Discussions Group Web Page Won't Work

[Dorci]

Sorry, I don't know where else to post this. I'm writing this on an
alternate computer because I cannot get the Discussions Group page to work on
my computer. I can search the posts, but when I click on one, the text does
not appear in the window on the right. I have to double-click the posts to
open them in another window. Additionally, I cannot add a post. When I
click NEW or REPLY, nothing happens.

It's obviously not a firewall issue, because this alternate computer is on
the same network. Does anyone know what browser settings may affect this?
I'm using IE6.

Thanks in advance.

 

[LVTravel]

First, get off the nasty web interface you are using and set
up a newsgroup in Outlook Express (OE). (If Vista there is
no OE but there is an alternative.)

For all Microsoft newsgroups (NG) you can use
news.Microsoft.com as your news server. In OE click Tools,
Accounts then click New and then click News. In the next
window type in the name you want to be called (mine is
LVTravel) then click Next. In next window type in an email
address (CAUTION do not put a totally correct email address
here. If you want someone to be able to use the email
address to contact you privately you need to fake the
address - something like a real email of
"(e-mail address removed)" would become
"(e-mail address removed)" which will prevent the
spambots from taking your real email address off the
newsgroups. Since I normally don't want private contact I
use (e-mail address removed) or something similar) Click Next. In
next window is where you put news.Microsoft.com and click
next. In the next window it will tell you that you have put
in all needed. Click Finish.

Next you need to put in the newsgroup you want to read
and/or write to: Click Tools, Newsgroups and a window will
open. It may take a few minutes to look at all the
newsgroups available on MS's site. Once the machine has
read all the groups, you can narrow down the number to
scroll through. Type Office.misc in the box at the top of
the window. You should see just one entry. Click on it and
then click on Subscribe. You will then see it in the
Folders list at the left of the OE window.

To get messages to show click the NG name and wait, OE is
defaulted is to download and show 500 messages and right now
there are 7715 messages on this NG. To get more you can
either click Headers on the top line of OE or change the
settings within OE to get more headers.

Much better than trying to find information on those web
interfaces.

 

[Bob I]

Try double clicking this link to the group instead.

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.office.misc

 

[Echo S]

I think you probably have a popup blocker enabled -- disable it for the
discussion groups page, and you should be able to post new messages and see
the text as you expect.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

 

[Dorci]

This takes me away from the Internet and opens up an application called
Microsoft Outlook Newsreader. Is it supposed to do that? Then I get an
error message "Unable to connect to server."

 

[Dorci]

Pop-up blocker is off, and it still won't work. I also failed to mention
that it used to work just fine until about a month or two ago.

I think you probably have a popup blocker enabled -- disable it for the
discussion groups page, and you should be able to post new messages and see
the text as you expect.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

Sorry, I don't know where else to post this. I'm writing this on an
alternate computer because I cannot get the Discussions Group page to work
on
my computer. I can search the posts, but when I click on one, the text
does
not appear in the window on the right. I have to double-click the posts
to
open them in another window. Additionally, I cannot add a post. When I
click NEW or REPLY, nothing happens.

It's obviously not a firewall issue, because this alternate computer is on
the same network. Does anyone know what browser settings may affect this?
I'm using IE6.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bob I]

Yep, thats the direct link to the newsgroups. Perhaps your firewall is
blocking that connection?

 

[Dorci]

Suddenly it's working just fine again. I guess it's just one of those things
that will remain a mystery. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Pop-up blocker is off, and it still won't work. I also failed to mention
that it used to work just fine until about a month or two ago.

I think you probably have a popup blocker enabled -- disable it for the
discussion groups page, and you should be able to post new messages and see
the text as you expect.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

Sorry, I don't know where else to post this. I'm writing this on an
alternate computer because I cannot get the Discussions Group page to work
on
my computer. I can search the posts, but when I click on one, the text
does
not appear in the window on the right. I have to double-click the posts
to
open them in another window. Additionally, I cannot add a post. When I
click NEW or REPLY, nothing happens.

It's obviously not a firewall issue, because this alternate computer is on
the same network. Does anyone know what browser settings may affect this?
I'm using IE6.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Echo S]

Well, I'm glad to hear it's working again, anyway!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

Suddenly it's working just fine again. I guess it's just one of those
things
that will remain a mystery. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Pop-up blocker is off, and it still won't work. I also failed to mention
that it used to work just fine until about a month or two ago.

I think you probably have a popup blocker enabled -- disable it for the
discussion groups page, and you should be able to post new messages and
see
the text as you expect.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html

Sorry, I don't know where else to post this. I'm writing this on an
alternate computer because I cannot get the Discussions Group page to
work
on
my computer. I can search the posts, but when I click on one, the
text
does
not appear in the window on the right. I have to double-click the
posts
to
open them in another window. Additionally, I cannot add a post.
When I
click NEW or REPLY, nothing happens.

It's obviously not a firewall issue, because this alternate computer
is on
the same network. Does anyone know what browser settings may affect
this?
I'm using IE6.

Thanks in advance.