DumpTruck is owned and managed by Golden Frog. Giganews users currently can log in on the Dumptruck website using their Giganews credentials. The Golden Frog developers plan to release smartphone apps to manage the account on the go to access the core storage itself.

The only interface is simple but effective. New files can be uploaded via drag and drop, or by selecting upload from the toolbar which opens the file browser where one or multiple files can be selected for uploading.

Files can be sorted into folders, or moved, copied and downloaded from the storage space. Uploading at the time of writing was not super fast though, it took for instance more than 10 seconds to upload a 1.6 Megabyte file on a 10 Megabyte per second upload line. Downloads on the other hand are faster, with multiple simultaneous downloads reaching all transfer speeds of 1 Megabyte per second and above.

Dumptruck has no file size limitations. It is perfectly possible to download a file with a size of one, two or even four Gigabytes to the storage service. All uploads and downloads, and stored files, are secured with a 256-bit AES encryption key to make sure that no unauthorized parties can access the files at any time.

Planned features, besides the ones already mentioned, include extra password protection, file sharing with friends, and desktop applications for Mac and Windows to access the files directly from the desktop (not WebDav).

The service is rather bare bones at the moment. Options to stop and resume downloads are missing, as are options to synchronize date automatically between devices. It is however likely that the developers will integrate at least some of the new features in the future. For now, it is basic web storage service.

The option to use WebDav or a third party application for access would change this significantly. It would make file management that much more comfortable. Still, it is another free useful service that is free of charge for all Giganews users.

Update: I have just been told that WebDav is already supported by DumpTruck. Information on how to setup the service under Windows 7 are provided on this page.

Support for WebDav is definitely a game changer. Users can now manage their files comfortable from the system file browser, and not solely from the Internet client.

But Giganews has not only added other services, they have also constantly improved the retention, performance and quality of their core service. The company just a few days ago reached 1200 days of retention for all binary newsgroups. This basically means that Giganews customers have access to information and files that date back almost three and a half year. That’s a big milestone, especially since all those information and files are accessible with the same performance and completion rate (that is 100%).

I honestly cannot say if the 1200 days of retention are more than any other Usenet provider offers, or if the upload and download speeds are faster. It would be very difficulty to prove, considering that you would need accounts with all comparable services on the Internet.

What I do know is that I’m a happy customer. When I download, I max my 50 Mbit connection every time, and I have the feeling that I would also max faster connections.

The most interesting account package is the Diamond package in my opinion. The reason for this is not because of the unlimited Usenet downloads or SSL connections, as other packages offer that as well. The core reason is the free VPN that you get with the package. VyprVPN has servers in several countries that you can connect to, including the United States, United Kingdom and France. If you are not sure what you can do with it, check out this article: Use VyprVPN To Access US-Only Websites or check out the core service review here. As a webmaster, the service is indispensable, for instance to check how your site is ranking in search engines.

The price is still higher than at comparable Usenet providers. If you do not need a VPN or another of the free services you may want to look at the Platinum account instead which is available for $10 less.

Are you making use of the Usenet? If so, what’s the provider and software that you are using?

Most private and public Usenet indexation services (like the public service Binsearch) allow you to download multiple files directly as NZB files that you can then load into your program to start the download. That’s almost like using a download manager for specific file types on the Internet.

NZBGrab is a desktop search engine for Usenet NZB files. You can use it to search three NZB Indexation services on the Internet. It supports the private service NZBs.org and the two public services NZBIndex and Binsearch.

You can use filters at the top to filter results, for instance by specific group, age or minimum and maximum file size. The completed box is handy as it will only display uploaded files that are completely available on the Usenet.

A right-click on a file and the selection of Download > Single Items, Smart or Collection downloads the selected files to the local computer system. You may need to set a download directory first under Settings though.

Users of the free Usenet client SABnzbd can integrate the search directly with their program. This basically sends all selected NZB files directly to the downloader bypassing the need to manually load the NZB into a compatible software.

One interesting feature is the Auto TV option which basically allows you to configure specific tv shows that you want to monitor and download from the Usenet. Please note that this may or may not be legal in your country.

NZBGrab is a handy program for users who prefer a desktop application to search for NZB files. The program seems to lack a universal search option which would search all supported NZB indexers right away. The program regardless of that is responsive and handy, especially so for SABnzbd users.

You can download the latest version of NZBGrab from the developer website. The program is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. If you need a reliable high class Usenet Provider, check out Giganews (that’s what I use).

But what’s data retention exactly? Those of you who have never used the Usenet may have some troubles figuring that out. To simplify things think of the Usenet as a huge network of servers where both text contents and binary contents are uploaded to. You may have heard about Google Groups; That’s a copy of the text content part of the Usenet, at least part of that. You find groups where every imaginable topic is discussed, from the latest recipes to computer programming and manufacturer support. It is like a huge forum with separate categories for every topic.

The binary part of the Usenet is where files are posted with messages, and where other users can reply and download. All Usenet users can post files to the Usenet, which then become available for all other users, provided that their Usenet provider monitors that group for posts, and that the user has an account that allows posting to the Usenet.

That’s almost like a public ftp server where anyone can upload stuff to. Oh, and all users can download the files as well, and read the messages of the uploaders and other users.

The binary part of the Usenet is responsible for the majority of traffic and storage space requirements. Terabytes of data get uploaded to the Usenet each day, which means that providers need lots of storage to store those files for their customers and users. That’s for example nine Petabyte of storage for Giganews customers.

If you know the guys at Giganews, you know that they will not stop there. Plans are to increase storage and retention further.

I have been a Giganews customer for a long time, and never have looked back after my initial signup. The thing that’s probably even more impressive than the 1000 day retention, is that I never had a problem with the service. It was always top notch, top speed with no connection issues whatsoever. Giganews is a premium Usenet provider, which means that they are definitely not the cheapest, but their quality and service is unparalleled if you ask me.

Congratulations Giganews Usenet. Oh, the winners of the 1000 days retention giveaway have been announced as well.

If you want to know what files you can download, try an indexer like binsearch.

Giganews have been constantly working on increasing their service’s retention. Retention? Terabytes of data get uploaded to the Usenet every day, and retention refers to the time that data remains on the provider’s servers and thus accessible for customers of the Usenet provider. A higher retention guarantees that you can download files and messages that have been posted months and even years ago. The 1000-day retention mark for instance gets you access to nearly the last three years of uploads. Compare that to my very first provider who deleted data after a few days.

Giganews will break the 1000-days retention barrier on May 2. To celebrate that event, they are holding a giveaway. All existing Giganews customers are automatically entered in the draw. But the giveaway is not restricted to Giganews customers. The giveaway page lists various options, both for customers and non-customers, to enter the drawing. Prices include a Drobo FS, iPad 2, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

So how can you win? Everyone can enter their name and email address in the form for one entry to the giveaway. Existing Giganews customers can send a message for 50 entries, post about the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook, or use the Usenet client Mimo for additional entries. Non-diamond account holders can upgrade to Diamond to double their entries (they get one per month of membership otherwise).

March is also the last option to lock in the $34.99 Diamond account membership (first month for $17.49 with a 14-day trial period). The price increases by $5 from April on. Still a good deal if you need or want Usenet access and access to a virtual private network.

I currently pay $29.99 for my monthly Diamond account. This payment includes unlimited access to the VPN which is very handy for me, as I need access to a VPN anyway. I use it for instance to watch videos on Hulu or listen to Pandora music. It basically allows me to use services in the United States that are only open to US-users.

I have received an email today from Giganews that states they have added to security options, or modules, to their VPN service. Both cost an extra $5 per month but may be very well worth it. The VPN in its core state can be configured to use L2TP/IPsec or PPTP connections.

The first module adds Open VPN support to the mix. The main benefits of the standard according to Giganews are:

• SSL/TLS encryption standard – the same standard used by secure e-commerce sites
• 256-bit encryption – same strength used by financial institutions
• Consistent speeds over long-distance networks between countries and continents.
• Extremely stable and fast over wireless networks, including Wi-Fi, cellular and wireless ISPs.
• More easily passes through NAT configurations (e.g. wireless routers) and corporate firewalls (traversing)
• Less CPU usage resulting in faster speeds and less latency.

Open VPN promises faster speeds, better latency and a more reliable connection.

The second option is a NAT Firewall which can be added for $5 as well. This is basically a packet filter that blocks inbound connections before they are able to access the PC. The core benefits are that it does not use PC resources (like a software firewall would) and that it blocks attempts to scan or attack the PC and other connected devices.

The two new security modules improve the VyprVPN service further. Open VPN can be an interesting option for users who want to improve the speed and reliability of their VPN connection, the NAT Firewall for users who want to add another virtual security layer.

VyprVPN customers who order both packages get a 20% discount so that they only pay $8 per month for both services.

Giganews is currently running a promotion for their Diamond accounts (which include VyprVPN free of charge). Users who sign up for a free trial pay $14.99 in the first month and a locked $29.99 afterwards. Customers who sign up after March 31 will have to pay $34.99 for the account per month.

Especially the last six month have seen an incredible growth by almost 50% in daily traffic. This increase in traffic, along with the increased retention of data, has made huge investments into new hardware necessary. It is not only the networking infrastructure that required new hardware but also the storage infrastructure to store the additional data that is getting uploaded to the Usenet every day.

Giganews for instance offered a binary data retention of 240 days two years ago, and of 100 days in February 2007. Today the company announced a retention of 900 days which is more than three times the original retention. The actual investments in new hardware needed to go beyond that figure to accommodate the daily traffic increase.

Want to find out more about the Usenet? Check out our guides Newsgroups, the ultimate P2P alternative, List of Usenet Indexing Websites and The best Usenet Search Engines.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Usenet?

Pro:

• Full bandwidth utilization
• Binary retention is longer than on comparable services, e.g. file hosting
• No P2P, which means no direct connections to other users of the service
• SSL encryption standard

Cons:

• A software is required, see Newsbin (commercial), Mimo (free for Giganews customers) for example.
• Accounts usually cost a monthly fee unless the ISP / Organization offers free Usenet access.

Giganews is currently offering 14-day trials and adds 50% off of the first month of Diamond accounts to that for new customers. Diamond accounts get a VPN free of charge with their account which for instance can be used by people from outside the United States to access US-only services such as Pandora or Hulu.

What’s the solution? Easy. You make the location checker script on the website believe that you are from the US. How is that done? There are a few options available, but the most reliable so far is by using Virtual Private Networks. This sounds intimidating at first, and complicated to setup, when in fact it is not.

Setup basically revolves around setting up another Internet connection, which is done in less than a minute on Windows. Not a big deal.

The biggest hurdle is to find a suitable VPN for this task. There are free ones out there, but those limit the bandwidth and it is usually not a pleasure to watch anything with them. Commercial vpns are the solution. Prices ranges from a few bucks to $20-30 for the most part. Usually, what you get is what you pay for. If you except to be able to watch streaming media 24/7 by paying $2.99 you are definitely wrong. But you can get a decent setup for around $10 a month, and that includes all the other benefits that vpns offer.

VyprVPN is a solution that sets you back about $14.99 per month. That is, unless you are a Giganews user who has a Diamond account subscription. If that is the case, you get VyprVPN free of charge as a bonus.

Lets take a look at how easy VyprVPN can be configured:

• Open Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel
• Go to the Windows Menu, then Control Panel, Click on Network and Internet, Click on Network and Sharing Center
• Click Setup a new connection or network
• Choose Connect to a workplace then Next
• Click Use my Internet Connection (VPN)
• Enter one of the following names in the Internet address: field:
  us1.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Los Angeles, CA
  us2.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Washington, DC
  eu1.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Amsterdam
  hk1.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Hong Kong
• Type VyprVPN in the Destination name: field
• Check Don’t connect now then Next
• Type in your Golden Frog Login (e-mail address) and Password in their respective fields; leave Domain blank
• Check Remember this password
• Click Create and then Close

Connecting to VyprVPN

• In the Windows Taskbar, click on the Network icon
• Click on VyprVPN, then click on the Connect button
• Type in your Golden Frog Login (e-mail address) and Password in their respective fields
• Click Connect

As you can see, it is an easy to follow process.

Lets take a look at other benefits of using a vpn connection:

• A VPN connection replaces the local computer’s IP with an IP of the VPN server. Websites and users do not see the local IP address.
• All Internet traffic gets encrypted, reducing eavesdropping possibilities in local networks and ISP.
• Protection from data snooping on public and wireless networks.

With the VPN connection setup and connected, it is now possible to access all US sites as if you were in the United States. VyprVPN offers two different locations in the US, one in Amsterdam, Europe and one in Hong Kong, Asia.

The addition of VyprVPN free of charge to Giganews Diamond account owners was a pleasant surprise, and something that you do not see very often these days. This basically allows me to access US-only contents whenever I want, free of additional charges. This allowed me to cancel the subscription to my previous VPN service to consolidate services and save $15 per month in the process.

Something to think about for users who work both with a VPN and a Usenet account. Non-Giganews customers can get more information about VyprVPN at the GoldenFrog website.

Mimo is a new Usenet client by Golden Frog. The client is available exclusively for Giganews Diamond customers from November 1 onwards.

Giganews has announced changes to their pricing structure, which should be mentioned here before we continue with the review:

• Diamond $34.99 (as of 1/1/2011)- Unlimited Usenet (downloads, speed) with 50 SSL Connections, VyprVPN, MIMO Usenet Browser and Search (BETA). Please note the price for Diamond will remain at $29.99 with a discount of 50% off for the first month at $14.99 for the rest of 2010, but on January 1, 2011 it will change to the new price.
• Platinum $24.99- Unlimited Usenet (downloads, speed) with 20 SSL Connections. For people who want just Giganews Premium unlimited and secure Usenet without he belles and whistles!
• Silver $14.99- Usenet access 50GB, unlimited speed + 20 SSL Connections
• Bronze $9.99 – Usenet access 10GB, unlimited speed + 20 SSL Connections
• Pearl $4.99 3GB + 20 SSL Connections

Nothing changes for existing Giganews users as they will pay the old prices for as long as they remain a member. New users who sign up for an account in 2010 also benefit from the old pricing structure. I’ve already mentioned that Diamond account users are the only users who can make use of the new newsgroups software Mimo. That’s in addition to the VPN connection to the US and Europe they get as well, free of charge.

Mimo

If you are a Diamond user you can download Mimo from the official homepage. Please note that you need to supply your Giganews login credentials before you can use the program. Non-Diamond account owners will receive an error during account validation, Diamond users from November 1 on will be able to use the software.

Mimo offers browsing, searching and using newsgroups. The program is divided into three main areas.

The left sidebar, which can be hidden by clicking on the left arrow icon displays favorite newsgroups of the user. It is possible to add and remove groups from the listing easily.

A click on a newsgroup opens the latest contents of the group in the right content area. Posts are displayed with their subject, type, date they have been posted and user who posted them.

A click on any post opens it in the lower half of the screen. This is similar to how many email programs handle messaging.

It is now possible to reply, email the poster, forward the message to email, block the poster or download file attachments if available. The option to download all file attachments at once is available, as well as the option to download individual attachments.

An alternative to that is the ability to load nzb files directly in the software. These files are directly downloaded once they have been added to Mimo. That’s great for users who do not browse newsgroups regularly but handle most of the downloading via nzb. Mimo will furthermore unpack rar files automatically, and try to recover broken files. Both of these options can be unselected from the program’s settings.

One of the most powerful features of Mimo is the ability to search for files on all groups. For that, the program uses its own Golden Frog Usenet Search engine and the third party NZBIndex service.

Search is pretty fast and it is possible to filter the results by size or age. Users who just want to get inspirations can use the group search, or browse all available groups. Groups can be added to the favorites, or accessed directly without adding them.

Mimo makes use of the Giganews Accelerator to speed up header retrieval (by using compression), and SSL to protect the connection from third parties.

Mimo Newsreader is not as sophisticated as Newsbin, but it offers a lot as a free alternative. Especially the Usenet search option is well implemented in the software.

Giganews is currently running a 50% off of the first month for new Diamond account customers. There is also a 14-day trial period for new users. Mimo is available for Windows and Mac.

The invention of the NZB format changed that. An NZB file contains information about all files that are part of an upload. This means that it was possible from then on to load the NZB file to initiate the download of all files of that package.

Even better was the fact that it was also the birth of Usenet indexers, who crawl the Usenet for files and offer on the fly nzb creations (check out our list of Usenet indexing sites)

nzb newsgroups downloader

The Usenet client had to support the NZB format, which nowadays most clients do. You may remember from previous posts that we are really fond of Newsbin, a commercial Usenet software, that supports nzb files and a lot more.

Those users who prefer a free bare bones alternative might find find a suitable program in HelloNZB, a NZB newsgroups downloader. The free program specializes in NZB files, which makes it very simple to use and configure. The specialization has a few disadvantages as well, more about that later in the review.

The Java application needs to be configured prior to usage. The first step is the configuration of a Usenet server under Server Settings in the preferences.

We recommend the premium Usenet provider Giganews, but there are cheaper alternatives available as well, and some Internet users may even be lucky enough to have free access to a Usenet server, courtesy of the ISP.

The program accepts NZB files after the initial configuration, which can be loaded from the program interface. There is unfortunately no drag and drop support at this point in the development.

All NZB files are loaded into the NZB queue. The files are displayed on the right and the connection information at the bottom. A click on the start button initiates the downloads.

HelloNZB is a very basic Usenet software. It lacks many features that experienced users require, including the ability to configure multiple servers, the ability to browse groups manually, different download directories, thumbnail previews, speed limitations or an option to automatically process downloaded files so that they are unpacked to a directory.

Still, users with an Usenet account who only download files occasionally may want to give HelloNZB a try. It is easy to use which makes it suitable for users of all experience levels.

600 days is a high number, almost two years of data that the folks at Giganews keep on their servers, Even more important than that number is the availability of the data. Some providers with that high retentions host many incomplete files as a downside. Giganews on the other hand owns the hardware and technique making it an effective and reliable solution bringing 100% uptime, full completion and no speed limits to the user.

Giganews Diamond account owners (that’s the highest account available) recently got a nice bonus added to their accounts in the form of a VPN account at VyprVPN which runs servers in the US and UK with no additional costs attached.

Why am I writing about Giganews and not other providers? Because I have been with Giganews for years and never looked back from that point on. If there is one paid service that I recommend on the Internet then it is this one. Enough said.

Users who would like to read up on an alternative can look at Joe’s article here on Ghacks to do so.

Giganews are currently running a 50% off promotion for new Diamond account owners. If you signup you only pay half the price for the first month.

VyprVPN is now officially out of beta and the good news is that it remains free for those Giganews users. We have reviewed VyprVPN in the past, let me fill you in on the details if you have not read that review.

VyprVPN is a virtual private network that users can connect to. Giganews offers servers in the United States and in the United Kingdom. It is usually better to log into the VPN servers nearer to the physical location unless specific contents need to be accessed that have a country restriction.

This is for instance the case when a user tries to access Hulu or Pandora Radio in the United States or iPlayer content in the UK.

VyprVPN has been improved since we last reviewed it. Speeds and reliability has increased and it is now possible to view HD content without connection interruptions or slow loading times. But VPNs offer more than just the ability to access content on the Internet that is restricted to a country or region: Virtual Private Networks use encryption to secure the Internet connection between the user’s home computer and the target server.

Users who do not want a Giganews Diamond account can purchase a VyprVPN account directly at the Golden Frog website for the price of $14.99 per month. The offer is not online yet but will be soon.

Giganews users can visit the VyprVPN website at Giganews for instructions on how to configure the VPN on their computer system.

A virtual private network on the other hand replaces the user’s IP with its own so that the servers and users that the user connects to only see that IP and not the real one. This is also beneficial for services that only allow access to their service from specific countries. If the vpn is offering servers in the country then the service can be used. That’s great for services like Hulu, Pandora, BBC and many other streaming video or audio related services.

VyprVPN is a virtual private network service by the company that is providing the world’s best Usenet service Giganews. The service is currently in beta and all Giganews Diamond customers have been invited to test it free of charge. The vpn service will remain free at least until June of this year.

* Private web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, newsgroup reading, and more — totally secure from ISP, wireless or neighborhood eavesdropping
* The ability to choose a US or European online identity
* Protection from data snooping and identity theft on public Wi-Fi hotspots, iPhones, PDAs, and cable Internet
* The same access to all of your favorite applications you enjoy today

The connection to the vpn service needs to be created manually by the user. A detailed explanation is provided for various operating systems including Windows XP, Windows 7 and Mac OSX. Two different server clusters are currently provided that the VyprVPN user can connect to: Los Angeles in the United States and Amsterdam in Europe. It would be nice if additional locations would be provided including the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.

The selection of the vpn server is relevant in several ways. First, it is the server’s IP that is used to connect to the servers worldwide. Users who want to access a US only service like Hulu or Pandora need to select the Los Angeles connection to do so. But the distance between the user’s location and the server’s location is also relevant for the user’s connection. Everything that the user does is first routed to the vpn server and then to the destination.

Virtual private networks should be able to deliver sufficient speeds so that the usual Internet activities experience no lag or interrupted connections. The streaming video and audio connections that we tried worked fine and without interruptions most of the time. Sometimes lags were noticed and we had to wait a few seconds before the streaming media would continue to play. This is something that the developer’s should work on but since VyprVPN is currently in beta it is likely that this will be taken care of.

The only users who can currently test VyprVPN are Giganews Diamond customers who can use it for free until June 30, 2010. It is likely that the service will go released to the public in the next month. We will keep you updated once this happens and see how the service has been changed and improved in that time.

Binary groups allow users to post files with their posts while textual groups do not. The main difference between forums and the Usenet is the decentralized system of the Usenet. There is no administrator or central server in the Usenet, everything is handled by independent servers that exchange data with each other.

Usenet access is provided by so called Usenet providers. Back in the days a lot of Internet Service Providers offered Usenet access but today there are only a few that do. Most stopped offering Usenet access due to the costs involved to operate or lease the infrastructure.

Public Usenet servers exist but they tend to come and go and are not as reliable as they need to be to be a good alternative.

The only other choice are Usenet Service Providers like Giganews. Giganews is respected in the Usenet community for its quality service. They might not be the cheapest provider around but they make more than up for it by providing their users with the best quality possible.

Users who are evaluating Usenet providers need to consider several factors beyond the monthly charges that they have to pay for the access. The most important factors are:

• Traffic Limits: How many Gigabytes can be downloaded per month?
• Connection Limits: How many simultaneous connections are allowed?
• Encryption: Does the Usenet Provider offer encryption?
• Data Retention: For how long are the Usenet articles stored on the servers?
• Speed Limits: What’s the average and maximum speed that users get?
• Completion: Are the files that are uploaded complete?
• Censorship: Are the newsgroups uncensored?

Giganews, as a top provider, is offering some of the best – if not the best – values.

• Traffic Limits: Up to unlimited traffic
• Connection Limits: Up to 50 simultaneous connections
• Encryption: 256 AES encryption offered
• Data Retention: 498 days of binary articles are stored by Giganews and almost 3000 days of textual articles
• Speed Limits: 50 Mbit+ (this is the limit of our test connection to the Internet, it may very well be even faster than that). Giganews operates servers in the United States, Asia and Europe to provide users with faster access times to the servers.
• Completion: One of the best completion rates in the industry. Completion rate is greater than 99% (rest can be usually handled with so called parity files)
• Censorship: Giganews provides access to over 109,000 uncensored newsgroups.

What you need:

The requirements that are needed to access the Usenet are one of the main reasons that it has not reached mainstream yet:

• Usenet Access: Access to a Usenet server is needed obviously. We recommend Giganews but there are other providers out there as well.
• Usenet Client: Several mail and chat programs offer access to the textual groups but the binary groups require a client that is able to handle those. One of those clients is Newsbin Pro which we have reviewed in last Christmas’ Giveaway. It is a commercial software but there are free alternatives like Alt.Binz available as well

Usenet Preview:

If you do not know what you get then you’d probably do not want to pay for access to the Usenet. There are several options on how to get a preview. Option one is to make use of the free trial option that Giganews offers.

Another option is to use a Usenet search engine like Binsearch to search for files that are of interest.

Personal Experience:

I have been accessing the Usenet for more than ten years and was switching Usenet providers constantly back in the beginning because they did not offer what they advertised. That is, until I signed up for Giganews for the first time which I have been now for several years.

I never – and I really mean never – had connection, retention or speed problems other than the occasional ten minute period when your Internet Provider drops your Internet connection and you get a new IP.

The release of the Giganews Accelerator made my life a lot easier as it was now possible to download the compressed headers which bumped the speed to 4-10 times the value that uncompressed headers where delivered.

I know one thing and that is that I will stick with Giganews for as long as they continue to provide this excellent service.

Christmas Giveaway

We have a very special offer today. Giganews was nice enough to provide us with three free one-year accounts.

1 Diamond account
1 Silver account
1 Bronze account

Please leave a comment below to be included in the draw. Let us know about your Usenet experience.

Raju is giving away Disk Rescue 2009 licenses, make sure to check out his giveaway as well.

The main reason is quality and experience. Usenet providers who offer bargain accounts might run into problems eventually that might lead to situations with to many users and to little resources so that the aforementioned connection and download problems appear again.

Giganews is the quality Usenet provider and I’m more than happy to pay for that quality. What I like is that you can cap your line day and night without problems no matter if it is a 16 Mbit connection or a 50 Mbit connection (if I would have access to 100 Mbit I would love to test their servers then as well). They provide a tool called Giganews Accelerator that uses compression to download newsgroup headers 6-10 times as fast. Everyone who ever downloaded more than a million pages from a group knows how long this can take without compression.

Giganews has now reached the milestone of 400 days of data retention. This means that they keep the data that gets uploaded to the Usenet for 400 days on their servers. This must be an unbelievable amount of data as upload traffic per day exceeds several Terabytes (Giganews mentioned it exceeds 5 Terabytes per day in February 2009) these days. 400 days of retention means that Giganews users can go back and search in those 400 days for data that they would like to download.

You guys know that I never advertise services on Ghacks unless I personally use and like them. Giganews is one of the few that I can recommend to anyone. They constantly improve their service and never let me down in the past.

Here is a short list of what you need to get started working with the Usenet:

• You need a Usenet Provider that is providing the access to the Usenet. I recommend Giganews but there are others out there as well.
• You need a software program to access the Usenet. I personally use the commercial Newsbin Pro client but there are free ones out there like Alt.Binz or Grabit.
• You need some good Usenet search engines. You can use these search engines to search for files that have been posted to the Usenet. Users who are interested in getting a Usenet account might want to use these search engines first to see what the Usenet has to offer.

And that’s it. There are lots of guides and tutorials out there that help Usenet newcomers. If you have any questions let me know and I try to answer them in the comments here.

This web interface can be used to browse, search and download files from newsgroups. It supports nzb files which can be imported and exported. Other features include making use of multiple connections to a newsgroups server if that is supported by the server, using encryption if it is supported, downloading newsgroups headers, schedule updates of newsgroups, preview nfo and jpg files and smarty template support.

A few things are not supported yet like being able to upload to newsgroups or reading posts in non alt.binaries newsgroups. The web interface works with many popular newsgroups providers including Giganews, Astraweb and Newszilla.

The program itself has to be installed on a computer system running Linux, preferably a web server. Installation support is provided for Debian and Ubuntu with installation on other Linux distributions being similar.

Download to your debian-based (e.g. Debian or Ubuntu) linux PC.
Doubleclick on the file to install, or alternatively run:

# sudo dpkg -i urd_0.6.2-1_all.deb

(This will install URD in /usr/share/urd, and add an apache alias for /urd to that directory)

Change PHP's max memory usage:

# sudo vi /etc/php5/cli/php.ini
memory_limit = 128M

Uncomment the include path (for Smarty):

# sudo vi /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
include_path = ".:/usr/share/php"

Then go to http://localhost/urd/ and follow the installation instructions.

Usenet Resource Downloader could be an interesting application for users who want to download or browse newsgroups through a web interface.

Currently about 5 Terabyte of data gets uploaded by users world wide to the Usenet, a figure that is surely about to increase as the popularity of Usenet services rise. Giganews is currently running so called Usenet trials which offer the first three months of Usenet access of some of their Usenet plans for half the usual price. Users can for example get an unmetered unlimited download plan for $12.49 or the premium Diamond plan with additional SSL encryption and 20 consecutive connections for $14.99.

What do you get for that? If you have never heard about Usenet or Newsgroups before you might be wary about joining a Usenet provider. That’s understandable. A good start is to take a look at our Usenet Search article which contains links to several Usenet Search Engines. They can be used just like any other search engine. Just enter a name in the search form and look at the results. Downloads are only possible with a Usenet account and a software client for Usenet. There are several choices, we outlined one in our Usenet Client article.

Giganews are running trial offers right now that reduce the price of their two most popular Usenet accounts by 50% for the first three months. That means that you can get their most popular account (the one that I’m using btw.) for $14.99 instead of $29.99. The account will get you unlimited bandwidth, 256-bit SSL encryption and 20 connections to their services which usually means full speed downloads even for fast Internet connections. I cap at 1.8 Megabytes per second with my 16 Mbit connection and 10 connections to Giganews.

Users who want to test the Usenet account do need a Usenet client as well to be able to connect to the Usenet servers. There are a few free clients available like Alt.Binz. That’s all that is needed to get everyone started with Usenet. Some additional tips include using the Giganews Accelerator to speed up header retrieval from Giganews servers and to take a look at the Usenet Search article to access some of the best search engines available to find the files that you are looking for.

The Giganews accounts come all with a 14-day free trial period for extra safety. You will not be charged if you quit in that period and followed the rules outlined on the Giganews pages.

Here is the list of steps again:

• Visit the Giganews website and signup for an account.
• Download Alt.Binz or another Usenet client.
• Download Giganews Accelerator to speed up header retrieval
• Use Usenet search engines to find the files that you are looking for.

I think that the offer is a fair one especially for new users who never accessed Usenet in their life. Keep in mind that the monthly price changes to the usual after the first three months though.

Giganews is quite expensive, costing $25/month for a unlimited package. The retention and speed made up for this, but I have recently started to investigate alternative.

A friend referred me to Newshosting, a USENET provider which is beginning to roll out 250 day retention. Newshosting is slightly cheaper than Giganews, costing $15/month for an unlimited package. This sounded really good, but I decided to check alternatives.

On Newzleech, I spotted that Astraweb are increasing their retention to 270 days. Astraweb costs the same as Newshosting, $15/month for an unlimited package (or $10/month for a package with unlimited downloads capped at 1Mbit/second). However, Astraweb also offers a pay-as-you-go scheme; users can pay $10 for 25GB bandwidth or $25 for 120GB which they can use over any period of time. This is useful for light downloaders who download more than the cheapest packages Giganews provide for but only use about half of their monthly allowance. At the time of writing Astraweb are currently providing discounts, $11/month for an unlimited package.

Unfortunately, these increased retentions are not being provided at the moment. Rather, every day instead of deleting the one they would usually delete they are keeping it, waiting until they catch up with their promised retentions. Astraweb announced their increased retention from 160 days to 270 days on 31 Dec, so we’ll have to wait until mid-March until we can enjoy the full retentions.

Both Newshosting and Astraweb have American and European servers and Astraweb provides free SSL with all packages (on Giganews and Newshosting there’s an extra fee for SSL).

I cannot vouch for either service personally, although a trusted person has given me nothing but positive reviews for Newshosting.

Today’s giveaway is one of the few software products that I have bought. I usually rely on free software but this one is in my opinion the best of its kind. Newsbin Pro is a binary newsreader. It handles downloads from the Usenet. I really do not want to get into details about the Usenet in this thread, only this much: You do need access to a Usenet server to work with Newsbin Pro. One reliable (and many say the best) Usenet provider is Giganews which I use for several years as well.

The Newsbin Pro client has been developed over years and several useful features have been added to it. But first things first. If you start the Usenet client for the first time you have to add a Usenet server and some groups of that server to the client. The useful options begin right at this stage by providing SSL support, slave and fill servers and header compression. The maximum amount of connections can be configured during server setup as well.

Groups can be added in the Groups > Add Groups menu. The client will download all groups available on the server and provides filters to find the desired groups easily.

The interface can be customized beyond what is usually possible. All window elements can be positioned for maximum screen estate. Newsbin Pro uses tabs to display the additional data. The bottom window can for instance contain the download queue, downloaded files, failed files, status, thumbnails (if you are downloading images) and more. That’s very efficient because everything is accessible in the main interface.

Newsbin Pro provides access to several features that reduce the work of the user. It includes for example automatic rar and par processing, split-file processing, automatic header updates, extensive options to sort downloads into folders, support of mp3 id3v2 tags, an image viewer and download prioritization.

It obviously supports the common features of Usenet clients like nzb integration, speed limits, extensive filters and ban options.

Support is fast and good. I did encounter problems after moving from one computer to another but they were quickly solved by the support team and the crowded forum. Linux users will be happy to know that the forum has a Linux section as the client is apparently running fine under Wine. Windows users with 32-bit or 64-bit editions of 2000, XP or Vista will also be able to run the software.

Five licenses for Newsbin Pro are up for grabs. All you need to do is reply in the comments. It would be nice if you would mention your current Usenet provider and client that you are using and what you think of them.

Update: The guys at Giganews spotted the post and are sponsoring five one month Diamond accounts. These accounts will be given to five additional users who commented on the thread.. Please note that you need to signup at Giganews and mail me their Giganews username which I pass on to make sure that they do not pay for the first month (there is no obligation to after that month). You should also note that you need to be at least 18 years of age to signup for the account.