News Rover offers an exceptionally friendly startup wizard, and the interface is the common three-pane browser found in many of its rivals. I wish the icons on the toolbar were a bit larger and that Windows interface standards were adhered to more closely--many menu headings open dialogs directly. But other than that, the program is easy to use. There's no inline viewer for jpegs and other images as with Xnews and Forte's Agent, but normal text messages are displayed in the bottom pane and there is an external gallery for images you've downloaded. Other notable features are the program's ability to transfer files directly to iTunes or WMP MP3 player and to download articles on its own at the time of your choosing--handy for setting it to run at night when you don't need your broadband for anything else.
News Rover is free to use for 30 days which is plenty of time to decide if you like it enough fork over the cash. Just don't test in a vacuum. Try Agent, Newsleecher, the free Xnews, and others as well.
--Jon L. Jacobi
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