Usenet Explorer

Is there a way to adjust the database size. I keep getting a database too large error.

Thanks,
John

what is the exact error message?

there is no limit on the database size in the terms of amount of headers, but as you load newsgroups into memory the memory usage grows and if it is close to the total amount of physical RAM on your computer there is option (checked by default) edit menu->properties->general->database too large to fit in memory to avoid excessive disk thrashing and slowdown.

are you using compact binary newsgroup destination type? (it is default, if when you create newsgroup you choose another destination type the program warns you, also you can see the type in properties->newsgroups and in map.txt file in the UE database "Newsgroups" folder).

also do you have any retention/date column settings in properties->newsgroups, the topmost "Default" entry? if you changed it to "Natural" the number of headers in the database will constantly grow.

and how much RAM do you have and how many headers you are trying to load? (load means the total number of headers in opened newsgroups and newsgroups which are getting headers at the moment for example)

i think in 1 GB RAM using compact binary type you can probably load about 150-200M headers, as to the non-compact newsgroup destination types like import it is about 14-16M headers per 1GB, it is much higher than average you get in any other client, usually the practical limit elsewhere is around 5-12M headers per group.

for small amount of RAM there is also an option "edit menu->properties->tasks->max groups", when getting headers it unloads newsgroups when necessary to keep RAM usage low, and if you refrain from opening too many newsgroups in individual newsgroup views (since it doesn't unload newsgroups which you opened, otherwise the newsgroup window could be closed when you don't expect it). RAM got much cheaper since July, 4GB kit costs below $100 instead of $200.