The Retrieve group list on Connect option determines whether WinVN queries the news server for newly-created newsgroups. Checking for new newsgroups also allows WinVN to determine which groups have received new articles since the last WinVN session. The Yes and No options are self-explanatory; Ask means that WinVN will ask the user whether to check for new groups every time it starts up. The Yes option is recommended for Ethernet-attached PCs. Checking for new groups can take a very long time on serially-attached PCs, so people using SLIP connections usually set this feature to No. If you select Yes a menu similar to the one below will popup when new newsgroups are created by the network. See Subscribing to newsgroups.
If Use shift/control-selections is checked, you can select groups from the group-list using the standard windows paradigm. Clicking on one group will select that group and deselect all others. Control-clicking on a group will select that group, without deselecting any already selected. Shift-clicking will select all groups between the last group selected (the “anchor”) and the group clicked on.
If not checked, you select groups simply by clicking on them. To deselect a group, click on it again. You can drag select/deselect by clicking on a group and dragging over other groups.
The option Show Unsubscribed Groups displays all groups in the Newsgroup List, starting with Subscribed groups and then displaying all Unsubscribed Groups in sorted order. This option is useful when probing the network for the existence of groups that are possible candidates for including on a subscribed list.