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Contents 1 What are NZB Files 2 NZB File Processing 2.1 Drag and Drop 2.2 Manual Load 2.3 Auto Load 2.4 Launch 2.5 NZB File Download Matrix

What are NZB Files

The traditional process of downloading headers from a group, and then selecting items from that group suffers from a number of drawbacks:

• It can be very time and effort intensive to look through the headers downloaded, especially in large groups that can get millions of new headers every day. Specialist downloading programs such as Newsbin try and help by consolidating all the headers that belong to a single post (file) into a single line in the Post lists, but this can still leave a lot of entries to examine for items of interest.

• Downloading headers can consume a lot of bandwidth. This is of particular concern to those who have slow links, or are capped in the amount they are allowed to download from their news servers.
• Very often the subjects used in the headers are cryptic and it can be difficult to work out what a post really refers to.
• The items that of interest to you may be available, but not in the groups you have decided to examine so you do not find them.

To address this issue the concept of Usenet Indexing sites developed. They basically act by:

• Downloading headers into their own databases. Exactly which groups are covered can vary by the indexing sites, but the larger commercial ones cover all the non-trivial binary groups

• Amalgamating similar headers in a similar way that Newsbin does with headers to give a single entry representing all the related underluying headers.
• Use both automated and manual methods to attach meaningfull search terms to entries irrespective of what the subject lines say. This allows items with crytpic subjects to be found more easily.
• Providing powerful and fast search facilities to their users.
• Making the search facilities work independently of groups so that users can find the items whatever group they were posted to on Usenet.
• Provide facilities for downloading the results of searches in a format that the binary News Readers can use directly as an alternative to downloading headers.

Initially there were various proprietary formats for downloading the results of searches on the indexing sites. Very quickly it was realized that to get the maximum benefit and to get most binary downloaders to be able to use search results a standardized format was required. This NZB file format has now beome the de-facto format used by the indexing sites and most of the major binary downloading programs now support this. Newsbin 5 in particular has very powerful support for using NZB files.

NZB files contain all the information necessary for NewsBin to download files from Usenet. They can therefore be used as an alternative to downloading headers to get the details of particular posts. There are a number of sources for NZB files, both from free and pay sites.

There are also a wide variety of free sites that provide NZB files - typically covering specific topic areas. These tend to come and go, so a search via Google using a term like NZB Sites is probably the best way to find such sites.

Note that does not mean there is not still a reason for downloading headers. It is possible that you have some specialist interests and the groups that cater to these interests are not covered by the Indexing site(s) you use. Sometimes the search terms the indexing sites uses are not perfect and a manual examination of the headers allows you to find items you might have missed using the indexing site. However, the convenience factor of indexing sites and the associated NZB files are such that many Usenet users no longer bother to download headers.

NZB File Processing

There are 4 primary ways to import an NZB file for processing:

Drag and Drop

Simply drag the NZB File onto NewsBin. The file will be processed one of two ways depending on the state of the Download Manual Load NZB's option on the NZB Files Configuration screen.

• On NZB files dragged onto NewsBin will be entered into the download list for download immediately. If the Download PARs setting (under Options/Switches) is turned on, PAR files (except for the smallest PAR of the set) will be entered into the Scratch List. If it is off, all posts are sent to the Download List for downloading.

• Off NZB files dragged onto NewsBin are entered into a Post List named after the NZB Filename. Files can then be acted upon just like a normal Post List. The Download Matrix below is followed because the posts originated from an NZB File.

Manual Load

Load the NZB using one of the following methods:

• Load NZB's option under the File Menu
• Load Button on Standard Toolbar (First on left)
• Load NZB Button on Compact Toolbar

The file will be processed one of two ways depending on the state of the Download Manual Load NZB's option on the NZB Files Configuration screen.

• On NZB files dragged onto NewsBin will be entered into the download list for download immediately. If the Download PARs setting (under Options/Switches) is turned on, PAR files (except for the smallest PAR of the set) will be entered into the Scratch List. If it is off, all files are dumped into the Download List for downloading.

• Off NZB files dragged onto NewsBin are entered into a Post List named after the NZB Filename. Files can then be acted upon just like a normal Post List. The Download Matrix below is followed because the posts originated from an NZB File.

Auto Load

For many people this is the easiest and most effecient way to use NZB files.

To use this option simply put the NZB file in the folder specifed by the Autoload NZB Path setting in the NZB Files Options Screen and the contents of the NZB file will be automatically entered into the Download List for downloading. If you use ZIP'ed NZB files, then set the Check Zip files in Autoload folder option NZB Files Options Screen. The reason the procesisng of ZIP files is is optional is that quite a few users have stated that the way they use Newsbin means they like to keep ZIP files which they do not want processed in the NZB autoload folder.

If the Add PARS to Scratch setting in the Switches Options screen is turned on, PAR files (except for the smallest PAR of the set) will be entered into the Scratch List. If it is off, all files are dumped into the Download List for downloading.

When a NZB file has been processed from the NZB Autoload folder it is moved into the Loaded sub-folder in case you want the NZB file again at a later date. Note that at the moment there is no automatic housekeeping of files in this location, so you might want to go in periodically and delete any you know you no longer need.

The NZB Autoload facility option follows the download settings as shown in the matrix below.

Launch

If you used the NewsBin installer when you originally installed NewsBin, and enabled the NZB File Association option during install, then if you do one of the following:

• Open a NZB File via Windows Explorer. This can be done by double-clicking or using Open from the right-click context menu.
• Select the Open option in a web browser when downloading a NZB file

the contents are loaded.

Whether the file is loaded into a Post list or directly to the Download list for downloading is controlled by the Download Double-clicked NZB setting under the NZB Files Options screen.

If adding directly to the Download list then if the Add PARS to Scratch setting in the Switches Options screen is turned on, PAR files (except for the smallest PAR of the set) will be entered into the Scratch List. If it is off, all files are dumped into the Download List for downloading.

The NZB Launch option follows the download settings as shown in the matrix below.

NZB File Download Matrix

Matrix showing which settings are honored based on load styles

NZB Load Style	Apply Global Folder Mode	NZB Folder Mode	Global Path	Download Double-Clicked NZB's	Load NZBs to one Post List
Drag and Drop	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Manual Load	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Auto Load	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Launch	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

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