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What you need to know about RSS feeds

What's it all about: The essential difference between receiving email [e.g. a newsletter] and subscribing to an RSS feed is that an email is sent to you whereas a RSS feed is received at your request. You are in control!

What you need to do: Locate a website with an RSS feed providing information you are interested in and click on the button or link that could look something like this.

RSS news feed

You will be given the option of subscribing to the information on offer. To actually view the information a RSS feed reader is required and while some browsers now have this function there are some good feed readers available, many free. Try this one as it is free and simple to use.

Getting started with FeedReader: Once installed copy and paste, or key in, the URL of the RSSfeed [you can right-click on the link and 'Copy shortcut'] into 'New Feed' located in the left hand column [you can also press F3] of FeedReader and the name of the feed will appear. In this case it will be 'Benalla and District Family History Group news and information'.

When you close FeedReader for the first time there is an option to 'Minimize to the tray', this is recommended as it is then only necessary to click the link to open the feeder. Additionally you will be notified when new items appear.