Table of Contents

1. Which Hamster Version should I choose?
2. How do I make an update of Hamsters?
3. Hamster is pulling news too slow. Why?
4. How can I start a script at the startup of Hamster?
5. Why does the tray icon disappear?

1. Which Hamster Version should I choose?

   To get started always use the last 'stable' of the classic (atm 1.3.23.4), upgrade to the beta versions if you are confident with the basic operation of Hamster and you want to use any of the new of improved features of the beta

   There are additional features or different approaches in the 'playground' (seperate back & frontend), Hamster-fr and serveral other versions which you could use if they suit your need better, but be aware that the support you get in the hamster.en.* newsgroups will be mainly geared towards the 'classic' versions

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2. How do I make an update of Hamsters?

   There is nothing to worry about, simply unpack all the files into your Hamster-directory. Naturally you'll have to make sure Hamster is not working at the time. If the update has produced a bug that cannot be tolerated simply use the same procedure to 'downgrade' to the previous version.

   In the past some have just unpacked the 'hamster.exe' file, this now can cause some problems because newer versions of Hamster depend on the language-files.

   Also if for any reason you have a seperate Script-directory you will need to make sure, if there are any updated script-modules they will be updated there.

   If you are updating to a 'beta'-version of Hamster, be aware that the zip will only have the changed files, so make sure the last 'stable' (atm 1.3.23.4) has been installed previously

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3. Hamster is pulling news too slow. Why?

   Default for the number of pulls per server is one. The number of pullthreads can be extended to up to 4 threads. Please check with the newmaster or FAQ of your newsserver, if that is permissable . (CIS.DFN.de allows 4 threads, news.claranews.com only allows 3)

   How: Edit the server.ini of the newsservers im directory .\hamster\server\<Servername>\server.ini (also accessable via configuration) and add below [pull] the entry 'Threads=4'.

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4. How can I start a script at the startup of Hamster?

   Off course™ :-) There are 2 ways.

   1. Add the script to the target of the link that starts hamster ("Path:\hamster.exe script.hsc")
   2. If you have a Hamster after 1.3.23.110 you can select a script at startup in the 'Automation' section of the configuration.

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5. Why does the tray icon disappear?

   Often this is the result of a crash of explorer.exe, accompanied by the disapearance of other tray icons. Very annoying if Hamster is running minimized. Later versions of Hamster are a bit more resistant to the problem, but it nevertheless occurs from time to time.

   I am using the following little script to recover the tray icon:

   #!hs2
   #!load hamster.hsm
   HamMessage (7,0)
   HamMessage (7,1)
   quit
   

   I have a shortcut to the script on the desktop to click at convinience.

   Note: usually the dialup-connection icon has disappeared as well without the connection being severed. Check!

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