Please help beginner with newsgroup/usegroup

[Muncher]

Hello,

I'm trying to download books from alt.binaries.e-book. I believe I have to join a newsgroup to do this (or is this the newsgroup)? Please help an absolute beginner ...

What should I do first? I see a bunch of files and a button at the bottom that says Save Nzb. I'd like to save these books as a .pdf file to read on my pc.

A step by step for this dummy please ... I have Rogers High-speed.

[adblink182]

your ISP has to have a newsgroup you can get on to, or you have to subscribe to one.

The free ones normally have a poor retention rate so you might have a hard time getting what you want

http://www.slyck.com/ng.php

newsgroups are not easy to use, and its not like kazza where you just search and away you go

[Evil Baby]

gonna revive this old thread hoping to get some help.

I have downloaded multiple .nzb files that should probably be in the gigs but when downloaded are only a couple hundred kb's. Windows usually says the files contained are screen saver files.

Are these just viruses that people have uploaded and name it something you actually want or am I doing something wrong?

[BobSagget]

The NZB files work the same way as a TORRENT file works. It doesn't actually contain the file(s) you are looking for but locations where they are located on Usenet.

The same way you would load a .torrent file into a torrent program (ie. uTorrent) you would do with an NZB file. You need a program called a "newsreader". There are plenty available. One of the top of my head is GrabIt.

I don't particularly use it but I know it's popular.

Unlike torrents you can't just load a NZB file and begin downloading the files. You need to have access a news server. Unless your ISP has one you can access for free you will need to pay for access if you want "premium" service. There are a few free ones but none will provide you will any real retention of download speeds.

There is a free one that I found recently that is not bad. It's only 10 days retention and the max speeds I've gotten have been around ~400-500KB/s but I'd say that's pretty good for free. Especially if you are just starting out on Usenet and learning the basics.
The link is www.just4today.net

The above person said Newsgroups are not easy to use. Initially they can be difficult to understand but once you do they are extremely easy to use and it's well worth it.

[Evil Baby]

The NZB files work the same way as a TORRENT file works. It doesn't actually contain the file(s) you are looking for but locations where they are located on Usenet.

The same way you would load a .torrent file into a torrent program (ie. uTorrent) you would do with an NZB file. You need a program called a "newsreader". There are plenty available. One of the top of my head is GrabIt.

I don't particularly use it but I know it's popular.

Unlike torrents you can't just load a torrent and begin downloading the files. You need to access a news server, which you would configure under the settings in GrabIt. Unless your ISP has one you can access for free you will need to pay for access if you want "premium" service. There are a few free ones but none will provide you will any real retention of download speeds.

There is a free one that I found recently that is not bad. It's only 10 days retention and the max speeds I've gotten have been around ~400-500KB/s but I'd say that's pretty good for free. Especially if you are just starting out on Usenet and learning the basics.
The link is www.just4today.net

The above person said Newsgroups are not easy to use. Initially they can be difficult to understand but once you do they are extremely easy to use and it's well worth it.

Well I can do all of that and I have downloaded a lot of files. I'm use sabnzbd. Just some files I do a search for on *********.info, create the .nzb file then when I go to download it, it turns out the files is only 260kb or something stupid like that and when I open the folder it is downloaded to it just shows as a windows "screen saver" file. Rather annoying.

[BobSagget]

Well I can do all of that and I have downloaded a lot of files. I'm use sabnzbd. Just some files I do a search for on *********.info, create the .nzb file then when I go to download it, it turns out the files is only 260kb or something stupid like that and when I open the folder it is downloaded to it just shows as a windows "screen saver" file. Rather annoying.

Yeah maybe it is a virus then. I also use SAB but I didn't want to recommend it for a person new to Usenet.

Only thing I download from Usenet is Movies/TV shows which are 99% scene releases so I've never ran into the problem you are describing. If the files that are being extracted are .scr files I wouldn't trust it at all. It sounds like it's some sort of junk that's for sure. Does BS (can't link it) show the proper size, though?

[apuresoul]

Hey RFDers,
Question... If lightning usenet only has retention for 431 days, does this mean if something is found via NZBMatrix that is 432 days or older it won't be found? If so can anyone recommend a good usenet that has longer retention?
Thanks!

[JPTN]

SuperNews has 800 days of retention: http://www.supernews.com/

[JAC]

http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/kleverig-11.html