Advice needed for software

[vsp]

Originally posted by BrianR
I'm looking for one that will download the list of newsgroups upon first launch and SAVE IT! Then, allow me to set up a folder so that I can list my subscribed newsgroups SEPERATELY from the big honkin' list of all. Next, one that will download the messages in my chosen group, display the headers in a list and let me double-click (or something intuitive) to read those that I choose. A <NEXT> button is needed here so I can read the thread and not have to return to the list of headers and select the next one over and over. an option to combine and decode files that come in multiple messages (such as, ahem!, software files) without having to select five thousand messages and order them in a window the size of a postage stamp. Lastly, it has to run under Windoze 98 v4.1

Try MicroPlanet Gravity.
(http://lightning.prohosting.com/~tbates/gravity/)

Gravity downloads a list of newsgroups, and allows you to search through them by keyword to find relevant groups. It puts the subscribed groups in the top block, listing how many headers have been downloaded and how many are server-side. You may retrieve some or all headers as you see fit, display them (by sender, thread, or date) and double-click to read an article. (I'm not sure about NEXT, but there may be a keyboard shortcut.)

Decoding is simple; highlight and hit CTRL-D, and if all the parts are there, it should shuffle them around properly. (If the headers are malformed, you can CTRL-M for Manual Decode and do the reorder-in-postage-stamp-window thing, but it's rarely needed.)

It works beautifully under Win98. It's freeware (MicroPlanet made it public-domain). Version 2.5 is the last official release, while Version 2.6 (Super Gravity) is a hack by an ex-MicroPlanet programmer that adds in support for yEnc decoding, among other things.

One caveat: go into its option tabs and disable the "Check for new version" checkbox, but that's a one-time thing.

I used to use Gravity 1.1 (bought it) and loved it; Gravity 2.5/2.6 blows that away in ease-of-use.