|
|
|
Guides and articles
Guides and articles
|
News Readers - Newsbin Pro setup
 Newsbin Pro is one of the most used News Readers around. Software that is made to download and read post bodies on Newsgroups are known as News Readers. There are plenty to choose from, each with their good and bad points. A Newsreader will need you to input certain information for it to connect and use Newsgroups like..- News Server Address
- Username (Anonymous for Free Servers)
- Password
- Port (Generally if you use SSL you will use a different port than standard NNTP)
- Number of concurrent connection (set by server, use the maximum you can)
- Speed limits (Some download so fast it makes browsing slow so setting limits is a good idea)
- Several other things that are the users choice like download path.
Here I will run through the installation of Newsbin Pro. When you have downloaded it, run the installer and go through the familiar steps you go through installing software. Newsbin Pro will eventually ask you to input required details, starting with News Server. Please note that different versions of Newsbin might look different to the screenshots I have included in this article or some versions might not ask for these details until you run Newsbin Pro for the first time.
News Server
 Newsbin Pro needs to know what server you will be connecting to to download files. In my case, with Giganews, the server is news.giganews.com or news-europe.giganews.com for those located in Europe.
The Server address will have been provided to you either by the providers' website or by email. There is also a box to tick to specify that you need to supply login information (a username and password provided to you by the provider through email).
Some versions of Newsbin Pro will look different (you may be asked to input a username and password at the same time as News Server).
Server Name
 In case of multiple servers (some people like to use one provided by ISP and one premium server for better retention and completion) it is appropriate to give this particular server a name. This is self explanatory, when you are done, click Next.
Login Details and Connection Test
 Next, if using a premium News Server, you need to specify your username and password, which is usually emailed to you right after you initially sign up with a provider. My details are blocked out for obvious reasons.
Newsbin Pro also allows you to run a test of the server and Login details here, which is useful. When you are done here, click Done.
First Run
 When you first run Newsbin Pro, it does look a bit awkward and maybe downright ugly if you haven't seen it before. The interface is easy to understand. At the top there are several buttons to set Speed Limits and change Options. Below that are two columns, in one we have two tabs, Groups and Servers. Below those you will see a list of recommended Newsgroups divided into their own categories.
You can delete these easily by selecting them and pressing the Delete key. This space is where your list of Newsgroups will be when you add them. On the right, for now, is nothing. This is where all the files will be when you open a Newsgroup and download headers.
Below these two columns are more tabs which show you files in your Download list, Failed Files and other stuff. However, before we rush into downloading, we are not finished configuring our client for proper use yet.
Important Server Settings
 OK, now it is time to make some settings which will determine the performance of your downloading. Click the Servers tab on the left (Under the Load NZB button). Here you will see the name of the server you specified during setup. Right click on it and click Server Options.
 The settings you determine here are very important. Here is where you can edit the server address that you will be using as well as set some other settings that will determine performance. Connections is very important to get right. Every user of a premium News Server has a set number of Concurrent Connections that it can use. The more the connections, the better usually.
News Servers often advertise the number of allowed connection as part of their offerings. In my case, with a Giganews Diamond account, i can have up to 20 concurrent connections. Please check how many you are allowed on either your providers website or any email you have received since signing up for the service.
Again, we will see the ability to set a username and password (sorry for blocking out my username again). Advanced Options also has some options of significance Port 119 is the default port for NNTP traffic and should be what your provider is using, but again, check your providers details just to make sure (if unspecified, use 119.) Another notable feature here is the ability to use SSL. Many providers now give the option of SSL encryption for privacy reason (we will read more about this later), if SSL is part of your account package then select Use SSL, and specify the port number to use (563 is the default and will work in most cases, but referring to details from your provider is again recommended.) Switching to SSL will require that Newsbin Pro be restarted.
When you are finished changing these settings, click OK. Now a good idea would be to click the Options button on the main Newsbin interface.
Some Basic Options
 Under Options, make sure "Setup" is selected on the left list. The first thing that is helpful here is the ability to select a Download Folder where all of your Downloads will go. To do that, click the browse button, go to a folder (mine is C:\ Downloads - simple and easy to remember) and click Select Folder. Another notable setting here is "First Time Records".
First Time Records basically means the number of post headers that will be downloaded when you add a Newsgroup to your list While this might seem like a trivial setting now, you will find that some groups, depending on the retention on your News Server, will have literally millions of headers to download. This can be very annoying. The default is 500000 headers, this seems like a good option for now, but I just wanted to point in out in case you feel the need to change it later.
Next..
Ok so now we have gotten you setup to start accessing your News Server. The next step is learning how to get a group list, add groups and "look inside them" and download headers.
table of contents
Created: 30 July 2007 Last updated: 4 February 2008
|
|
|
