Introduction for beginners

Since there are many tutorials at this site, I can imagine that you don't know where to begin, so here is an introduction.

This tutorial is the best starting point if you want to learn how to download from binary Usenet newsgroups.

What are binary Usenet newsgroups?

This website is all about binary Usenet newsgroups, but what exactly are they? Usenet newsgroups have existed for quite a while and were originally meant as a place for discussions using text messages. The name of the Usenet newsgroup shows the subject discussed in that specific group. However, Usenet newsgroups can also be used for posting binaries (a general term for encoded data, like programs or music), which has become much more popular with the introduction of broadband connections to the Internet. You can recognize a binary Usenet newsgroup by the word binaries in the name of the group, for example alt.binaries.freeware.

So what can be learnt at this website? Here at Binaries4all you will find all information that you need to be able to work with binary Usenet newsgroups.

Are binary Usenet newsgroups kind of like Kazaa?

Many people think binary Usenet newsgroups are rather like Kazaa (or other P2P programs), but this is not true! There are fundamental differences between the two, even though they can both be used for downloading. You can easily search for something on Kazaa, but what is on offer depends on the people who are connected to Kazaa at that very moment. Usenet newsgroups work differently: someone posts something to a binary newsserver, then all the newsservers exchange data and someone else can download it using his or her news server. How long the files are available on a newsserver depends on the quality of the newsserver. Some ISP’s think of it as an extra and don’t pay it very much attention at all. On most ISP’s you can download a post for about three days, in other words a retention of three days. Sometimes the files provided on a news server are incomplete, and this also depends on the quality of the news server. There are also payservers, however, on which posted files are available for more than two weeks.

Advantages of binary Usenet newsgroups over Kazaa:

Higher speed; you can use the full speed of your Internet connection.
More files available.
Not dependent on other users for downloading.
Less rubbish; Kazaa is swamped with fake files and viruses.

Disadvantages of binary Usenet newsgroups over Kazaa:

A bit more difficult and extensive to learn (but that's what this site is for )
You have to respond more quickly, because the files aren't permanently on a server.

Where to begin?

Using Usenet newsgroups is a bit more cumbersome than Kazaa, but with the help of this site I'm sure you'll get the hang of it! The basics of working with binary Usenet newsgroups are explained below, divided in two topics: downloading and posting.

Important: take your time! Do not expect that you have downloaded what you are looking for between now and one hour. Learning how to work with binary Usenet newsgroups completely just requires some time! This is NOT because it is so difficult (don't let us scare you), but just because the process consists of a couple of steps. Again: do not try to comprehend everything in thirty minutes, take your time!

Downloading, the basic steps

Here are the basic steps. It is imperative that you do not skip a step.

Step 1: Get access to a newsserver

You have to have access to a newsserver in order to download from binary Usenet newsgroups. Some ISP's have their own (free to use) newsserver but you can also subscribe to a payserver like the ones on the left-hand side of your screen. Payservers aren't free but usually are much better (in terms of speed, retention and completeness of files) than a server of an ISP.

Step 2: Choosing and installing a newsreader

You need a newsreader in order to download files from binary Usenet newsgroups. That is a program that can connect to a newsserver (see step 1) and download the files from a binary Usenet newsgroup. There are several newsreaders and they all have their pros and cons. To help you to make a choice I created a comparative overview of newsreaders.

Step 3: Finding out what has been posted to binary Usenet newsgroups

There are hundreds of binary Usenet newsgroups. How do you know what has been posted to which Usenet newsgroup? If you do not know if something is available in a group, or to which group something has been posted and when this was done, then you will obviously not succeed. This challenge can be divided into three categories:

Category 1) You are looking for something and you want to know if somebody has posted it to a binary Usenet newsgroup. For this you can use a community. We have several listed at our Links page. In communities people announce: "I will post X in Usenet newsgroup Y with filename Z".

Category 2) You know that something has been posted and you also know the filename or a part of the header (the visible title) but you do not know to which Usenet newsgroup it was posted. In this situation it is best to use a search engine for binary Usenet newsgroups and create a NZB file. Several search engines are listed at our Links page.

NZB is a nice invention that has made downloading a lost easier. A search engine can create a NZB file which you can open with your newsreader. And then it has all the information it needs in order to download the files for you. More information: What is NZB?. Some newsreaders like Grabit, NewsLeecher and Usenet Explorer have their own built-in search engines.

Category 3) You see something in a binary Usenet newsgroup but by examining the header (the visible title) you can not figure out what it is. In that case you can check whether the poster included a NFO file (with the extension .nfo). Usually there is some information about the post in the NFO file. You can view these files with a NFO Viewer (tutorial).

Step 4: Learn how to work with your newsreader & download the files!

We can download the files when we know where they have been posted. Of course we should first learn to work with our newsreader. Here at Binaries4all we have tutorials for every popular newsreader. You can find them in the menu on the left-hand side of your screen in the sub-menu of 'Downloading'.

Step 5: Verify the downloaded files: are they complete and undamaged?

Files can become incomplete or damaged while downloading (more information about the causes of incomplete files). This does not have to be a problem: we can use the program QuickPar to verify whether downloaded files are complete and repair them if necessary! Read our QuickPar tutorial for more information.

Step 6: Extract the downloaded files

Most of the large files in Usenet newsgroups are compressed with WinRAR so they are RAR files. Why? It is not possible to put a DVD as one large file (of 4GB+) in a Usenet newsgroup for example, it is too large. So it has to be split by WinRAR into parts with a maximum size of about 50MB per part.

If the downloaded files are repaired, then we can extract them. You can extract RAR archives with WinRAR but also with the freeware program 7-Zip. We also have tutorials for these programs (click on the hyperlinks). Of course it is also possible that you downloaded other types of files like MP3 or JPG. Obviously those do not have to be extracted.

Step 7: Burn to CD or DVD?

If you downloaded a DVD you might want to burn it to a disc. This is the next step. We do not have tutorials for this step at Binaries4all but we intend to write them in the future.

Step 8: Problems? The Binaries4all forum!

If you encounter problems then you can ask for help at our Binaries4all forum. We will be glad to help you! But there are two conditions:

Read the forum rules to learn what is allowed and what is not.
Make sure that you spent enough time reading the tutorials! Do not think: 'I don't want to read the tutorials, I'll ask a question right away'. In that case we will just redirect you to the tutorial where the answer can be found.

Posting: the basic steps

It is also possible to post (upload) files to a Usenet newsgroup so other people can download it.

Important:
When you download from Usenet binary newsgroups, you will notice that there are also many files which are copyrighted. Downloading or distributing these files is prohibited by law!

This site isn’t meant to promote distributing this material, it’s only meant to explain how to use binary newsgroups, Usenet and programs. You won’t find any links to movies, music, cracks and serial numbers here; You’re in the wrong place for that, so don’t ask for it either!

This site is only for explaining everything about this terrific medium.

This site is in no way liable or responsible for the actions of its visitors.

Step 1: Archive and split the files that you want to post

If you want to post a large file (>50MB) to a binary Usenet newsgroup you will have to compress and split it into multiple files using WinRAR to create a RAR archive. This is not necessary for small files like MP3 and JPG files.

Step 2: Create PAR2 repair files

Files can become incomplete or corrupt in a Usenet newsgroup (more information about the causes of incomplete files). Therefore we have to create PAR2 repair files with QuickPar so the downloaders can use them to verify and repair their downloaded files. You can learn how to do this in our QuickPar tutorial.

Step 3: Create a NFO file

People who manually browse a Usenet newsgroup will look for a NFO file to find out what it is that you are posting. Please read our tutorial 'Creating NFO files' to learn how to create such a file.

Step 4: Posting the files

And then it is time to upload the files. This is explained in our PowerPost tutorial.

Step 5: Make sure that people know that you posted something

Few people will download the files that you posted if they do not know about it. So it might be a good idea to inform them. This can be done in a community for example, like a forum. Several communities are listed at our Links page.

Step 6: Give support

Some downloaders will have problems downloading the files and they will inform you about that (at the community where you wrote information about your post). It may be the case that they need extra PAR2 repair blocks to repair the files. How you can create those is explained in our QuickPar tutorial.

Step 7: Problems? The Binaries4all forum!

If you encounter problems then you can ask for help at our Binaries4all forum. We will be glad to help you! But there are two conditions:

Read the forum rules to learn what is allowed and what is not.
Make sure that you spent enough time in reading the tutorials! Do not think: 'I don't want to read the tutorials, I'll ask a question right away'. In that case we will just redirect you to the tutorial where the answer can be found.

In conclusion...

I wish you lots of luck and fun with this site, studying the tutorials and working with binary Usenet newsgroups. See you at the forum perhaps. Finally, I would like to point out that you can support Binaries4all with a single donation. More information.

Have fun at Binaries4all!