NewsHunter3 Maintenance
NewsHunter3 can exhibit degraded performance when launching, quitting, opening large files, and at other times. These types of degradation and how to deal with them are described in this article.
Quick Tips
- If you are using Select All on very long overviews, use the click, SHIFT+click technique instead.
- If you are selecting all the articles and clicking the "Read" button to mark them as read, use the "Catch Up" button instead.
- If NewsHunter3 is opening a large article, you will have to wait.
- Using the File->Clear Spool Folder is NOT a substitute for the "Catch Up" button.
- Using the File->Save a Checkpoint is NOT a substitute for the "Catch Up" button.
SUGGESTED: If you are subscribing to a very active newsgroup for the first time, use the "Catch Up" button immediately after you subscribe to the newsgroup, then wait a few hours for new articles to arrive on the server. This will help you avoid downloading huge XOVER files after your initial subscription which can contain many expired articles.
REMEMBER: Once NewsHunter3 begins processing the Overview, you do not have to wait for the whole thing to load. You can immediately begin typing in the Search String field to locate the articles you want. You can also click on articles already listed and NewsHunter3 will load the article from the spool folder or, if connected, will download the article from the news server.
Why is this Happening to Me?
The main reason is because the "Catch Up" button is not being used. Another reason is the way NewsHunter3 is designed to work. Because NewsHunter3 supports offline reading, it has to be able to keep a copy on your local hard drive of what it finds on your news server. This allows one to download a favorite newsgroup before going to a location where access to the internet is not provided. But it also means that NewsHunter3 needs to keep track of more information. If you never use the "Catch Up" button, performance can degrade. If one then considers that NewsHunter3 does this for each server listed in the Server List window, it is easy to arrive at a point where NewsHunter3 is trying to keep track of huge amounts of irrelevant information. To improve performance in the future, please be sure to use the "Catch Up" button regularly.
Older Computers
NewsHunter3 will run more slowly on older computers but it will rarely if ever lock up your computer. If you have an older computer, it may take NewsHunter3 time to complete some tasks, but it will eventually finish them. You can improve performance by implementing some of the techniques described below and by using the "Catch Up" button regularly.
When to Use the "Catch Up" Button
Marking articles as having been read, doesn't make those articles disappear. NewsHunter3 still has to keep track of them in the event that you change you mind one day and mark them as "Unread". If a newsgroup is very active, as many binary groups are, NewsHunter3 can end up keeping track of a very large number of articles that will never be needed again. This can slow things down. Using the "Catch Up" button clears out all the old detritus and tells NewsHunter to start spooling with the last article in the newsgroup.
NewsHunter3 will keep every single article in a spool folder and Newshunter3 will also keep track of every single article you have ever read in every newsgroup to which you subscribe. If you never use the "Catch Up" button, it is possible to have hundreds or thousands of articles in the spool folder as well as an equal number of entries in the ReadArticles_Folder files. Eventually this will cause long delays during program launch, when selecting "Save a Checkpoint" from the file menu, and when quitting NewsHunter3. The "Catch Up" button should be used regularly to recover disk space and to improve performance.
Deleting Files from the Preferences Folder to Increase Performance
If you have never used the Catch Up button, you may notice that NewsHunter3's performance degrades over time. Then, one day it becomes intolerable. It may get to the point that even launching NewsHunter3 "takes forever." If this has happened to you, there are files in the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder that you can trash. To avoid this type of problem, remember to use the "Catch Up" button regularly.
IMPORTANT: Quit NewsHunter3 before modifying or deleting files from the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder.
IMPORTANT: Read this entire article before you do anything.
The NewsHunter3_Preferences Folder
If you use NewsHunter3 regularly, you may want to add the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder to the Sidebar of your Finder windows or to the Dock. To locate the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder do this:
- open a Finder window
- navigate to your Home directory
- open the Library folder
- open the Preferences folder
- open the NewsHunter3_Preferences
- drag the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder to the Dock or to the Sidebar of your Finder window
Step 1: Delete the ReadArticles File
Each server will have file named after itself in this folder. This is the file that NewsHunter3 uses to keep track of all the articles you have read since the last "Catch Up" was performed. If you have never done a "Catch Up", this file can have many entries. You can delete all of these files or only files associated with certain servers. To improve performance, do this:
- open the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder
- open the ReadArticles_Folder
- drag the file or files to the Trash
- empty the trash
Step 2: Delete the XOVER File
Each server you have in the Server List window will have a folder in the XOVER_Files folder. Inside this folder, you will find a file for each newsgroup. This file is the XOVER, or Overview file, for that newsgroup and it contains information for each article such as author, article number, and article length. This file is appended to each time you click the "More" button or select "Get More Articles" from the Articles menu. If you never use the "Catch Up" button this file can easily grow to hundreds of megabytes. To improve performance in the future, remember to use the "Catch Up" button regularly. You can also delete the files using the Finder. Do this:
- open the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder
- open the XOVER_Files folder
+ you will see a folder for each server
- drag these folders to the Trash
! you can also go into each server folder and delete the XOVER files for individual newsgroups
- empty the Trash
Step 3: Delete the ArticleSpool_Folder
Each newsgroup on each server will have a spool folder. This is where NewsHunter3 stores each article. Each article is named after the article number given to it by the news server. If you never use the "Catch Up" button, the number of files in the spool folders can become very large. To improve performance in the future, use the "Catch Up" regularly. You can also delete the files using the Finder. Do this:
- open the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder
- open the ArticleSpool_Folder folder
+ you will see a folder for each server
- drag these folders to the Trash
! you can also go into each server folder and delete the spool folder for individual newsgroups
! you can also go into each newsgroup folder and delete individual articles
- empty the Trash
Step 4: Launch NewsHunter3
Once you have deleted these files from the NewsHunter3_Preferences folder, you should be able to launch NewsHunter3 and enjoy dramatically improved performance. However, it is always better to use the "Catch Up" button regularly so as to avoid performance bottlenecks in the future.
That's Too Much Work. Can I Just Start All Over?
Yes. If the above technique is too much work, you can simply drag the entire NewsHunter3_Preferences folder to the Trash. If you do this, be sure to have your username and registration key handy as well as your news server information. Be aware that doing this will return NewsHunter3 to the state it was when you first installed it. And in the future, remember to use the "Catch Up" button regularly.
