What about using NewsProxy/Nfilter for MS Windows?

NewsProxy or Nfilter is a filtering program that acts as a proxy, standing between your news server and newsreader. It filters newsgroup headers coming from your news server before the posts are downloaded by your newsreader. NewsProxy/Nfilter is a freeware program that is no longer supported by its author, but it may be distributed freely. An executable installer, less that 700 kilobytes in size in ZIP format, can be downloaded from the Rusty Iron web site by clicking here.

The advantage of NewsProxy/Nfilter is that it allows one to filter for any newsgroup header or combination of headers. Although trolls may constantly change their user IDs and email addresses, other headers, such as their IP addresses, are not so easy to change. NewsProxy/Nfilter also has a number of different schemes for filtering and "scoring" headers to assure that trolls are "killfiled" and legitimate non-troll contributors are not. Although the author no longer supports NewsProxy/Nfilter, he has left intact the Nfilter FAQ with detailed instructions for installing, configuring, and using NewsProxy/Nfilter.

So why haven't I chosen NewsProxy/Nfilter as my primary means of filtering or "killfiling" trolls? I tried. I repeatedly configured the program as described in the Nfilter FAQ and entered the proper commands, but the specified headers were never filtered. Then I found a sentence in the "Troubleshooting" section that explained the problem:

Very often, a news server will not give you a header unless it is in the overview.

To determine the overview format of your new server, you must telnet into the newserver. In order to do that, start up the Command Prompt utility of MS Windows:

Type in telnet and press Enter:

You will then be presented with the screen for the Microsoft Telnet client. Type in the command open, plus the URL of your news server, plus 119, the proper communication port, then press Enter:

When you receive a prompt indicating that you are communicating with your news server, type list overview.fmt and press Enter:

That should provide you with a list of the headers that your news server will provide to NewsProxy/Nfilter:

As you can see, some news servers, such as my own, provide very limited newsgroup headers to NewsProxy/Nfilter. The only headers effective for filtering troll messages are the "From" and "Subject" headers, except for the "X-Ref" header, which can be helpful in filtering cross-posted troll messages. Since most newreaders already have utilities for filtering or "killfiling" authors and subjects, it makes little sense to use NewsProxy/Nfilter if your news server's overview provides only limited headers. However, if your news server provides more extensive headers in its overview, NewsProxy/Nfilter may be your best answer for troll filtering.