FAQ 2 Part B: Getting Started on News

For a demo of newsgroups that is similar to Easynews, you can try the GUBA server demo explained later in this FAQ.

For a good pay server, I recommend Airnews orNewsfeeds. The advantage is that using only a few newsgroups you can get hundreds of megabytes a week. News server chioces are detailed in FAQ 2I.

Newsbin is the easiest to start using, so this section uses Newsbin as an example. If you want to learn to use SBNews, try FAQ 2E.

1) First, download Newsbin. One place to download it is Newsbin 2.21 (191 kb, version 2.21 for Win 95).

• To download this file, either click on the link or copy the address and paste it into the address box located at the top of your browser. You can also try the links later in this FAQ.
• This file is about 200 kilobytes.
• This program requires Win 95.
• Every now and then a new version of Newsbin comes out. If this link doesn't work or is outdated, you can go to the Newsbin website.
• For Win 3.1, try the Win 3.1 version of SBNews (listed at the end of this FAQ).
• For Macs, try searching at http://www.tucows.com under newsreaders.

2) Install and run Newsbin.

• Be sure to remember where you install Newsbin, so you'll know where your downloads will end up.

3) Next, Newsbin will ask you to specify a news server.

• If your ISP already provides you with a news server, enter it in. As an example, some ISPs provide you with Supernews, so in that case your news server would be: news.supernews.com
• If not, then you can type in a free server like news1.usenetserver.com or news-reader.wcg.net.
• Important: These are only examples for practice. For the long run you will have to find a free server of your own, use the one your ISP gives you you, or subscribe to a good pay server.
• Once you choose a server, Newsbin will no longer prompt you for a news server, but you can change it manually later on.

4) Next, Newsbin will ask you to add a newsgroup.

• For example, you can type in alt.games.video.nintendo-64 to find out about the latest Nintendo games
• You could also try alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.anime if you're a hentai fan of Japanese-style cartoon erotica. ;)
• For Bluebirds mentioned in the overview, you could try alt.binaries.pictures.bluebird

5) If you do these steps correctly, click on the start button with your mouse and have fun.

• Please be patient; if your connection is slow or the news server you entered is slow, the first time may take a while because Newsbin will first download a list of newsgroups (which will only happen once).
• Additionally, if you are using free servers, you may find that it takes a while for Newsbin to try each one.
• If Newsbin starts to say "downloading ### headers" (where ### is a number), then everything is working correctly so far (once again, be patient if your connection is slow).
• If Newsbin does not say "downloading ###" or says "unable to connect" then the server you entered is not available or is a private server.
• If Newsbin says "unable to select group" then it means that Newsbin sucessfully connected but that the news server you entered unfortunately does not carry the newsgroup you specified. Just to be sure, check your spelling of the newsgroup.

Note: If you aren't good with computers, you might want to try a service like Easynews. Unfortunately, it does not carry many groups. The main advantage is that anyone can use it without any complicated instructions or software to download. However, the disadvantage is it's not as good or complete as the real thing.

Here is a list of Shareware Limitations of some common newsreaders. It will give you an idea of what you can expect from various newsreaders if you try only the free shareware version.

Important: *Never* run a mystery program that you've downloaded from news. Several people have gotten viruses this way and have lost their entire hard drives. The same obviously goes for webpages as well. If you follow the Rules of Acquisition and play it safe, you will never get a virus (I never have). Please do not learn this the hard way. ;)

Often I will deal with people who say "Ha I once ran a .exe and it was not a virus." However, the point is that if you continue this behavior long enough, you are likely to get a virus eventually. The last time this happened, a few weeks after my warning someone set up a site and put up a zipped virus there, including all sorts of tricks to make you think the zip contained a useful program. Once again I repeated my warning, but unfortunately a few people did not listen and did have their hard drives erased from the virus.

For more info, try FAQ 7E: Viruses

For information on where to get your hands on a news server, try FAQ 2I.

Important: It is important to note that you will get roughly 100-300 megabytes from binary groups only if you use a good and reliable news server (note that some newsgroups get 500+ megs, so these are just typical numbers).

• For example, with two typical binary newsgroups, I might get 200-400 megabytes a week.
• However, this is possible because I use a reliable news server.
• I have seen many people use unreliable news servers that might only give 1-2 megabytes for those same two newsgroups.
• In other words, some news servers are so bad that they miss 99% of the posts.

As the above paragraph warns, a good news server is more important than all other factors combined.

• Unfortunately, every week there is at least one person who ignores this blinking red warning.
• In fact, ignoring this simple warning is what causes the majority of all problems with news.
• Without a good server, all the information provided in FAQ 2 is worthless.
• So, keep this blinking red warning in mind: a news server is more important than everything else combined.
• You don't think I would put this many warnings here if people didn't ignore them, do you? ;)

Another important warning is not to run mystery programs that you find in newsgroups; many times they will be viruses. People also seem to ignore this warning as well...

There are several ways to find free servers. FAQ 2I deals with this issue.

The news server(s) I mentioned are only examples. For better news servers, try out Newname or King Tut's site (or try out a pay server). You can find their sites through the links page. I do not list servers in RamFAQs for various reasons. I mention a few of the reasons in the section "Suggested use" (Part F).

If you want to change your list of news servers using Newsbin, go to Settings --> News Servers. There you can add/edit/delete news servers from your personal list.

For a sample list of newsgroups, check here. This will give you a rough idea of what type of newsgroups are out there besides the two examples I gave. This list is much smaller than the official list, but if I were to list all the newsgroups, most people would probably never reach the bottom (it's roughly a megabyte list).

If Newsbin does not work for you, then another quick way to test out news servers is to type into the url location of your browser. For example: