This is the "Quick Start" guide to NewsMon. We'll cover the basics here. The rest is very straightforward. You'll have it all figured out in, oh, 5 minutes or so.
Before you do anything else, set the time you want NewsMon to check for new updates to your favorite publications. To do this, open the program and hit the "A" key on your keyboard, or click on "Set Up Ezines" and then "Auto-Checking."
Set the time using a 24 hour format. This just means that you use 1-12 for AM times, and add 12 to any hour after noon. So, 7:45 PM would be entered as 19 for the hour and 45 for the minute.
You'll probably want to leave the "Start the program automatically" and "Enable check" boxes checked. The program doesn't use a lot of resources, and this way it checks for new updates automatically.
If you turn those off, you need to start the program manually and click on "Check Updates" when you want to find out about new issues of the things you've subscribed to.
To subscribe to a publication using NewsMon, look on the publisher's site for the NewsMon updates URL. It will usually be in a format that looks something like this, near the subscription box:
Highlight the URL by clicking on the beginning of the URL and dragging the mouse to the end of the text, while keeping the left mouse button held down. Release the left mouse button and hit CTRL-C. (Hold down the Control key and tap the C on your keyboard.)
Now go to the NewsMon program, and hit the "N" key (for New), or click on "Add Ezine" in the "Set Up Ezines" tab. Click in the space below "Checking URL," and hit Ctrl-V. Then, just above that, type in the name of the newsletter.
Click "OK" and you're done.
Every time the program checks for new updates, it will check every publication you've subscribed to that way for new updates.
To unsubscribe, just go to the "Set Up Ezines" screen, highlight the one you want to delete, and... hit delete. (Yes, that's all there is to it!)
If you want to cut down on your reading for a while, but don't want to unsubscribe, you can highlight an ezine and click on "Toggle Active." That will stop NewsMon from checking for new updates until you re-activate that subscription.
If you leave the program on auto-start, you'll notice a small white book icon in your system tray. When you have new updates, it will blink. I used white because it's not distracting like bright orange or neon green would be. (You don't need extra distractions any more than I do, do you?)
To open the program, just click on that icon. If you want it to check for new updates without opening it, click on the icon in your system tray (at the bottom right corner of your monitor, near the clock) with your RIGHT mouse button, and then click with the left button on "Check for new updates" on the menu that pops up.
To read new updates, open the program and make sure the "Updates" screen is open. Each new update will appear there. To read the update, just double-click on it, and it will be opened in your default browser. Or just tap the "O" key.
Once you've opened a new update, it's marked as "Hidden." This allows you to store back issues in an archive, so you can refer to them later.
If you'd like to read an issue later and get it out of the way for the moment, you can "hide" it. To do this, tap the H key while the update is still highlighted. This puts it in the background. I suggest you hide the "How to use NewsMon" update, rather than deleting it, in case you need it in the future.
To see hidden updates, hit CTRL-H. (Hold down the control key and tap "h".)
To delete a specific hidden update, click on "View Hidden," highlight the update you want to delete, and tap... you guessed it. Delete.
To delete ALL hidden updates, just click on "Delete Hidden."
You can do any and all of these using the mouse. We only put in keyboard shortcuts for the stuff you'll use all the time.
I recommend that you back up your NewsMon config files occasionally. This is VERY simple. Just copy all the files in the NewsMon directory that end in .ini to a floppy or to whatever backup system you use.
To browse the directory of ezines that are available through NewsMon, go to the Info menu and select "Directory of Ezines."
To check for the latest version, read a list of frequently asked questions, report a bug or just send me an email, go to the Info menu and click on the "Check Version" option. You don't need to do this often for new versions of the software, as I'll be posting updates to let you know about those.
To uninstall the program, for those who have Win ME/NT/2000/XP, use Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel.
If you use Win 95/98 and want to uninstall it, you'd turn off "Start the program automatically" and "Enable check" and shut down the program. Then just delete the entire directory you installed the program in. Gone, clean as a whistle!
That's it.
Enjoy!
Paul
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