This guide will hopefully help those trying to figure out using NewsGroups.
I have provide links to some great guides and information you'll need.
The rest will involve using GrabIt which is a freeware News reader.
First off the best features about Newsgroups is that you will most likely MAX out your speed
on dling and also when you find a file you want there are NO quenes or waiting!!!!
To understand most of the basics read http://www.slyck.com/ng.php
Guide To Getting Setup
1. Install GrabIt from http://www.shemes.com/
Current version is 1.6.2 ßeta (build 940)
2. Once youve installed GrabIt you will be asked for your News addy.
You can get this from your ISP (not all ISP support News) or try searching at
http://www.newsbin.com/ISP.htm or http://docs.newzbin.com/Usenet:ISP_Providers
NOTE: If your ISP dosent have Usenet access you will have to get a payserver for access.
If you signup with GigaNews you can support
the site at FST by using our refferal link at
http://www.giganews.com/?a=fst
With NewsDemon you can use PayPal and support
the site at FST by using our refferal link at
http://www.newsdemon.com/?aflid=2273/
3. If you've now inserted the correct addy you should see the Groups available
Simply click on "All groups on Default server"
If nothing shows then right click on "Default sever" and select "Refresh grouplist"
You can then go to "Batch" to see if you are dling the list.
4. Choose your dl folder preference under "Edit", "Preferences", then the "Folders" tab.
5. You will also need to find out how many files at a time your ISP allows to dl, go to "Batch" and click on the article boxes to match how many are allowed by your server. If you dont know how many are allowed once you start a dl add one at a time in sequence until you notice that articles are continually failing at a particular number, then uncheck that box leaving the rest.
If Your Using NZB Files Your All Set Now!!
Read How To Make NZB Files so you can Contributte.
Guide To Searching Groups
1. Go to "All groups on Default server".
The groups with alt.binaries are the ones you will be looking for.
Type in a word for what you may be interested in, such as "movies" (lower case).
At this point you may wish to sort them by popularity by clicking "Article count".
You should have to click it twice to bring the more popular groups to the top.
When you see a group you wish to dl from just double click on it.
2. Now go over to "Default server" and expand it.
Find the group you added right click on it and select "Full update"
You can use "Incremental update" later on.
If you wish you can view "Batch" again to make sure it's dling.
3. Once the update is finished, select the group under "Default server" and you're ready to start dling.
Guide To Getting Complete Files
When you dl large files such as movie or image files there will generally be about 50 rars files per 700mb CDR as explained in the Slyck guide, although this varies.
1. When getting ready to dl a release check how many of the rar files are available on the server for the release you are going to dl. As an example a release will have "newmv-grp.r00" through "newmv-grp.r50". I suggest you first dl the PAR/PAR2 file ie. "newmv-grp.PAR" or "newmv-grp.PAR2" (small file around 2k and will be highlighted in blue). Then open the file with SmartPar or QuickPar and it will show you how many rar files there are in the release. You should also dl the nfo file ie. "newmv-grp.nfo" to obtain information on the release.
2. Now go to the first rar in the series ie "newmv-grp.r00" (first rar may also be r01) and check if all the rars are there matching what the PAR file showed. A quick way to do this is to touch the first one with your mouse, then press Shift+Scroll Down until you get to the last. As mentioned in the Slyck guide the last is almost always smaller in size than the rest. You will notice at the bottom left corner you will have text showing ie. "50 files selected out of 2000". If all are there its a good bet to go ahead and dl those rar files as most files on servers are rarely corrupt. You can then extract the rar files.
You can also click the "Find" button and type in the name of the release or the file while checking all 3 boxes before pressing Enter, this will now show only the files with the search phrase you entered on that group. In order to show all the files in that group again simply click on the icon with the "green +" sign.
3. If your short of the 50 files and have only say 48 then you need to see how many PAR/PAR2 files are available ie "newmv-grp01.PAR". Par files are simple to calculate as you need 1 for each missing or corrupted rar file. However PAR2 files replace blocks, usually about 40 blocks equals 1 rar file, although this varies. Once you dl say the 48 rar files along with the 2 PAR files you'll need to complete the release, then open the PAR/PAR2 file with either SmartPar or QuickPar and it should create or repair the missing or damaged files. You should get a message you now have all the rars you'll need for the release.
4. If your still getting an error message and cannot get enough PAR/PAR2 files to repair there is still hope, first try another group for the same release ie. most releases on alt.binaries.movies are also released on alt.binaries.movies.divx or post a request within the group for fills or pars. As a last resort you can also try to get the missing or corrupted rar files on IRC, a good guide on how to do this can be found at How To Get Missing Rars For An Incomplete Archive.
Thats it...
Bookmarks