Searching Groups

You can find some of the more interesting information on the Internet in newsgroups or groups, electronic forums where people post messages and comments on topics of mutual interest. To access them you need a software program called a newsreader that keeps track of the newsgroups you have subscribed to. Most web browsers, including Internet Explorer and Firefox have built-in newsreader programs. Some groups are now Web-based, which means that all you need to access them is your web browser.

To participate in a group you must first subscribe to it. One way to start is to review a complete list of newsgroups available to you from your Internet service provider (ISP). But since there are tens of thousands of newsgroups, this is a very time-consuming process. (Note that not all ISPs carry all newsgroups.)

A more efficient way is to search for newsgroups using some of the same search tools you use to search for websites, such as Yahoo! and AOL.com. Another good service search tool is Google Groups, which lets you quickly search archives of newsgroup postings.

Last update: Jan 11, 2010