Re: Deletion of Newgroup Message Headers

From: Jim Pickering (jimp_at_mvps.0rg)
Date: 09/12/04 

Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 18:31:57 -0700

Once again, you don't tell us the news server involved, so there is no way
to check its retention policy for aging messages. One of the problems in
Outlook Express and newsgroups is that each time you connect to a newsgroup,
messages that have been "aged" or otherwise removed (such as cancels) will
be deleted from your local copy of the newsgroup in Outlook Express. The
only workaround is to select those messages you wish to retain and right
click, selecting Copy To and copy them to a local mail folder for archival
purposes.

I don't know to make it any clearer. If you are using Comcast's news
server, query them as to their retention policy for newsgroups. My
experience with them has been that they have a very short retention period,
while other news server such as GigaNews or Google retain them for a much
longer period. You can also use Google's Advanced Group search to find
messages that are no longer in your local copy of the newsgroup:
http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en

I presently also use Comcast as an ISP, but I do not use their news server
since its retention policy is too short for my liking. 

-- 
Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express
Please reply only to newsgroup.
"SafetyMan" <safetyman2010@comcast.net> wrote in message 
news:A4M0d.25692$MQ5.7133@attbi_s52...
> I'm sorry, I must be mixing my terms. I am not actually saving them to to 
> my desktop. I am connecting to newsgroup, viewing the headers, selecting 
> the messages I want to download, and "synchronizing" the newsgroup, 
> downloading the specified messages/images/vid clips. If I do not save the 
> attachments to my hard drive (I have them in the OE .dbx file because it 
> is a large file, currently 645+Kb, and growing until I perform the 
> maintenance to delete them.) I cannot even "see" them in the message list 
> the next day. I know they are on my computer, I put them there; well, I at 
> least spent the time to put them there. It is as if my OE is performing 
> maintenance I am not asking it to do. I see the messages when I first boot 
> up the program, but befor I can do anything, they disappear. I can then 
> view any new headers posted "today." So, the problem is on my end, not the 
> news server.
>
> Is that any clearer?
>
> Safetyman
>
> "Jim Pickering" <jimp@mvps.0rg> wrote in message 
> news:uhRlW4BmEHA.3536@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> That doesn't answer two important questions.  You stated that:
>> 1.  You were saving the messages to your Desktop.  I asked if they were 
>> saved as nws files.
>> 2.  You don't tell us the news server you are using, nor the group you 
>> are having difficulty with, so it's impossible to check and try to help 
>> you. As stated earlier, the problem is most likely with the retention 
>> policy of the news server in use and you need to query them.  As a test, 
>> you can create a local mail folder, call it OldNews, then download 
>> messages and select all the downloaded messages (or just a portion of 
>> them) and use the right click/copy to selection to copy them to the 
>> OldNews folder for retention. Many binary group users to do this to 
>> ensure they can get and retain all parts of multipart messages.
>>
>> So, without more info from you that is specific to the questions above, I 
>> don't see how we can help more.  Good luck.
>> -- 
>> Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express
>> Please reply only to newsgroup.
>>
>>
>> "SafetyMan" <safetyman2010@comcast.net> wrote in message 
>> news:k%u0d.18871$MQ5.12185@attbi_s52...
>>> What is happening is that all the headers and downloaded messages from 
>>> yesterday delete themselves upon opening OE today. This has been 
>>> happening since I got this machine over a year ago. I am just getting 
>>> tired of it now. I downloaded some messages last night and cannot read 
>>> them today. I don't think XPSP2 has anything to do with it.
>>> SafetyMan
>>>
>>> "Jim Pickering" <jimp@mvps.0rg> wrote in message 
>>> news:eZkmQJ7lEHA.952@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>>>> Are these messages you have saved to your Desktop actual *.nws files? 
>>>> How are you saving them to the Desktop?
>>>>
>>>> If you mean that the messages when clicked opens Outlook Express, but 
>>>> then are blank in the Preview Pane, try the following and see if it 
>>>> helps. Click Start/Run and type:  regsvr32 inetcomm.dll
>>>>
>>>> Then open the message again and see if it's readable.  If you are 
>>>> posting from the problem machine (which the headers show has XPSP2 
>>>> installed), it's possible that your install of SP2 is corrupted, 
>>>> particularly if you allowed an antivirus program to remain running 
>>>> during the installation. If that's the case, I'd try uninstalling SP2, 
>>>> reboot, shut down any antivirus program and reinstall SP2 and see if 
>>>> that fixes the problem. See the link below for how to uninstall:
>>>>
>>>> 875350 - How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer:
>>>> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;875350
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express
>>>> Please reply only to newsgroup.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "SafetyMan" <safetyman2010@comcast.net> wrote in message 
>>>> news:PKt0d.151505$9d6.58755@attbi_s54...
>>>>>I cannot see messages that I have downloaded onto my desktop. They are 
>>>>>not on any server
>>>>> View >Current View>Show All Messages and Group Messages by 
>>>>> conversation are checked
>>>>> Tools>Options>Maintenance>Delete All Messages After (30) Days is 
>>>>> checked
>>>>>
>>>>> Safetyman
>>>>> "Jim Pickering" <jimp@mvps.0rg> wrote in message 
>>>>> news:O81nhU6lEHA.3428@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>>>>>> It could be that the server you are using "ages" messages off the 
>>>>>> server rapidly.  This happens with many news servers that host binary 
>>>>>> groups to avoid the huge storage requirements to maintain the 
>>>>>> messages. In some cases, the retention period for newsgroups on those 
>>>>>> servers is measured in hours and when you next connect, those 
>>>>>> messages that have been "aged" from the server are removed from your 
>>>>>> local copy of the newsgroup.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The size of the newsgroup dbx file can be reduced to reclaim the 
>>>>>> wasted space by compacting the group involved.  This assumes that 
>>>>>> your View setting does not have the option to "Hide Read Messages" 
>>>>>> checked.
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express
>>>>>> Please reply only to newsgroup.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "SafetyMan" <safetyman2010@comcast.net> wrote in message 
>>>>>> news:9Hs0d.166718$Fg5.74471@attbi_s53...
>>>>>>> Those are already checked. Anything else?
>>>>>>> SafetyMan
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Bruce Hagen" <Nospam@mymail.invalid> wrote in message 
>>>>>>> news:ehFD5O5lEHA.2880@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>>>>>>>> In View>Current View - Check: Show all messages and Group Messages 
>>>>>>>> by conversation.
>>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>>> Bruce Hagen
>>>>>>>>   ~IB-CA~
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> "SafetyMan" <safetyman2010@comcast.net> wrote in message 
>>>>>>>> news:z7r0d.22575$D%.13365@attbi_s51...
>>>>>>>>>I have OE 6.00.2900. Everyday when I check my newsgroup messages 
>>>>>>>>>all the previous day's headers and any downloaded messages are 
>>>>>>>>>deleted and I'll be darned if I can figure out how to get them 
>>>>>>>>>back. I went to the store folder and see that the newsgroup folder 
>>>>>>>>>is large, so the messages have not been deleted. How can I see what 
>>>>>>>>>I downloaded yesterday?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> SafetyMan
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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