Check our Agent Usenet Configuration video.

In Agent choose Tools | Servers and Accounts.

Click the New>> button, then select News Server ... . This will start a "wizard" which will guide you through the setup process.

In the box labeled Step 1: Configure news server enter the following data:

• News Server: news.forteinc.com
• Check the box The server requires a secure connection (SSL).
• For Login method select Login with a simple username and password.
• Enter your username and password that was emailed to you when you signed up for this APN account.
• Click the Test Connection button. Agent will tell you if your information is correct.

Click Next and select your server priority. Generally you'll want this new server to be your highest priority server.

Click Next and review your entries. Click Previous to go back and fix any mistakes. Click Finish to create your new server and exit the wizard.

You can update your server settings at any time. In Agent choose Tools | Servers and Accounts, then highlight your news server in the left column. Make your changes and click OK to save them.

First, you will need to set your NNTP news server as:

news.forteinc.com

Enter your Username and Password information in a case-sensitive format into your newsreader software's authentication section.

If the authentication information is not configured, or is configured incorrectly, you will receive the following errors:

"480 Authentication required" or "502 Authentication failed"

Yes. Agent Usenet backend NNTP systems can connect via an SSL connection on ports 443 and 563. These particular ports were chosen because it is unlikely that an ISP would block, filter, proxy, or otherwise interfere with these ports.

This error occurs for a couple of reasons.

1. Your newsreader is configured for more connections than your Usenet provider allows. Please change your server settings as follows: (These details are for Agent. Your newsreader may differ slightly.)
   
   • Maximum allowed connections: 30
   • Connections reserved for body retrieval tasks: 1
   • Automatically adjust maximum connections: Unchecked
   You'll find these settings at:
      Tools menu >> Servers and Accounts >> select your news server
2. You are running more than one instance of your newsreader using the same Agent Usenet account name. One instance will grab as many connections as it can, leaving none for the other instance. You can either use a second account, not run a second instance with the same account, or set each instance to limit how many connections can be used so that the total for the two instances does not exceed what your service allows.

Forte Agent Usenet is available for sales, support, and accounting issues by e-mail only. Forte provides free email support for all Agent Usenet service plans. Questions are generally answered within one business day, Monday - Friday.

Our contact information can be found by going to the Contact us section of our Website.

Yes. First time customers can take advantage of a free 1 month trial of our service. Sign up for the 20GB tier and your first month is free. If you cancel anytime prior to your first renewal you will not be charged. If you don't cancel, your account will renew, with billing, at the beginning of the second month and continue monthly until you cancel your account. This offer is available once per customer.

Forte does not provide refunds for our Agent Usenet service. We offer a free first month trial. All other accounts are non-refundable.

No. Each of these host names points to the same server. We recommend that you use new.forteinc.com but all server names work. The numbered servers exist and are supported for historical reasons only. There also is no difference between newsaccount.forteinc.com and newsaccount<20,40,60,80>.forteinc.com. They all take you to the account manager. Again, we recommend that you use newsaccount.forteinc.com.

Yes. Our servers carry the groups listed here.

Our retention increases day by day. Check out the Agent Usenet page for the latest numbers.

Yes. Our systems can connect via an SSL connection on ports 443 and 563. In Agent select Tools | Servers and Accounts | News Servers | your USenet Server and then check the The server requires a secure connection. box. This will automatically use port 563 by default. To change the port, select Advanced Settings, check Use non-standard port and enter port 443.

Header downloads for large newsgroups can be time consuming and expensive. Many service providers, including Agent Usenet, now offer headers in a compressed format, resulting in downloads up to ten time faster than with the older non-compressed format. Agent Usenet offers header downloads in both compressed and non-compressed formats, available since Agent 6.0. Compression is enabled by default, but if you do want to disable the function, in Agent select Tools | Servers and Accounts | News Server | your server, then press the Advanced Settings button and uncheck the option Request compressed headers from server.

No. All left over quota balances are reset to zero when the account renews each billing period. No quota is rolled over onto the new monthly period.

Agent Usenet servers allow each user to access up to 30 connections concurrently.

Yes. On a measured service plan, message headers do count against your quota. The unlimited service, however, does not have any quota, so you are not charged for headers.

It is our goal to keep your personal information as private as possible. Our news servers remove the X-TRACE header, thereby removing where you posted from. All that other users get to see is which server you posted to. We do not monitor what you download. We only monitor how much you download in accordance with your chosen account. Please understand that we only see byte data and nothing else. This ensures that you are free to download what you want.

Forte has entered into an agreement with Easynews for Agent Usenet services. As part of the agreement, Easynews is required to provide specific service levels, higher retention and completion rates, and discounted pricing. In addition, Forte has established direct access to the provider's support organization and senior management to ensure that Forte customers receive the best service possible, and that any abuse issues (see our abuse policy in this FAQ) are handled immediately.

You can view our Terms of Service here.

The Account Manager is a simple Web interface that allows you to log in and view or change your account options. Using your Agent Usenet username and password (which is also your Account Manager username and password), you can change the following list of account details.

NNTP Password

Email Address

Billing Name

Billing Address

Credit Card Number

Credit Card Expiration

*Note: You cannot change your Agent Usenet username.

If you are using the Agent Usenet measured service, you can tell the system whether or not to notify you if you are at or near quota. "Notify if near limit" will send you an email warning if you've used up 80% of your quota for the time period. "Notify if over limit" will send you a message indicating that you have used up your quota for this time period.

You can also select to turn on Email notifications on renewal. If it is turned on, you will receive an email notification each time your credit card is charged for a monthly or quota renewal. If it is turned off, you will not receive an email notification. In addition, you can change your level of service (20GB, 45GB, etc.) or cancel your service from the Account Manager.

When in the Account Manager, simply enter the new information in the proper field and click on 'Submit' at the bottom of the page.

You can change your password by going to theAccount Manager. Once you login to the Account Manager with your current username and password, you will see the "Change Password" and "Confirm Password" fields. You enter the new password in these fields, then click on 'Submit' at the bottom of the page.

You will need to login to the Account Manager. You can reinstate your account early from the "Renewal" page. Please note that if you do renew your account early, your renewal date will be changed to match the date you renew early. For example, if you normally renew on the 25th of each month, and you renew early on the 10th, your renewal date will change to the 10th from that point on, provided you don't renew early again.

From the "Renewal" page, you will have two options to renew your account early:

1 - "Monthly/Quota" - this will renew your account automatically once you reach your monthly quota. If you do not reach your quota, your download totals will reset normally on your monthly renewal date.

*NOTE* - This option will cause your account to renew each time you reach your quota, no matter how many times it happens during a calendar month. Your monthly renewal date will be changed each time to match the date you renewed early.

2 - "Quota Next Time Only" - this will renew your account automatically once you reach your monthly quota.

*NOTE* - This option will renew your account early one time only (it will not repeatedly renew each time you reach your quota as option 1 above does). Your renewal date will also be changed with this option to the date you renewed early. If you do not reach your quota, your account will still be renewed at the end of the monthly cycle.

Choosing a renewal type of Cancel will cancel your account as of the end of your current billing period.

You can also turn on Email notification on renewal from the main account manager page. This can be set to either on or off. If it is turned on, you will receive an email notification each time your Credit Card is charged for a Monthly or Quota renewal. If it is turned off, you will not receive an email notification.

You will need to login to the Account Manager. You can change your account type from the "Renewal" menu. Please note that any changes you make will occur on the next renewal, which occurs when you hit quota or hit your monthly renewal, depending on your renewal type.

When you sign up for an Agent Usenet measured account, your account is configured to renew monthly, on the date of purchase. This is an automatic process that occurs between 9am and 10am Pacific Time on the day of your renewal. When it renews you will be charged at your chosen renewal tier rate and your account will renew at that tier.

If you change your monthly quota in the Account Manager, this change will not take affect until the next renewal.

When you reach your download limit, your account will become inactive. When this occurs, you have several options available to you.

You will need to login to the Account Manager.

You can renew your account early from the "Renewal" menu. Please note that if you do renew your account early, your renewal date will be changed to match the date you renew early. For example, if you normally renew on the 25th of each month, and you renew early on the 10th, your renewal date will change to the 10th from that point on, provided you don't renew early again.

From the "Renewal" menu, you will have two options to renew your account early:

1 - "Monthly/Quota" - this will renew your account automatically once you reach your monthly quota. If you do not reach your quota, your download totals will reset normally on your monthly renewal date.

*NOTE* - This option will cause your account to renew each time you reach your quota, no matter how many times it happens during a calendar month. Your monthly renewal date will be changed each time to match the date you renewed early.

2 - "Quota Next Time Only" - this will renew your account automatically once you reach your monthly quota.

*NOTE* - This option will renew your account early one time only (it will not repeatedly renew each time you reach your quota as option 1 above does). Your renewal date will also be changed with this option to the date you renewed early. If you do not reach your quota, your account will still be renewed at the end of the monthly cycle. All accounts renew on a monthly cycle, we have no purely quota only accounts.

You can select to turn on Email notification on renewal. If it is turned on, you will receive an email notification each time your Credit Card is charged for a Monthly or Quota renewal. If it is turned off, you will not receive an email notification.

Choosing a renewal type of Cancel will cancel your account as of the end of your current billing period.

You will need to log into the Account Manager. Log in with your Agent Usenet username and password, enter the new credit card information and click on "Submit". If your account has been disabled because your account could not be billed on the previous credit card information, you will need to reinstate your account. To do this go to the Renewal page and select the renewal type you would like, then reinstate your account.

The Agent Usenet order page accepts MasterCard, Visa, and American Express. We do not accept the Discover card. We do accept Visa Check cards, but cannot process debit cards that use a PIN.

You can obtain your password by going to our Password Reset Form web page. We will send a new password to the email address we have on file for you.

If you need your username as well, you can obtain this information by going to our Contact Us web page and providing us with at least two of the following items of information:

Billing Name

Email Address

Username

Password

You may elect to turn on email notification on renewal. If it is turned on, you will receive an email notification each time your credit card is charged for a monthly renewal. If it is turned off, you will not receive an email notification.

To set email notification, go to the Account Manager, select "Yes" on the "Notify on renewal" option, then click on 'Submit' at the bottom of the page.

Click the "Logout" link at the top of any page in the Account Manager.

You can cancel your account by going to the Account Manager with your Agent Usenet username and password. Once you have logged in, click on "Renewal", select "Cancel" as your renewal option, then click on "Submit". This will cancel your account at the end of your current paid billing cycle.

Abuse of the system includes, but is not limited to, spamming, newsgroup flooding, unauthorized posting of copyrighted material, and downloading more than your account limit during any calendar month. The level of service that you sign up for determines your account limit. Abuse of the system may result in action being taken against your account. See our Terms of Subscription for details.

Please send an email to abuse@forteinc.com. We handle all abuse inquiries via email.

We do not allow or tolerate child pornography on our servers. When made aware of child pornography content we will contact our provider to remove any such material. In addition, our provider will report such material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We reserve the right to take any other actions, including cooperation with law enforcement, to assist in identifying and prosecuting individuals responsible for posting or otherwise transmitting child pornography using our servers.

To report any child pornography that is posted to our servers, please send the Message-IDs of the posts to abuse@forteinc.com. The Message-ID is necessary for our provider to easily locate and remove the material and to identify the material to NCMEC. Every Usenet post has a unique Message-ID, contained in the message header.

If you have any questions about our policy, please direct them to abuse@forteinc.com.

You can view our Copyright Policy here.

If it has taken more than an hour from your posting time for it to show up, please contact us.

In order to properly investigate the problem we will need the email address you used on the post, and any other identifying information such as the Subject line and the newsgroups to which you posted.

You may be posting to a moderated newsgroup. Moderated newsgroups require consent of the moderator for all posts to the group.

You may test our posting service by posting to a test group such as misc.test or alt.test.

It may be that your post has been caught in our post filters. If this is the case, please contact us and our Tech Support Dept. will give you instructions on how to proceed.

When you post messages to Agent Usenet we do not include any of your personal identifying information.

However, your posting software, such as Agent, may include some of your personal information, depending on how you have configured the software. The following information may be included in your post's headers:

• Your name (as listed in your news reader)
• Your e-mail address (as listed in your news reader)
• Your organization's name (as listed in your news reader)
• Your reply to address (as listed in your news reader)

Usenet headers also typically include:

• The time you posted your message (in conjunction with GMT offset)
• The newsgroup(s) that your message was posted to (if there were more than one)
• The assigned message-ID
• The news reader application that posted the message (your news reader)
• The Usenet host through which you posted the message

The IP address from which your posts originate is not included when you post directly through Agent Usenet.

To request a newsgroup to be added to our servers, please contact us and let us know the newsgroup you would like to add. We will work with our provider to make this group available.

WINSOCK errors are WINdows SOCKet errors - meaning Windows is having Internet connectivity errors. The most common errors are 10054, 10060, and 10061.

10054 is "Connection reset by peer" - this usually means that your connection was terminated - either by your machine or by another machine on the Internet route between you and our servers.

10060 is "Connection timed out" - this means that Windows did not receive a response back from our servers within a given timeframe.

10061 is "Connection refused" - this usually means one of two things - either something is blocking you from connecting to the server or we are having server difficulties.

If you're using any routers, firewalls, or virus protection software, check to make sure that Agent has permission to use the network. This is the most common reason why the above 3 errors occur. If you are receiving a WINSOCK error other than the above, you are most likely having problems because of issues with your ISP or with your local network.

A "502 invalid username or password" error can be caused by any of several things:

1. You may have entered your username and/or password incorrectly. Usernames and passwords are case-sensitive. Also a leading or trailing space in the username or password will cause the value to be invalid.
2. Your account may have been disabled due to a billing problem or you may have reached your quota for the billing period. Please check the Account Manager for additional information regarding your billing status.
3. If you are a new subscriber (you just completed the sign up process), you may have to wait for up to 30 minutes for your account to be activated on the system.

If you are not a new subscriber and you have verified the above information and are still receiving the error, please contact us

Please include the following information:

• Billing Name
• Username
• E-mail address as listed on the account

It could be that your newsreader is aggressively opening new connections to the server, so fast that the connections are not able to time out prior to the next attempt to open a new one. In cases like this an authentication error occurs when more than the maximum number of connections are opened to the server. If you receive this 'Too many connections' error, please close your newsreader for 5 minutes so the connections can time out, after which you should be able to login normally. Also, if you can reduce the number of connections that the newsreader opens to the maximum number available, this should prevent the problem from occurring in the future.