Search engines get all the press, trying to outdo each other at tracking down absolutely every Web site dedicated to the study of early 20^th century Hungarian cinema or the mating rituals of Amazonian tree slugs. Even if these search sites could index every single Web page, they might still set you barking up the wrong tree. When it comes to arcane or highly specific material, you might have better luck searching Usenet -- the ownerless, amorphous, ever-expanding collection of ad hoc newsgroups that proliferates daily across the Internet. Some newsgroups are maintained by companies offering tech support (for example, any group name that has a moniker such as microsoft.public.access is hosted by Microsoft), but most of the Usenet forums out there are run by devoted enthusiasts.

The problem with Usenet is its size. There are thousands of groups, and each may contain thousands of messages at any given time. Even if you're an expert with your newsreader (Microsoft's Outlook Express and Forte's Free Agent or Agent programs are my personal favourites), you can easily waste hours scanning the Usenet universe in vain for an explanation of the correct use of the Mixolydian mode in ancient Greek music.

Fortunately, several search sites let you focus exclusively on news messages. The best is Deja.com, which not only archives and indexes Usenet and other newsgroups (see FIGURE 1), but lets you post your own news messages as well. Originally called Dejanews, Deja.com has tried to down play its close connection to Usenet, but that remains the site's strength. To start searching, simply type what you're looking for into the Quick Search window in the upper right-hand part of the screen. If the search engine returns too many matches, try adding more specifics to the search string; if you get too few matches, broaden the search by reducing the number of required terms. Use the Power Search link if you want to narrow your search to certain newsgroup categories (jobs, for sale, or adult, for example), specific groups, time periods, or message authors.

Deja.com provides another handy free service, too. When you post messages to a newsgroup, you invite spam. Though you can take steps to hide your real e-mail address from spammers, such action makes it harder for other Usenet denizens to respond to your postings. By registering with Deja's My Deja service, you receive a spam-free address (something like myname@mydeja.com) that appears in your postings. Deja.com screens your incoming mail for postings and notifies you at your real e-mail address of new messages of probable interest to you. This service is free (ad-supported, that is). The only information you need supply is a valid e-mail address and your zip code. Deja.com also will provide you with full-blown ad-free news server accounts for $US10 a month -- you should consider one of these if your ISP's news server is overloaded, carries too few newsgroups, or expires messages faster than you can download them.

Deja.com hasn't cornered the news market, however. Another search site, RemarQ (www.remarq.com), offers practically the same free searches and pay services that Deja.com does. It even calls its personalisation service MyRemarQ.

Many Web search engines give you the option of searching newsgroups instead of or in addition to the Web (usually by borrowing the service from Deja.com or RemarQ). AltaVista (www.altavista.com) allows you to find search results in News rather than via the Web, but you'll most likely do better if you choose their Discussion Groups (AltaVista's euphemism for newsgroups) instead. The news option only looks for your search terms among the day's current wire stories.

Scott Spanbauer