"Kingpin" wrote
To assemble a multi-part post using Outlook Express,
click part 1, then, while holding down the Ctrl key,
click each of the remaining parts. When you have
highlighted the last part, Right click and choose
"Combine and Decode." Make sure all parts are in
order in the window that pops up, then click "OK."
When all parts have downloaded and been decoded,
a window will appear with the File Icon in the
bottom left corner (OE4) or in the "Attach"
line (OE5 & 6). Right click on the icon, choose
"save as" and, within the browser window that
appears, choose "Desktop" as the place to initially
save it. If you want to keep it, you can later CUT and
PASTE it from Desktop to any folder you want.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In OE4 it is possible to download
a multi-part binary while simultaneously reading or
posting to other NGs, or reading/sending email -- But:
in the "upgraded" OE5 & 6, downloading a multi-part file
makes the program UNUSABLE for most other functions
while the process goes on; so, if you frequently want to
download multi-part binary files, it's more practical
to use a dedicated news reading and posting program,
such as Agent (free trial):
http://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.htm
or 40tude Dialog (free)
http://www.40tude.com/dialog/
or Xnews (free):
http://xnews.newsguy.com/
or Gravity (free):
http://lightning.prohosting.com/~tba...ty/start1.html
for downloading binaries.
Also, for ~$40, there is Newsbin, which is strictly
for downloading binaries (no text):
http://www.newsbin.com/ .
You could still use OE 4, 5, or 6 as an email program
and to view/post to text-only NGs, while using one of
the above programs to retrieve binaries.
About yEnc:
yEnc is a type of binary-to-text encoding that has much
less text "overhead" (about 3% more than the actual file
size) than Uuencoded files (about 30% more than actual
file size). For example, a 10 MB video file will be -- when
converted to text for uploading and downloading:
With yEnc: 10.3 MB -- With Uuencoding: 13 MB.
So, it's easy to see why it's more efficient for both
uploaders and downloaders to use yEnc.
Unfortunately, OE does not internally decode yEnc
encoded binaries, and never will because Microsoft
just doesn't give a shit about OE as a newsreader.
You must use a 3rd-party program to achieve this, the
easiest being yProxy:
http://www.brawnylads.com/software/ , but 3rd-party
software is cumbersome at best. Since most multipart
binaries are uploaded using yEnc, you really need to
install and learn to use a dedicated news reader that
decodes yEnc internally -- see the list above above
(or do a search for "newsreaders").
About RARs and PARs:
RAR is widely used to archive multimedia type files (.avi,
..mpg, .mov, .rm, etc.) splitting them into sequentially
numbered RAR parts. You need WinRar to decompress
and reassemble the archive so that the multimedia file
can be extracted:
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
(shareware, but always usable, even after the trial period).
Tutorial:
http://www.slyck.com/ng.php?page=5
PAR or PAR2 files are "wild card" type files used to
replace any RAR files that are incomplete/missing
due to poor propagation by a news server.
Tutorial:
http://www.slyck.com/ng.php?page=6
Sometimes, files are split into parts that have extensions
like .001, .002, etc. -- you need a split-file type program
to reassemble the parts, like Master Splitter:
http://www.tomasoft.com/
Also, if you're going to download a lot of
binaries, it's good to subscribe to a premium
news service that has high article completion
and long article retention -- the gold standard
of premium news service being Giganews
(close to 100% article completion -- Par files
almost never needed; up to *90 days* retention):
http://www.giganews.com/
A bit lesser, but "good" news service is Easynews:
http://www.easynews.com/
So, to sum up, what you need is:
1--A "real," yEnc-capable newsreader
2--WinRar
3--Quickpar (to handle Par or Par2 files)
and, optionally...
4--An NFO (text file describing the binary upload) reader,
such as the free Getinfo (here's a Direct Download link
for that program:
ftp://ftp.sac.sk/pub/sac/utilmisc/getinfo.zip )
5--Subscribe to a premium news service
