I've annoyed myself because though I have subscribed to alt.computer as
recommended here, I cannot see the list of the posts in the "Thread
pane" so cannot read the posts.

I'm sure that happened to me before, and was due to some obscure setting
that makes each item in the list zero pixels high, or something. That
time, I found the cure and applied it successfully but cannot now
remember (creeping senescence) or retrieve what that cure was...

Can anyone give me a nudge, please?

Mike.