Hogwasher

Hogwasher is a Usenet newsreader, which allows filtering articles, viewing threads as a tree, simultaneous downloading from an unlimited number of primary and backup servers as well as decoding binary files automatically, among many other useful features.

Luckily, it also lets you connect through multiple accounts. If this is the first time you use an application like this, you will probably be glad to know that it comes with a detailed PDF that even includes an introduction to Usenet.

When you open the tool for the first time, there is a wizard to help you set up your accounts. At this point, it may be necessary to retrieve a list of available newsgroups and pick the ones you wish to subscribe to. Luckily, if later you find that any of the subscribed groups is no longer of your interest, it is quite easy to delete it. Also, another important step is to configure SMTP to be able to send and receive messages.

Once the initial setup is done, you can choose which newsgroups you want to download articles from. Once the headers have been downloaded, it is possible to sort the messages according to several criteria, such as author, subject and date. Likewise, you can use filters to hide some types of messages. However, it is a pity that setting filters is not as easy as it may be as it implies using a complex set of rules. Fortunately, unlike other similar apps, Hogwasher lets you delete unwanted headers to have a clearer view.

It is also quite convenient that Hogwasher shows discussions in threads, which facilitates navigating and following a given subject. However, it also is possible to view them as a list. The desired articles are easy to select for downloading. There are symbols that let you know the status of the article (awaiting download, download and unread and read). Besides, there are also buttons that allow browsing the articles as well as those intended to perform such actions as replying, forwarding and deleting an article.

Audio, video and image attachments can be saved to the default folder or to a custom folder as well as erased. It is good that the application offers built-in image viewing, supporting various image formats. Similarly, it can automatically reconstruct not only multipart images but videos as well.

To conclude, despite being more expensive, Hogwasher comes with a valuable set of features that make it a better choice than other newsgroup readers. I regret to say that, although the application worked well most of the times, it crashed a couple of times inexplicably. The product can be tried for a limited period of time.