Agent --
Agent, Forte's industrial-strength commercial newsreader, is several steps above and beyond its freeware sibling, Free Agent. Agent retains Free Agent's unique interface and extensive collection of features as well as its recently added speed infusion. As with Free Agent, there are so many options and features in this newsreader that new users may get lost. Standard features include offline/online newsreading, multithreading, thread watching, thread ignoring, mark for later retrieval, database compression and purging, quick find, send mail, word wrap, automatic 'catch up', customizable font colors and screen sizes, and a whole lot more. This, however, is the point where the similarities between the two products end and the real fun for power users begins.
Perhaps its strongest feature is the implementation of a multilingual spelling checker -- for many news junkies (like myself) this alone is reason enough to fork over the registration fee. An American English dictionary comes preloaded with Agent; International English, Italian, Spanish, German, and French dictionaries are also freely available from the Forte FTP site. Enhanced e-mail functionality (including mail receival capabilities), a much-needed status bar (progress indicator), MIME support, cross-post management, advanced sorting (on five different keys) and filtering, kill/watch lists, right mouse button functionaliy, multilinqual support (for the entire program), user-defined folders, single-key navigation, a native 32-bit release, auto-launching for URLs (full hypertext support), and import/export newsrc files are additional features that have been recently added to help further distance this consummate newsreader from the competition.
The latest release of Agent, v1.5, rounds out an already stacked feature-set with MAPI support, news filtering, global message searching capabilities, spam detection and prevention tools, mail and news secure login capabilities, and customizable toolbar capabilities. With the best newsreading features available on the 'net, it will probably come as a shocking surprise that Agent is so attractively priced. For $40 you can have the shrink-wrapped version mailed to you, or better yet, you can order Agent over the 'net for only $29. Purchasing the product also entitles you to three months of free support and free interim upgrades. Without a doubt Agent, like Netscape and WinZip, is an absolute, must-have 'net app, and at less than $50, even I can afford it!
Pros: Tons of features, easy customization, extensive on-line help available
Cons: Currently lacks a few features expected to be released in the final 1.00 version
New: MAPI support, global message searching, spam detection and prevention tools, much more
Gravity --
Gravity is the ultimate in user configurability -- every conceivable option from screen layout (13 assorted four-pane and five different three-pane views) to article layout (thirty-two message attributes can be mixed and matched for ultimate customization) has been developed with the end user in mind. The newsreader keeps users of all levels happy by offering more than just an extensive list of user-customizable options -- Gravity sports an impressive array of news-related features as well. The usual fare of newsreader features are handled with ease -- internal database and offline/online options, send and receive mail capabilities, multiple signature files, right mouse button functionality, a Bozo Bin (i.e. kill files),
extensive on-line help (there's even a helpful hints and tips section for getting the most of Gravity), and an intuitive status bar for monitoring download progress are all examples of features that comprise the minimum feature-set necessary to make a newsreader competitive in its field. Gravity goes beyond the standard by once again catering to the end user in extensive fashion.
Automatic decoding of binary files is handled in relatively standard fashion, but Gravity takes the feature to the next level by adding an ultra helpful Image Gallery feature that allows you to organize, view, and/or delete downloaded images and movies. Images can be presented in a variety of ways including being viewed as thumbnail images or as part of a slideshow. Another option is for Gravity to automatically load your default graphics viewer (i.e., ACDSee, LView Pro, or similar app) for looking at downloaded pictures. Incoming rules and filters is another area where Gravity excels. In addition to kill file capabilities, Gravity gives you the opportunity to identify key articles by playing sounds or displaying text messages, to automatically forward articles to friends, to mark specific news clippings as important (for later use), to automatically delete articles, and more, all based on advanced conditional statements.
Full hypertext functionality is another of Gravity's strong points and includes the ability to automatically run helper applications (as identified in your system registry) for mail, web, gopher, telnet, and FTP activities. Additional new features include server switching capabilities (allows you to add, switch, or delete servers during a Gravity session), a customizable toolbar, an integrated spelling checker, newsgroup previewing, an HTML suppression tool, and the ability to import/export Newsrc files. Finally, Gravity offers excellent search and find capabilities, especially for identifying newsgroups that meet your needs. Type in any keyword and Gravity automatically finds all newsgroups that contain the word anywhere in their hierarchical name. Overall, while Gravity does lack some critical features (most notably, multilingual capabilities), it is definitely one of the net's elite newsreaders and is an app to be reckoned with, especially by its competitors.
Note: Anawave Software acquired Gravity from MicroPlanet and has taken over development of the client. The MicroPlanet release of Gravity is still available on the 'net but will no longer be supported and will cease to be updated past version 1.01.500.
Pros: Tons of features and user-configurable options, extensive online help, easy to use
Cons: Lacks multilingual functionality, 32-bit only - no support for Windows 3.x platforms
New: Impressive Image Gallery, customizable toolbar, server switching capabilities, newsgroup preview, much more
Free Agent --
A newcomer to the newsreader business, Forte's Free Agent
has the most features (with the exclusion of its big sister, Agent)
and is easily the most configurable. In fact, there
are so many options in this newsreader that novice users may get lost.
For the complete freeware newsreader, there is no need to look further than
Free Agent. Configurable options include offline/online newsreading, font
colors, screen size, multithreading, thread watching, thread ignoring,
mark for later retrieval, and many, many more. One of its best features
is the ability to extract information from another newsreader during setup
so that the user doesn't have to input the same information over and over
and ...
Some additional features include the ability to switch between
screens effortlessly, quick find, send mail, word wrap, quick purging,
and automatic 'catching up'. With the introduction of Free Agent v1.0,
several new essential features have been added, including improvements
in overall speed, database compression, and database purging.
This version is free for academic, non-profit, and similar non-commercial
uses -- for commercial users (and power users),
Agent is available with full support and additional features.
Pros: Tons of features, easy customization, extensive on-line help available
Cons: Lacks some of the better features found in Agent
New: 32-bit version, progress indicator, installation program, 32,000 newsgroup limit removed, bug fixes, more
NewsFerret --
NewsFerret is the Usenet News release of the NetFerret suite of search clients. This particular ferret will help you find news articles anywhere on the UseNet news system. All you need to do is input your news server name, one or more keywords for the subject of the article to be found, and one or more keywords for the newsgroups to be searched. Your news server's entire selection of groups can be searched as well, but NewsFerret is much quicker if you restrict the search to specific newsgroups. Once you have entered the necessary information for a search, NewsFerret will contact the news server
and find recent articles that match the keywords. After NewsFerret has compiled a list of results, you can scan the header of each article to see if any pique your interest. Accessing the article itself is a simple double-click away, thanks to NewsFerret's integrated article viewer. For the most part, NewsFerret works in outstanding fashion, but ultimately, like its fellow search clients, it can only be as accurate as the server it makes use of. In other words, only those news groups that your news server actually carries can be searched; if your server lacks support for groups like the Clari.net newsfeeds, there is no way NewsFerret can search for articles within these groups. Despite this minor shortcoming, NewsFerret saves you the time and energy involved in locating and retrieving news articles that meet your interests. Overall, like the rest of the NetFerret collection, NewsFerret is worth its weight in gold. And thanks to advertiser support, you can download and use the entire search suite for free. Subscriptions are also available for those who would rather not be bombarded by advertisements.
Pros: Quick, easy to use; few apps exist that search newsgroups to find specific articles
Cons: Only as reliable as the news server that it contacts
New: New trial evaluation release, proxy/firewall support, bug fixes and several minor new features
News Xpress --
News Xpress contains many of the same features found in Free Agent, Agent, and Anawave Gravity, as well as a few unique features of its own. Kill-file
and autoselect abilities are offered by News Xpress, as are filtering,
sorting, and mailing capabilities. News Xpress is offered in both Windows 3.x
and Windows 95 versions. The newly released '95 version sports additional cool features like an
inline image viewer and built-in support for UUencode, UUdecode, and Base64.
News Xpress is aptly named -- it is definitely one of the quickest newsreaders available.
News Xpress does lack some features central to Free Agent and Anawave Gravity,
including watching/ignoring threads, efficient online/offline switching, and automatic catching up. Still, News Xpress didn't become one of the most popular newsreaders on the Internet without reason -- its speed, ease of use, and solid set of features have helped earn News Xpress many, many faithful users.
Pros: Many, many features; easy customization; kill-file, filtering, sorting capabilities; speed
Cons: Lacks extensive on-line help, somewhat buggy, needs thread monitoring
New: Windows 95 release, inline image viewer, built-in encoding/decoding support
Microsoft Internet Mail and News --
I must admit, I've never been a huge fan of Microsoft and early versions of Internet Explorer and Internet Assistant did little to change my opinion. But the amazing success of Netscape
has done wonders in helping Microsoft break out of its Internet inertia. Color me impressed -- Microsoft is back on track, and even with apps just out of beta release like Internet Mail and News, Microsoft has once again shown its refusal to go gently into that good night. Internet Mail and News are by no means perfect, nor are they even the best apps available in their respective categories. They do, however, sport intuitive and graphically appealing interfaces that are sure to impress and entice novice users. At the same time, they offer features guaranteed to please even the most picky of expert 'netizens. Both clients benefit from the ability to make use of Microsoft Office's spelling checker (if you have Office, that is) and can be integrated into the Internet Explorer 3.0 interface to make for an impressive suite of 'net apps that gives
Netscape a run for its money. The clients also share a common toolbar that works to ensure easy accessibility between each other as well as with Explorer and other desktop applications. Additional features include extensive customization capabilities, multiple sorting keys, automatic file encoding and decoding, import/export newsrc files, support for multiple servers, and more.
Since both clients are extremely new and and have only now just entered into 1.0 release, it should not come
as a big surprise that many features are currently missing. Offline newsreading capabilities,
address books, printing, kill list support, message thread monitoring, and online help documentation are some of the features that are expected to be added soon. In addition, both clients could benefit from speed improvements -- while they are native 32-bit applications, neither can compete in terms of speed with competitors like Pegasus Mail, Eudora Pro, and Agent. Internet Mail and News are currently only offered for Windows 95, but versions for Windows 3.x and the Macintosh are in development. However, the Windows 95 version is offered in a variety of languages, including French, Chinese, Spanish, German, Portugese, Japanese, Italian, and more. Overall, both of these clients are good but not great, yet they are definitely apps to keep an eye on in the future -- just look at how far Internet Explorer has come since its early 1.0 days.
Pros: Great features, easy customization, integration with Microsoft Office spelling checker
Cons: Limited to a Windows 95 release, could benefit from a speed infusion, lacks critical features
New: Integrated Windows Address Book client, new versions for a multitude of languages, more
WinVN --
Before News Xpress and Free Agent arrived, WinVN was king
of the windows newsreaders. Amazing how things can change in less than
a year or two. A little more than one year ago, WinVN was superseded by the powerful features of both Free Agent and News Xpress. Since then, the developers of WinVN have worked long and hard to catch up to the two new monarchs, and their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Several new features and improvements to old ones, as well as the efficiency
and ease of use that have always been WinVN's strongest points, have WinVN once
again nearing the title of 'top dog'. WinVN uses the tiled-windows approach
for listing newsgroups, article lists, and individual articles, which is
a definite improvement over Trumpet News' split-windows screen, but not quite
as appealing as the Free Agent or even the News Xpress layout. WinVN is
one of the easiest to use newsreaders available, plus there is plenty of on-line help to get new users acquainted with the program. Built-in UUdecoding, full hypertext support, and mail sending abilities have been implemented well, but the low-level killfile support could be improved with a user interface and configurable menu. Another of WinVN's strong points is its ability to sort articles in almost every imaginable manner. Overall, WinVN's features
match favorably with the top two newsreaders, but still fall just short in quantity.
WinVN is a good newsreader to get started with, but the serious news
junkies will likely still want to move up to either News Xpress or Free Agent.
Pros: Easy customization, relatively quick, good on-line help, great search capabilities
Cons: Lacks features like thread monitoring, advanced kill-file, autoselect, and quick purging
New: Low-level killfile support, long filename support (32-bit version), hypertext support, bug fixes, more
News for Windows NT --
News for Windows NT is actually a newsreader for both Windows NT and Windows 95.
Currently, Windows NT versions for Alpha platforms (v1.0-72) and Intel platforms (v1.0-75)
have been released. News for NT is roughly similar to WinVN but with slightly fewer features.
Features include multithreading, quick find, an easy 'catch up' command, send mail, multiple
windows (multiple newsgroups can be viewed at the same time), sorting by threads, article filters, UUdecode,
and Rot13 encrypting/decrypting. While this collection of features is no match for those
of apps like Agent and News Xpress, News for NT does offer something that neither Agent
nor News Xpress offer yet - 32-bit newsreading. Still, News for NT could use additional
features like thread monitoring, more sort options (the current version only has three),
hypertext support (for launching an external web browser for URLs), efficient online/offline switching, and automatic catching up. A speed infusion would also be necessary for making News for NT more competitive with the current fare of newsreaders. Overall, while News for NT may lack the speed and features of the best newsreaders, it does offer 32-bit newsreading and
is worth the effort in downloading and setting up.
Pros: 32-bit newsreading, article filtering, UUdecoding, encryption capabilities
Cons: Slow newsreading; lacks features like thread monitoring, autoselect, and quick purging;
New: Default article templates, kill by subject/sender, sorting by threads, more
Smart NewsReader --
Intel's Smart NewsReader is primarily a rudimentary news reader with two advanced features --
intelligent agent technology that ranks threads according to your interests and 'objectify' capabilities which allow you to launch apps based on information found in news articles.
With the information evaluation feature, you tell the agent which articles interest you and which don't. With as little as 50 feedback articles, the agent can predict and sort the articles that are most likely to meet your interests. Objectification is another feature designed to make the laborious task of traversing newsgroups easier. With this feature,
the Smart NewsReader parses the body of an article and looks for words or objects like dates, URLs, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. By double clicking on these objects, the news reader will automatically launch your calendar, web browser, mail, or rolodex clients.
While these are both great features that should be included in more news readers, the other features in Smart NewsReader just don't measure up to the competition. The interface is downright unattractive and counter-intuitive. Features like encryption capabilities, UUdecoding (although external multimedia viewers can be launched), offline/online newsreading, right mouse button functionality, and quick purging are noticeably absent. In addition, the news reader is extremely slow relative to the better newsreaders on the market (Agent, News Xpress, and WinVN for example). Still, Smart NewsReader does offer advanced kill list support, multimedia mapping, and multiple sorting key features in addition to the two advanced capabilities identified above. While Smart NewsReader may not be everyone's idea of the perfect news reader, it does offer some impressive features not found in other clients. For those looking for an news reader that can read your mind, Smart NewsReader is the closest app currently available.
Pros: Objectify and information evaluation features, advanced kill list support, multimedia mapping
Cons: Slow, unattractive interface, could be more intuitive, lacks critical features
New: No obvious new features in v1.33 Beta
NewsBin -- While NewsBin is not a true newsreader per se, it does accomplish several tasks that newsreaders currently available do not. First and foremost, NewsBin is an automated NNTP downloader and decoder for Windows 95 and Windows NT, which means it will allow you to batch download binary files and news headers from USENET newsgroups. All you need to do is tell NewsBin which groups you want monitored and it will do the rest for you automatically, including decoding and placing all binary files in the directory
of your choice for later use. For all those spending any amount of time manually downloading newsgroup binaries, the importance of NewsBin's capabilities should be readily apparent. For others, NewsBin might not seem so important now, but it's definitely a great app to have around when the need arises. At only $10 and less than 100 Kb in total size, its overall value is hard to second guess.
Additional features include WinVN compatibility (allowing you to make use of the WinVN newsrc for storing NewsBin newsgroup information), automatic and manual modes for giving users greater control and flexibility in how NewsBin operates, multitasking (you can work on other things while NewsBin faithfully carries out its duties in the background), support for multiple news servers, the ability to obtain a complete listing of newsgroup for each server, compatibility with the SOCKS protocol, and support for up to fifty different newsgroups.
NewsBin can also download as many binaries as you have RAM for, and it displays several status bars for keeping you posted on its progress. NewsBin may not be the app for everyone, but for anyone with more than a passing interest in news binaries, NewsBin is unquestionably a must have app.
Pros: Automatically downloads USENET binaries and news headers, small and inexpensive
Cons: Limited to downloading only news binaries and headers
New: Auto start/stop, improved decoder, bug fixes and small enhancements
QNews --
QNews is an inexpensive newsreader that is, in many ways, very
similar to WinVN. Like WinVN, QNews uses the tiled-windows approach for listing
newsgroups, article lists, and individual articles. One of the best features
of QNews is its multi-threading execution, which allows messages to be read
or posted while still using the newsreader for other tasks. Archiving (saving)
messages to folders is an extremely simple feature with QNews. Messages incorporate
word wrapping automatically and can make use of Rot13 encoding, if necessary.
Binary file uploading and downloading is made simple; however, QNews currently
lacks the ability to call an external program for viewing images. Also
missing is News Xpress' ability to load a web browser for trying out URLs and
Free Agent's offline reading capabilities. While including many great
features, QNews lacks features seen in better newsreaders like News Xpress and Free Agent.
However, QNews is still in its infancy and is likely to see considerable improvements
over the next several months.
Pros: Quick newsreader, tiled interface, easy archiving and binary uploading/downloading
Cons: Lacks ability to call external programs, lacks offline reading capabilities
New: This is the initial review for Qnews
Trumpet News --
My first newsreader; how could anyone not like its
ease of use and simplicity? Trumpet gets the job done quickly and
painlessly without flair and without distracting complexities. It
sorts articles on several different keys, includes word wrap, and has
limited threading capabilities. Unfortunately, at $40 Trumpet News
is overpriced, especially when compared to the cost of the other
newsreaders (free). This client also lacks many of the features found
in better newsreaders, including thread monitoring, kill-file, autoselect,
and filtering. Also, Trumpet News hasn't been updated in well over a
year. The on-line help is perfect for the novice news user. Novice
users will find both Trumpet News and WinVN great newsreaders to start
with, but will likely trade these clients in before long.
Pros: Relatively quick, good on-line help, easy to use
Cons: Price tag, lack of features, needs an update badly
New: This is the initial review for Trumpet News
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