Re: Looking for USENET client recommendations for Windows

On Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:14:28 +1100, Mad Hamish
<newsunspammelaws@iinet.unspamme.net.au> wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:27:52 -0800, Paul S Person
<psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:07:41 -0000 (UTC), Bice Eichler
<eichler2@comcast.net> wrote:
>

Sadly, after using Forte Free Agent for decades, the software has stopped
working on my Windows 10 computer.  I installed a bluetooth driver for
some new speakers I had bought, and that somehow killed Agent.  I tried
reinstalling it and even getting the latest version I could find online
(ver. 8) and it still won't install or run.

>
Have you tried asking in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent ?
>
It has been very helpful to me and to others, and has dealt with the
key problem in the past.
>
Whether Forte is dead or not is an open question, apparently.

>
Their website has disappeared along with their commercial  newsserver
service so it looks like it

What I get when I check for updates is:

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

which may mean that something has gone wrong with their server's
connection. If it didn't exist, I would expect a DNS error stating
"server not found" or something similar.

IIRC, the thought is that they are still there; indeed, some
subscribers to their paid premium Usenet service report that monthly
billing has resumed (access to the service never dropped but, of
course, that could be being provided by someone else). And a while
back (maybe a year ago now) the web site actually came up for a day or
two. But it does appear that whoever owns it is not paying a whole lot
of attention to it.

And, as I said, a way to handle the "no key" problem can be found on
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent , at least in some cases. Which
the OP may need in 30 days.

OTOH, unless it is updated, sometime in 2033 its internal clock will
run out and things will look really weird. Think "Y2K" all over again.
So switching now might not be an entirely bad idea.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"