Contents

Manual

Quickstart

To quickly configure yDecode please answer "Yes" to the question that asks you to automatically configure yDecode and Outlook Express during the installation of yDecode (you can reinstall it to get this question again if you already answered "No"). Also, you can use Outlook Express Config Wizard from Start Menu - Programs - yDecode that can configure yDecode and Outlook Express automatically as well.

Following procedure should be used only if you are having problems with the automatic configuration or use some other newsgroup reader software (such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Agent or Netscape News).

Here is the basic scheme how yDecode works:





So, you need to setup yDecode and your news reader. Here you can read how to setup Outlook Express and Mozilla Thunderbird. If you use some other news reader please take a look at screenshots that display how to setup Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird to figure out what needs to be changed and where. All news readers have similar settings but they are only placed on different locations.

(Configuration part 1 of 2) - Configuring yDecode

» STEP 1

Run yDecode and go to tab Servers. Type in your news server name e.g. your.news.server. This server name is only an example - you should replace this example with your actual Usenet server name that your Internet provider has given you. Also look at servers tab section of this help for more info.

» STEP 2

Make sure that your firewall is not blocking yDecode. Now you can test the connection to the server as well as news account configuration by pressing the Test Config button - you should get a window showing messages similar to these:



NOTE: Any red message in this window might indicate an error. Please look at servers tab section of this help for more info.

At this point you may have some errors for accounts - but this is because you haven't configured accounts yet - which you will do in the following step. So for now, just ignore error messages for accounts. Note that accounts are only tested for Outlook Express and this part of test will not work for other news readers.

Take a look if the Server connection test passed without problems. If there are errors in server connection, please check your firewall - it must not block yDecode from connecting to the Internet.

(Configuration part 2 of 2) - Configuring Outlook Express / Windows Mail to work with yDecode

» STEP 1

Assuming that you already have configured newsgroup account that works with your newsgroup server, you need to make a little adjustment to make it work with yDecode. To do so first click on your account name using the right mouse button to get a menu just like on the screenshot below and then select option properties.



In Windows Mail the option is on the exact same location as shown on the screenshot below.

» STEP 2

Now you will get to a window similar to the one below. Replace your server name with localhost just like on the screenshot below. Remember - it's not local host (two words) but one word - localhost. It must be exactly like this. This will redirect Outlook Express from your news server to yDecode (yDecode is in fact a server). The server name that used to be here should be now in yDecode NNTP server name box.

Do not modify other settings except server name, even if they look different than the screenshot below, especially not Account name and Password settings! Press OK to close this window.



Windows Mail option for this is on the same place and requires the same setting.

» STEP 3

Finally, go back to yDecode and press Test Config button. If you get no errors printed in red color you are done. If this is the case you have successfully configured yDecode and Outlook Express.

Do not close yDecode - it must be running every time you read newsgroups from now on.

Now, select some newsgroups that hold yEnc posts and try to display them... yDecode will do the rest!

TIP: For proper Multipart handling, please make sure your news client downloads as much headers as possible. For Outlook Express users: - go to Tools menu and select Options. Make sure option "Get 300 headers at a time" is UNCHECKED under "Read" tab. Take a look at the screenshot below for example.



Windows Mail option is on the same location.

(Configuration part 2 of 2) - Configuring Mozilla Thunderbird to work with yDecode

If you are using Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express first configure yDecode just like described above. Note that Test Config button will not be able to detect if you properly configured Mozilla Thunderbird - it works only for Outlook Express. However, server connection will be tested successfully. Regardless of inability to check account settings for Mozilla Thunderbird, yDecode will still work with it as well as with any other news reader.

To configure Mozilla Thunderbird, simply follow the steps on the screenshots below.