Mozilla Thunderbird Setup Guide

This guide will walk you through setting up Mozilla Thunderbird to work with Giganews servers. If you haven't already signed up for Usenet access then definitely give Giganews a try. They offer 585 days binary retention, SSL encryption and servers in the US, Europe and Hong Kong. Sign up for the Giganews 14 day free trial and start downloading in minutes.

Download Thunderbird

Visit the Thunderbird homepage to download the latest version of the newsreader client.

Install Thunderbird

Follow these screenshots to guide you through the installation.

Figure 1 - Thunderbird Import Wizard


Assuming you just want to use Thunderbird as a newsreader you can choose "Don't import anything".

Figure 2 - Thunderbird New Account Setup


Select "Newsgroup account" as shown above.

Figure 3 -Thunderbird Identity


Enter the name and email address to be connected with this account.

Figure 4 -Thunderbird Server Information


Enter news.giganews.com into the newsgroup server field.

Figure 5 -Thunderbird Account Name


Enter anything you want for the account name.

Figure 6 -Thunderbird Account Review


Review the information and click Finish.

Configure Thunderbird for Giganews

Once Thunderbird loads you will want to click on Manage newsgroup descriptions:

Figure 7 -Thunderbird Menu


Figure 8 -Thunderbird Username


Enter your username (provided in email from Giganews)

Figure 9 -Thunderbird Password


Enter your password (provided in email from Giganews)

After returning to the main Thunderbird you want to click on "View settings for this account".

Figure 10 -Thunderbird Password


Figure 10 -Thunderbird Password


The account settings screen includes everything you need to finish setting up Thunderbird.
- First click on Server Settings to the left.
- Server Name: news.giganews.com
- Port: 119 (non-secure) or 563 (secure)
- Check "Use secure connection (SSL)" for secure access.

Thunderbird is now configured for Giganews. Enjoy!