Hello,

As many others here, I had to switch to a new newsgroup service when AT&T
stopped providing it.

I started using Astraweb. So far, no complaints other than an annoying
pinging or dinging of the speaker that drives me crazy. The only solution is
to either turn off the sound or close Outlook Express and reopen it.

When I e-mailed Astraweb for "technical" support, they responded by telling
me to use a different reader. The problem is the same even if I use
Thunderbird and or a different computer.

Does anyone here know what this is and how to turn it off? I'm guessing that
it's a setting because it happens with both readers. It doesn't always
happen immediately and sometimes it only pings a few times before it stops,
while other times it continues incessantly.

Please don't confuse my use of the word "ping" here. It's just a ping or a
ding sound. I think that it may have something to do with new newsgroup
postings in a particular group. That may be why it isn't so bad when viewing
groups with fewer postings as opposed to one which has more traffic such as
this one.

Any help in solving this mystery would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in
advance to those who post a reply here.

Peter

Peter Bogiatzidis wrote:
Hello,

As many others here, I had to switch to a new newsgroup service when AT&T
stopped providing it.

I started using Astraweb. So far, no complaints other than an annoying
pinging or dinging of the speaker that drives me crazy. The only solution
is
to either turn off the sound or close Outlook Express and reopen it.

When I e-mailed Astraweb for "technical" support, they responded by
telling
me to use a different reader. The problem is the same even if I use
Thunderbird and or a different computer.

Does anyone here know what this is and how to turn it off? I'm guessing
that
it's a setting because it happens with both readers. It doesn't always
happen immediately and sometimes it only pings a few times before it
stops,
while other times it continues incessantly.

Please don't confuse my use of the word "ping" here. It's just a ping or a
ding sound. I think that it may have something to do with new newsgroup
postings in a particular group. That may be why it isn't so bad when
viewing
groups with fewer postings as opposed to one which has more traffic such
as
this one.

Any help in solving this mystery would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in
advance to those who post a reply here.

A 'ping' usually indicates that some kind of error has
occurred. It could be that a transient condition of
'Too many connections' to the server (error 502) from your
reader is happening if you are opening posts while new
posts/headers are being downloaded at the same time.

The maximum number of simultaneous connections is something
that the service provider sets. Outlook Express doesn't
appear to have a way to set the maximum it will try to use
on its end, so it is what it is from your end. I don't know
about Thunderbird.

How are you using OE when you are reading news? Do you
syncronize all at once or go newsgroup by newsgroup (just
clicking down the list of newsgroups and triggering a sync
for that group each time)? Do you download the full messages
when you sync, or just the new headers?

If you syncronize all at once (select the server in the Folders
panel, then click the 'Synchronize Account' button in the main
panel), you'll get a pop-up window showing the synchronization
task progress. If "Details" is enabled there you might be able
to catch sight of the error message that's occurring.

On 5/06/10 10:56 AM, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
On 5/6/2010 8:56 AM, Peter Bogiatzidis wrote:
Hello,

As many others here, I had to switch to a new newsgroup service when AT&T
stopped providing it.

I started using Astraweb. So far, no complaints other than an annoying
pinging or dinging of the speaker that drives me crazy. The only solution is
to either turn off the sound or close Outlook Express and reopen it.

When I e-mailed Astraweb for "technical" support, they responded by telling
me to use a different reader. The problem is the same even if I use
Thunderbird and or a different computer.


With Thunderbird you can go to Options-General and uncheck "Play
sound when message arrives".

If that doesn't work check your sound settings in the Control Panel,
it could be one of the events there for a new message etc.

--
Froz...


The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.

"Tim Daneliuk" wrote

Personally, I turn off ALL Windows/Linux/Whatever system sound events
on production systems, desktop or server. I have enough stress in my
life without having to listen to machines honking at me all the time.


Exactly, I have a hearing problem so I have to turn everything up to hear.
So when an unexpected sound shows up it scares me half to death. Commercials
on TV play at a much louder volume than program material. Wearing headphones
make the commercial even louder. Which is why I mute or fast forward through
all commercials.

I never have my computer speakers on. If I have to listen to anything, I put
headphones on. Even then, I get zapped now and then by obnoxious sounds.
People who zap us with unwanted sounds should be rounded up and tortured.

On 5/06/10 11:59 AM, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
On 5/6/2010 10:14 AM, FrozenNorth wrote:
On 5/06/10 10:56 AM, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
On 5/6/2010 8:56 AM, Peter Bogiatzidis wrote:
Hello,

As many others here, I had to switch to a new newsgroup service when
AT&T
stopped providing it.

I started using Astraweb. So far, no complaints other than an annoying
pinging or dinging of the speaker that drives me crazy. The only
solution is
to either turn off the sound or close Outlook Express and reopen it.

When I e-mailed Astraweb for "technical" support, they responded by
telling
me to use a different reader. The problem is the same even if I use
Thunderbird and or a different computer.


With Thunderbird you can go to Options-General and uncheck "Play
sound when message arrives".

If that doesn't work check your sound settings in the Control Panel,
it could be one of the events there for a new message etc.


Personally, I turn off ALL Windows/Linux/Whatever system sound events
on production systems, desktop or server. I have enough stress in my
life without having to listen to machines honking at me all the time.

I just mute the speakers most of the time, turn them on if I go to youtube
or some other place where I expect sound. Turning off all the events is
a pain, and you never no when some new program is going to come along
and barf a few more events into the list.

--
Froz...


The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.

On 05/06/2010 11:23 AM, Lee Michaels wrote:
Commercials on TV play at a much louder volume than program material.

WHEN are we going to have a method for dealing with this?! It's probably the one thing that
****es me off the most about watching TV. I know, I know, as soon as the broadcasters take
initiative to offer that capability is the day when advertisers will threaten to withhold
their business. Fine, I don't care about having the ability to detect and thus filter the
presence of a commercial (which, come to think of it, might be possible today by detecting
the BOOSTING of the audio signal... hmmm.), I just don't want them jacking up the damn
volume. What entity is controlling this practice? The networks? The local stations?
Both? Or is the audio output on the commercials themselves higher and the stations are
simply keeping a constant setting on the audio signal?

--
What percentage of the driving populace do you suppose actually
understands the rules of engagement at a four-way stop?
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/

Steve Turner wrote in
:


WHEN are we going to have a method for dealing with this?! It's
probably the one thing that ****es me off the most about watching TV.
I know, I know, as soon as the broadcasters take initiative to offer
that capability is the day when advertisers will threaten to withhold
their business. Fine, I don't care about having the ability to detect
and thus filter the presence of a commercial (which, come to think of
it, might be possible today by detecting the BOOSTING of the audio
signal... hmmm.), I just don't want them jacking up the damn volume.
What entity is controlling this practice? The networks? The local
stations? Both? Or is the audio output on the commercials themselves
higher and the stations are simply keeping a constant setting on the
audio signal?


Well, there is a mute button...

If you have a computer-based DVR, you can use comskip.exe to catch most
of the commercials. One of the methods it can use is audio signal change
detection. It's not 100% (more like 85%) efficient, but no changes to
the underlying file are made so if it marks something incorrectly you can
still backup and watch that part.

Puckdropper
--
Never teach your apprentice everything you know.