# Authorizing Yourself to the News Server

Some Usenet news servers require you to present a username and password in order to gain access to certain features. For instance, you may need a username and password to be able to post to any newsgroup, or to be able to read certain newsgroups. The process of providing a username and password, and the subsequent checking done by the server, is called "authorizing".

WinVN supports the AUTHINFO NNTP command for authorization. You can provide a username and password; see Configure Communications.... Note that you should only enter a username and password if your news server requires it. If the news server does not require it, entering a username and/or password may cause your connection to be refused.

If you have saved a username as part of your WinVN configuration, when WinVN connects to the news server, it attempts to authorize you with the news server. If you have saved a password as well, WinVN provides the username and password to the news server without prompting you. If you have saved a username but have left the password field empty (or disabled Save Password in Configure Communications...), WinVN brings up the Configure Communications... dialog box to allow you to enter your password before completing authorization.

If you choose to save your news server password, WinVN encrypts it before recording it in the WINVN.INI file. However, given the availability of WinVN source code, a determined attacker with access to your configuration file could decrypt your password without too much effort. Therefore, for the best security, force WinVN to always prompt you for the password by never saving the password, as described above.