Usenet Tutorial

This tutorial will explain in detail how you can download files from Usenet. You
can find hundreds of terabytes of content on Usenet. Downloading is easy
and can be very fast.

Advantages
One major advantage of Usenet compared to P2P download methods such as
torrents, is that it is not required do upload any content. Another advantage
is enhanced privacy. You only download from a single location, which makes it
impossible for others to monitor your downloads. Some Usenet providers
even offer SSL to encrypt your connection. And last but not least, you can get
download speeds as high as your Internet connection allows.

What is usenet?
Usenet exists since the beginning of the Internet and consists of a large
number of newsgroups. A newsgroup is like a bulletin board where people can
exchange messages on a specific subject. Currently hundreds of thousands of
different newsgroups exist for practically every subject you can think of.
To gain access to newsgroups you need to have an account with a newsgroup
server. With a newsgroup reader program you can then download the
messages that have been submitted to a newsgroup, and you can submit
messages (e-mails) to a newsgroup. Thousands of newsgroup servers exists
around the world. These servers all have their own local copies of the
newsgroups that they host, and they periodically exchange the content that
have been submitted to those newsgroups. That way all servers get the
submitted messages.
Some newsgroups allow attachments in the messages that are send to them.
These are called binary newsgroups, since the attached data is in binary form
instead of plain text.
Does all of the above sound difficult to you? Don't worry, you don't need to
understand any of it in order to download things from Usenet. Just continue
reading and you will be downloading stuff very soon!

STEP 1: Getting access to usenet

To get access to usenet you need to get an account with a Usenet provider.
There are many companies on the Internet that offer cheap access to usenet.
When subscribing to a Usenet provider you should pay attention to the
following things:

It should host binary newsgroups. Free ISP servers usually don't have
them, so it is recommended to get a so-called payserver, like the ones
mentioned below.

It should have high retention. Retention is the maximum age of the

messages that the server hosts. A retention of 100 days means the
server stores messages up to 100 days old. Good providers have a
retention of 300 or more days.

Also important is speed. Some providers offer plans with different

speeds, usually measured in mbits/s. Recommended is to get a speed
that matches the speed of your Internet connection. That way you can
download at maximum speed.

Data transfer limits. A good provides allows unlimited data transfers.

STEP 2: Searching for files

Searching for content on Usenet is easy. There are many special search
engines for it. Here is a list of some popular ones:

BinSearch (recommended)

NZBIndex

YabSearch

NZBClub

If your search query yields results, then simply select the items that you want
to download. Then press the button called Create NZB and save the
generated file on your computer. You can open this file with your newsgroup
download tool, as we will explain in a moment.
A NZB file is an XML based file format that contains a list of message
identifiers for messages that have been posted in a newsgroup. Newsgroup
download tools can use this information to download those messages and

reconstruct the attached files.

File types explained

When something is uploaded to a newsgroup, it usually consists of a group of
related files called a collection. Below we will explain the use of each type of
file that you may encounter.
.nzb
This contains a list of newsgroup message identifiers. Information that is used
by download tools when downloading content from Usenet.
.rar .r01 .r02 etcetera
These files together are a multi-file RAR archive. When uploading files to
Usenet it is common practice to put those files into a RAR archive. How you
can extract files out of such an archive is explained later on in this tutorial.
.par2
These are parity files. There are used to verify data integrity and to repair
damaged files. How you should use these files is explained later.
.nfo
This is a text document that contains information about the file(s) it came
bundled with. You can open it with any text editor, but since they often
contain ascii art it is recommended to use a special viewer such as Damn
NFO Viewer.
.sfv
This is a file that contains file checksums for a RAR archive. It can be used for
checking file integrity. You can just ignore these kind of files, since it is
preferred to use the .par2 files instead.
.srr
This file can be used to recreate a multi-file RAR archive that is identical to
the one this file came bundled with. You don't need to do this so you can just
ignore these kind of files.

STEP 3: Downloading files

To download files from Usenet you simply open a NZB file with your favorite
newsgroup download tool.

Some popular download tools are:

UnzBin (recommended)

GrabIt

SABnzbd

NewsLeecher (not free)

We recommend using UnzBin because it works very well and it is very easy to
use. It can automatically verify, repair and extract the downloaded files.

Configuring UnzBin
If you decide to use UnzBin as your download tool, then here are some tips
for configuring it.
Settings -> Server: Here you can fill in the server name and login
information of your Usenet provider. See step 1 of the tutorial.
Settings -> Directories: Here you can change the directories where UnzBin
stores the downloaded files. The downloads will be placed in the Save
Location. The NZB Import Folder is a location that UnzBin monitors when it is
running. When you put a NZB file in that folder Unzin will automatically add it
to the download queue.
Settings -> Processing: Here you can find options for the automatic repair
and extract functionality. You can leave those settings as is, unless you prefer
doing things manually. If you have a fast computer, then you should uncheck
Skip CRC Validation. That helps to detect damaged files.

STEP 4: Verify and repair the downloaded files

Files download from Usenet may end up getting damaged due to
transmission errors and due to missing parts. But don't worry, you can easily
detect and fix such damaged files.
This is where the .par2 files come into play. These so-called parity files are
used to detect errors and also to repair them. You can open a .par2 file with a
tool called QuickPar. This tool analyzes the downloaded files and allows you to
repair them if needed.
Each file or set of files has a main .par2 file and files ending with

.volXX+XX.par2. The first should be opened with QuickPar. The other files
contain blocks of data that is used for repairing. The number of repair blocks
should be larger than or at least equal to the number of damaged/missing
blocks in the downloaded files. Then the files can be repaired. If there are too
few repair blocks, then the files can not be repaired.
If you use a good Usenet provider then there are usually very little damaged
blocks.
Tip: some download tools can automatically verify and repair your
downloaded files. UnzBin is an example of such a tool.

STEP 5: Extract files

After downloading you will often end up with a bunch of files called .rar .r01
.r02 .r03 and so on. Together these files form a RAR archive. You can extract
the contents of such an archive with one of these tools: WinRAR or 7-Zip
(free). Simply right-click on the .rar file and choose "Extract Here" or "Extract
to ...".
Once the files have been extracted from the RAR archive, you can delete all
the rar files.
Tip: some download tools can automatically extract files. UnzBin is an
example of such a tool.

Safety tips
Some lame people upload fake files and password protected stuff to Usenet.
If you ever encounter a RAR or CAB archive that needs a password to extract,
then just delete the files and download a different version. Never click on any
links that say "click here for password". Also never click on any
downloaded .exe files. You may end up getting infected with a virus or other
malware. Genuine files are never password protected and never include
any .exe files.
If you get multiple results for the same file, then the oldest one is usually the
genuine one.