Usenet & Newsgroups for Beginners

[Christy]

This is not my article, but found it very useful,so thought of posting it here. I usually have never been able to max out my download speeds on torrents , but it stayed maxed all throughout the usenet download. (+ no uploads required)

I was doing a search and ended up on your forum where I found quite surprising how many peoples are asking about "Newsgroup" "Usenet".
But first why you should use newsgroup instead of P2P
softwares.

PRO

1.

SPEED: It will max out your internet connection as long as you have a decent News provider ie:At home I download at 1.8 meg (1 DVDR 4.7gb of me on holiday takes 44mns) on the box 100 meg (1 blu-ray 50gb still of me on holiday 1hour ish)

2. PRIVACY: It is a lot more secure to download from "usenet" "Newsgroup" than using certain P2P softwares because you can connect using SSL encryption. Whenever you download from a secured connection, you are downloading information that has been scrambled on both ends of the connection and then reassembled using a special encryption key that only the two ends have access to. To resume your ISP cannot know what you are downloading or uploading. Only you and your usenet provider can know what you are downloading or uploading.

3. HUGE: Newsgroup is Huge, it's like a spiderweb more or less once someone upload a file to his news provider this files is then spread to all servers which have subscribe to that group. The amount of stuffs posted on newsgroup is huge and in many languages. You cannot compare the amount of stuffs posted on newsgroups to any form of P2P because they rely on a strict infrastructure. ie: torrents trackers are not uploaded or shared from one community to another and in some forum you'll get banned for crossposting their trackers etc... Also emule and torrent rely on personal computer or in some case for torrent , seed boxes which limit the network capacity. That limit doesn't existe with Newsgroups. Newsgroup has more or less unlimited capacity in term of storage or speed.

4. EASY: Once you've read this guide and downloaded a few things you'll wonder why so many peoples said "bha too difficult, I don't get it, where are the files etc...

CON

1. NOT FREE ALWAYS: There is always possibility to access newsgroup for free but to be honest just forget about it. To enjoy full speed, no problem completing your downloads etc. You'll have to pay for a news provider account. But it's not expansive, you can find excellent provider for a little as 5 euros a months. <-- being the best I've seen on special offer.

2. NOT STRAIGHT FORWARD: Okay it's not as simple as lunching Emule and starting a search in 1 mn or going to your favourite tracker and just clicking the latest things to add to your download but that is until you know what you are doing!

3. VIRUSES: Viruses, Trojan etc are on newsgroups like any other places so beware and stop downloading idiotic thing like "My latest Holiday Movie" 6 months before I release it to the cinema. Be smart and use your common sense.

4. RETENTION: Depending on your newsgroups provider files are available for a certain amount of time. The average at the moment is around 100 days but it can go up to 240 days which is I think the best retention available from Giganews.com but also one if not the most expansive, but I have to say top service.

That's all I can think about right now I'm sure those of you who will try Newsgroups will give me plenty to add to those PRO's and CON's.


To get you started:

Open your browser and type in your search engine the following "newsgroups provider" or "usenet Provider" Check the results and find one which suit you following those criteria.

1. PRICE: You'll find a lot of different possibility of packages, special offers, free trials etc... I'll recommand that you try https://secure.giganews.com/signup/This is a 3 days trial limited to 10GB. You'll have to give your CC details but as long as you CANCEL in time they won't charge you. I'm recommanding them because their service is very good maybe one of the best and the retention is 240 days. So for a test why not use one of the best provider around. REMEMBER TO CANCEL WITHIN TIME or they'll charge your CC after the trial period end. For those of you who do not have a CC many providers accept PAYPAL or other type of online payment thing.

OR

Currently Free : http://xsusenet.com/

2. SPEED: Read the small print and faqs some providers have speed limit but it's rare.

3. RETENTION: Once again retention is the numbers of days file will be stored on their server, so available for you to download. A simple rule the longer the better.

4. CONNECTIONS: A simple rule the more the better. Connections is the number of simultaneous connections your newsreader will be authorised to achieve with the server(s) of your newsprovider. The more connection your newsreader is allowed the more chances you'll have to max out your download speed.

5. SERVERS: Again the more the better. It is better to choose a services provider which has multiple servers. Servers can sometimes crash or be offline for maintenance so if your provider has multiple servers you should not have any problems as you can always switch to their other one. Also the more servers you can connect to the better chances of file completion you will have.

6. COMPLETION: The higher the better. Look up for their % completion on their facts. Completion is the % of chances that their server will have 100% of the articles which make a files.

7. LOCATION: The closer to home the better. Simple logic there do not get a provider with it's server based in Germany if you are from the USA this will reduce your chance to achieve top speed.

8. SSL: Look up if they offer an SSL server. It is better to have SSL than not and SSL does not reduce your speed at all. It will just add another layer of privacy over your downloads or uploads.

9. DOWNLOAD LIMIT: You have the choice there if you download a lot go for unlimited, otherwise take the time to calculate how much you download in average and purchase the best package to suit your needs. Anyway you can always move to a better package if needed but on the other hand don't go unlimited if you only download occasionaly.

THAT'S ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT NOW: I'm sure those of you which are gonna try newsgroups will found other things to add to that list.


So you got yourself a newsprovider account by now. Well done! Give yourself a pat on the back.

Time to to download and setup the softwares you'll need.

[Christy]

Time to to download and setup the softwares you'll need.

INSTALL is pretty much self explanatory for winrar just follow the instructions.

1. QUICKPAR: http://www.quickpar.org.uk/
I won't go into too many details, simple quickpar is the software which can repair files that you download from newgroups and also can create recovery files for the files that you want to upload to newsgroups. Qucikpar is 100% Free and has no spam or spyware so far as I know.

INsTALL follow the instruction then on the last window when it's installed tick the box "RUN QUICKPAR NOW" Once the window is open select the button "OPTIONS" and set options as it is in the picture.

2. GRABIT: http://www.shemes.com/
it's a newsreader, not a very good one but it's 100% Free but in a limited version if my memory does not fail me, also it has no spam or spyware so far as I know.

INSTALL Follow the instructions, then let it run at the end of the install. On the next window Grabit will open a window, select CANCEL. Grabit is now open, on the left side you'll see "DEFAULT SERVER" select it with your mouse then right click, select server properties. Open the email you received from your new shiny newsgroups provider.

IN GRABIT UNDER HOSTNAME: ENTER THE SERVER ADDRESS PROVIDED IN YOUR EMAIL (preferably enter the SSL server address if they provided you with one)

IN GRABIT UNDER PORT: ENTER 119 IF YOU ARE NOT USING SSL OR CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR ALTERNATIVE PORTS FOR YOUR PROVIDER. The most commun alternative ports are in the thousands IE: 8000, 9000 etc...

IN GRABIT UNDER ACCOUNT NAME: ENTER THE NAME PROVIDED IN YOUR EMAIL BEWARE IT IS CASE SENSITIVE USE CUT/PASTE IF YOU'RE NOT SURE ABOUT A CHARACTER.

IN GRABIT UNDER PASSWORD: ENTER THE PASSWORD PROVIDED IN YOUR EMAIL BEWARE IT IS CASE SENSITIVE USE CUT/PASTE IF YOU'RE NOT SURE ABOUT A CHARACTER. POSSIBLE MISTAKES WITH O AND 0 THE FIRST ONE IS THE LETTER, THE SECOND IS THE NUMBER ZERO. Don't laugh I've done it myself many time while using Keygen for myholidaythegame or other well distributed holiday appz of that requires a keygen.

IN GRABIT TICK THE BOX ENCRYPTED SERVER CONNECTION SSL ONLY IF YOU HAVE BEEN PROVIDED WITH ONE AND THAT YOU HAVE ENTERED THE SSL SERVER ADDRESS IN THE BOX HOSTNAME. CLICK YES IN THE POP UP WINDOW AND GRABIT WILL CHANGE THE PORT TO 563 WHICH IS THE DEFAULT SSL PORT. OTHERWISE CHECK YOUR EMAIL IF THEY HAVE PROVIDED YOU WITH A DIFFERENT SSL PORT NUMBER THAN THE DEFAULT ONE.

IN GRABIT ADJUST THE CONNECTIONS SLIDER TO THE AMOUNT OF SIMULTANEOUS CONNECTIONS THAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE. IT SHOULD BE IN YOUR EMAIL OR ON THEIR WEBSITE IN THE FAQ SECTION.

CLICK OK TO SAVE THE SETTINGS AND DO NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER OPTIONS FOR NOW. Once you've downloaded a few things and get a feel for it. Go nutz start messing around if you want.


Wow Congratulation if you have followed the instructions your newsreader should be able to download from newsgroups. Also if you have not been messing around with the option it should check, repair, unpack everything for you. Your downloads will be located in your user folder document in the folder download.
IE: C:\Users\yournamehere\Downloads\GrabIt Downloads\

So all set! Time to feed that thing some holiday movies to download! HAHA nope not just yet first...

Time to learn about NZB files <---Huuu!! What's that.

To resume and to make it simple a file on newsgroups is like made of a thousands of emails instead of looking for all the emails for that file we're gonna feed the newsreader (that's GRABIT) a NZB file which is a list a all the emails making the file you want to download. Got it? No? Bha! nevermind just feed the NZB to grabit it will deal with it for you.


Let's hunt for NZB's!!!

Open your browser and visit those URL's and add them to your favorite.

Newsgroups search engines (I give you 2 they are many more for you to google)

http://www.newzleech.com/ my personnal favorite but it's a matter of opinion.
http://www.binsearch.info/
nzbindex.nl

Ok let's type in there some very famous holiday movie name that you know got out not long ago on your favorite emule forum or torrent tracker.

Locate amongs the result the correct myholiday movie you're after, make sure it has files called PAR2 files which are the recovery files needed in case a repair is needed. Then tick the box in front of the post. Then simply click the box "CREATE NZB", next save the NZB somewhere to your desktop. Go to your desktop and double click the NZB GRABIT should start or if the nzb file is not associated to GRABIT yet do the file association. So that way everytime you'll download a NZB grabit will be the default application to use it.

Grabit should be running and downloading the holyday movie you selected. Once you see that grabit is done downloading it will check the files, repair if needed (as long as the PAR2 files where selected in the nzb you've created from the search engine) then unpack the whole thing for you and even delete the .RAR and PAR2 recovery files for you.

Ok so this is how you get a nzb from a newsgroups search engine. For now I'll say stay away from it until you know what your doing and downloading.

Ok that should get you started for a few hours.
That's about all...
Take care all!
I hope this would help some of you.


All credit to original poster: GrabYou:unitethecows.com

Additional guides: Torrentfreaks , Lifehacker, Gizmodo