As of version 1.23, NewsCoaster comes with support for multiple users. Even as a single user, you can now choose where you want to store news messages on your hard disk, and have password protection to protect from prying eyes! Note that this is not a secure system - the messages are still sitting on your hard disk for anyone to have a look. But it does help protect against a casual browser.
If you followed the instructions under Configuration, you will have set yourself up as a single user, with news items being stored in 'PROGDIR:' (the NewsCoaster directory) - unless you specified elsewhere - and optional password protection. As the first user, you also have 'Supervisor' priveliges. This means you can view the users that have been set up, and add and delete more users. To do this, select 'Users' from the 'Preferences' menu. You will see the users that have been set up, along with where their news messages are being stored, whether their login is password protected (but you don't see the password!) and whether they are a supervisor. At the moment, only you will be listed here.
To add a user, select 'Add New User' and enter in a username, password if required, and location to store news, just like before. Things to note:
- The user name must be unique
- The location to store news must be unique
You will be notified if this isn't so. For location of news, it would be suggested you create a news directory somewhere, eg, 'DH0:work/news', and then have a directory for each user, eg, 'DH0:work/news/mark'. (Note that if you specify a folder which doesn't exists, then the folder will be created, if possible). If you tick the 'Copy Prefs' box, then your preference settings (Account settings, but not .sigs, killfiles or newsgroups setup) will be copied across to the new user. If you wish the new user to be a superviser also, then tick the box. Supervisors can add and delete users, and view users on the system.
To delete a user, simply select the users, and press 'Delete User'. You will be asked for confirmation, and also whether you wish the preference data to be deleted. Note that you cannot delete yourself (that is, the current login cannot be deleted, you must login as someone else first).
Any user can change his password. Select 'Change Password' from the 'Preferences' menu. You can turn the password protection on or off, and if on, specify your new password, then click 'Okay'. If you decide you want to keep your old one after all, click 'Cancel'.
If you forget your password and are unable to log into NewsCoaster, note that deleting the '.users' file in the NewsCoaster folder will clear details about the users (but not any preference settings), so when you start NewsCoaster you will be asked to enter in user details as if this was the first time you are running it. You will then have to reset up the user information (selecting the directories where each user has stored his news).