RSS feeds

[wendyl]

A few weeks ago I wanted to be able to download RSS feeds and was advised that I should download .NET At the time I had some difficulties in actually getting newsfeeds via RSS or XML actually into my newsreader
Today I decided to make new effort to sort it out. it was whilst doing this i found the reference to ASP.Net.
Yesterday I subscribed to a thread about ASP.NET user account.which is apparently the reason the windows welcome screen now appears every time I start up.

Suggestions on how to stop this have included deleting the ASP.net account and TeakUI or running 'controluserpasswords2' (that did not work) TweakUI works for one start up only and I was a bit doubtful about removing the user account

I would like advice please as to whether I actually need .NET (a microsoft thing) bearing in mind I am using Firefox.
I am currently slowly reading through my instructions for adding feeds to the newsreader in the hope of succeeding in this too

Any help would be appreciated

wendyl

[fo3nix]

I don't understand why you were advised to download .net; it's nothing really to do with rss at all.

You can either use the built-in feed reader system in firefox (or available as an extension), or get a separate program that reads and updates feeds, or try some online service like bloglines:

http://www.bloglines.com

I use the latter, and it works pretty well. And you don't have to install anything!

[wendyl]

fo3nix thanks for coming to the rescue again
below is the instruction which advised .NET. I have uninstalled it and hoped it would also get rid of the windows 'welcome' screen which means 'switching on' twice as I see it! If you have a solution to that I'd welcome it
I have searched firefox for the built in system for RSS which takes to me to Whizz which is the reader I had installed and am having problems with (perhaps its a me thing) Anyway I am now following up your suggested link which at first glance look straightforward
Thanks

'Choosing a suitable RSS Reader
With so many freeware RSS Readers available today, choosing which aggregator to use is a matter of personal preference.

That being said, most (but not all) Windows-based freeware RSS Readers require a compulsory software "plugin" from Microsoft, dubbed the ".NET Framework". In a nutshell, .NET defines a basic set of instructions utilized by countless Internet-based applications (including RSS Readers). For this reason, you are encouraged to download .NET Framework, even though it is significant in size.'
???

[fo3nix]

.net is just some system Microsoft created beacuse they couldn't control Java. It's just a framework that makes creating programs on Windows easier, basically. Any program that uses it has to be run with the .net framework installed though. It so happens that some of the feed readers that are separate pieces of software were created with .net, so you may need it for certain software to run. But itself isn't really much to do with rss feeds.

You have three options really if you want to start using feeds:
- get a separate program to grab the feeds for you, and run that when you want to check your feeds. like using outlook for email.
- use the extensions, such as the one you say, in firefox. means you have to run one program less to check your feeds, since it runs as part of firefox
- use a free online tool like Bloglines or Google's Reader. Personally I like Bloglines best; Reader seems pretty good, but it does some annoying things imho. You can just open another tab in firefox to check your feeds with, and of course your feeds are available anywhere in the world; much akin to using hotmail for email

Examples of separate software:
http://www.feedreader.com/
http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?Prod ID=FeedDemon

These are of course windows software. Perhaps the best for Mac OSX is NetNewsWire.

Again, I like the bloglines approach, as it allows me to check my feeds from wherever; useful if I'm at uni at the time.

As regards the welcome screen and all that stuff, I'm really not sure what to suggest sorry.