Right on. Agent is worth the registration. However, Forrest is right in saying that new users may get lost. Can someone recommend a third party book on how to use Agent?

Well, if they can release Agent 1.0 is this lifetime, maybe there will be a book. But what's the point of releasing a book on a software that is beta meaning that your will will be missing information with the next beta of fill release.

A couple of years ago there was a presentation by Pattie Maes at the MIT Media Lab about her work on Agents. Her group was looking into agents for filtering/priortizing mail, filtering usernet news, and agents for alerting a user to good books. The best source for finding books on the net that I know about is http://www.amazon.net but a search there didn't turn anything up except hundreds of books with the word Agent in them (a lot of spy novels!). So I sent an email to the folks at Agent asking them if they knew of any books.

Correction: that book site is http://www.amazon.com

Huh Terry? I think you're talking about something else here... I don't think there was an Agent a couple of years ago... Is this section dedicated to Agent from Forte (or maybe FreeAgent too).

Well, I got this today: I would like to point out that the review posted on your site (I believe it was taken from Stroud's review) is a little bit outdated. The lack of Kill Lists are mentioned in the "Cons" section, however I just wanted to be sure that you were aware that Kill/Watch Filters have been added to Agent, in the current version, .99e. The next release of Agent .99, .99f, will include MIME support and the ability to read and write newsrc files. This version is currently in beta. Regarding books which include information on Agent and Free Agent, we keep a listing of such publications on the Preferred Publishers List on our Web site. This Publishers List is located at . I hope that this information is helpful! Thank you for your support of the Agent products. Sincerely, Julie Murdoch Agent Marketing 619.431.6448 Thanks Julie!

Agent 0.99f will also include the much awaited cross-post management feature. There was a post from forte in alt.newsreaders.agent (can't remember the exact name) which described where they were in the Agent 0.99f development. Release is planned before end of August.

Agent 0.99g is great. I use it both at work and home. Incredible value. /gunnar

Forrest's latest review of the number one downloaded app on his site. Agent -- Agent, Forte's industrial-strength commercial newsreader, is several steps above and beyond its freeware sibling, Free Agent. Agent retains Free Agent's unique interface and extensive collection of features as well as its recently added speed infusion. As with Free Agent, there are so many options and features in this newsreader that new users may get lost. Standard features include offline/online newsreading, multithreading, thread watching, thread ignoring, mark for later retrieval, database co pression and purging, quick find, send mail, word wrap, automatic 'catch up', customizable font colors and screen sizes, and a whole lot more. This, however, is the point where the similarities between the two products end and the real fun for power users begins. Perhaps its strongest feature is the implementation of a multilingual spelling checker -- for many news junkies (like myself) this alone is reason enough to fork over the registration fee. An American English dictionary comes preloaded with Agent; International English, Italian, Spanish, German, and French dictionaries are also freely available from the Forte FTP site. Enhanced e-mail functionality (including mail receival capabilities), a much-needed status bar (progress indicator), MIME support, cross-p st management, advanced sorting (on five different keys) and filtering, kill/watch lists, right mouse button functionaliy, multilinqual support (for the entire program), user-defined folders, single-key navigation, a native 32-bit release, auto-launching for URLs (full hypertext support), and import/export newsrc files are additional features that have been recently added to help further distance this consummate newsreader from the competition. The latest release of Agent, v1.5, rounds out an already stacked feature-set with MAPI support, news filtering, global message searching capabilities, spam detection and prevention tools, mail and news secure login capabilities, and customizable toolbar capabilities. With the best newsreading features available on the 'net, it will probably come as a shocking surprise that Agent is so attractively priced. For $40 you can have the shrink-wrapped version mailed to you, or better yet, you can order Agent ove the 'net for only $29. Purchasing the product also entitles you to three months of free support and free interim upgrades. Without a doubt Agent, like Netscape and WinZip, is an absolute, must-have 'net app, and at less than $50, even I can afford it! Pros: Tons of features, easy customization, extensive on-line help available Cons: Lacks advanced features in Outlook Express and Netscape Messenger

So, to sum it up, this is the killer newsreader app. But to me, an "agent" implies something that will multitask in several areas on the web. I wish it were in a more narrowly defined app category like news agent or something.

I love Agent. Forget about the name. Would you name a great email program Eudora? Anyway, it is a great program and I would not bother with any other.

How do you use Agent?

Do you mean in ways I'd admit to my son? There are disasters, disasters: aviation, California Earthquake, Ham radio and other topics I use for posting information on Spring. It is usually verifiable if I dig deeply enough. I almost always do that before posting. If I cannot, I note that, as well. It is also a good place to check out a piece of expensive equipment - like a digital camera - before you decide which one to buy.