news message store
isn't too big. You can go to Tools / Options / Maintenance / Clean
Up Now button and Compact them occasionally to use less room.
If you ever want to try to re-download the messages, right
click the newsgroup / properties / Local File Tab and click Reset.
Once you've seen what you want, in OE, click Edit / CatchUp and then
repeat the above to compact them.
Many ISPs provide
other news server access as well.
These servers generally either originate or propagate
newsgroups from specific sources. Check with your ISP to get
the correct settings.
More Newsgroup Help
Another
way to access the newsgroups is through the following site,
http://microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/focuson/tabletpc.asp,
click on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Newsgroup, or just click
here to go directly to the web-based newsgroup. This is a
way to stay in touch when you don't have access to nntp.
Since you're already at
the Expert Zone, check out the other articles and tips and tricks.
The Expert Zone is a great source of support for Windows XP and related
products. The Expert Zone is an excellent
start to finding articles, how-to's, tips and tricks from other users as
well as links to other Microsoft sites.
Before posting, take a minute to read
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
This will help you get the most out of your posts and make
it easier for others to help with your questions.
http://www.google.com/groups
is yet another excellent resource for posts from many other news servers.
Now, get help
with live Chat Rooms!
Microsoft's Expert Zone offers online
peer-to-peer help in its
chat room, available 24/7.
If you want a quick answer, or just want to talk
about Tablet PCs, please visit one of our new chat rooms.
Currently, there are two chat rooms, one for general Tablet PC
discussion and one that's geared more to those who might be
interested in the developing side of things.
To visit our room for general discussion, please
use
http://thetabletpc.net/chat.htm
The developer's chat room can be reached by
using
http://thetabletpc.net/developerchat.htm
It may take a few minutes to install. You
must have java installed for it to be successful.
Note:
When signing in, if you're asked for a password, it means that
someone has already registered the name you're trying to use.
Select another name. You'll be able to register your unique
name once you're in the chat room.
These rooms were set up to have a
comfortable way of discussing Tablet PCs and related hardware and
software without spammers, porn whispers, etc.
We hope you enjoy them.
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2000-2009