Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail, which you can download from the Windows Live website, is an updated and more fully-featured version of Outlook Express (on Windows XP) and Windows Mail (on Windows Vista).

---

Instructions for Windows Live Mail

If you have problems following the instructions below, please email helpdesk@astro.swin.edu.au. Be sure to describe your problem in detail along with your machine type and its operating system, as well as the name and version of the newsreading software that is causing the problem.

1. Open Windows Live Mail. If this is the first time you've used Windows Live Mail, you will be presented with a wizard to set up a new e-mail account. Cancel this.
   
   In the bottom-left corner of the screen, there will be a list of options like this:

   

   Select Newsgroups and then click Add a newsgroup account.
   
   
2. In the Display name field, enter your name. Click Next.
   
   
3. Now enter your preferred email address in the E-mail address field. For your e-mail address, we recommend your Swinburne email address ([seven-digit student number]@swin.edu.au), especially if you've already set up e-mail forwarding. Click Next.
   
   
4. In the News (NNTP) server field, enter ilearn.swin.edu.au and check the box that says My news server requires me to log on. Click Next.
   
   
5. Now enter your Swinburne student ID as your E-mail username and enter your Swinburne SIMS password in the Password field. Click Next, then click Finish to confirm your account set-up.
   
   
6. Your Blackboard news account should now appear in the left-hand pane (as ilearn.swin.edu.au), so you're now ready to start downloading messages.
   
   
7. A new dialogue will appear, listing all the newsgroups you can subscribe to (there should be eight for each Unit you're enrolled in).

   

   Highlight all of the newsgroups and click Subscribe, then OK.
   
   
8. In the left-hand pane, all the newsgroups you just subscribed to will appear below the name of the newsgroup account. Now right-click each newsgroup title, go into the Synchronization Settings sub-menu and click on All Messages. This will take some time, but will make offline newsreading easier in the future.

   

9. You may now be able to see that a newsgroup you've subscribed to has been updated - this is indicated in the left-hand pane by the newsgroup title being in bold-face. Click on the title of an updated newsgroup to view the messages in the newsgroup. Here, you'll see the titles of all the posted messages. Unread messages are in bold-face.
   
   If none of the newsgroup titles are in bold-face, click on either the Introductions newsgroup or the Test Messages newsgroup.
   
   To read a message, click on it and it will appear in the reading pane at the bottom of the screen. (If you have the reading pane turned off, double-click on a message to read it in a new window.)

   

10. To reply, click the Reply button in the toolbar. If you choose to reply, a new window will open. Type your reply here and, when you're ready to send it, click the Send button in the window's toolbar. The reply message will then appear in both Blackboard's online newsgroup system and in your newsreader. It will also be visible in Windows Live Mail's Sent Items folder.
    
    
11. It is recommended that you change some of the advanced options. Go to the Tools menu (click the icon to the left of the help icon - see the image below) and then click on Options.... Under Send / Receive Messages, change the value for Check for new messages every ___ minute(s) from 30 minutes to 5 minutes or less. Now go to the Read tab and, under News, uncheck the option to get 300 headers at a time.

    

Congratulations. You have now set up Windows Live Mail to work with Blackboard's newsgroups.