The 3 main areas we need to address to get started...

1. News Reading client

There are many of these some people get by using outlook Express but as there are many free clients available with some great features it's advisable to download a decent one, the two i use are Xnews and Newsleecher. Xnews is very good for a free client with some great features Newsleecher is a step above Xnews (and all other clients imo) you can download Newsleecher and try it out for a month but if you like it then you will need to pay a small amount after the trial period to continue using it.

Newsleecher is very easy to use and understand with great user support so for someone new to usenet this is the 1 to try 1st. You can check out the tutorials i have made for both of these here which should be enough to get you on your way, all you need to know for now is that a news reading client is a must as this is the program that retrieves all the contents of the newsgroups you want to browse.

NewsLeecher and Xnews are just 2 news reading clients that are about but you can find links to all the other main clients here also (Newsbin pro is another popular 1) if you should so wish to try any of them. Hopefully in the near future i will add tutorials for some of them also.

2. Newsgroup Provider

Two ways to approach this you can either use your ISP newsgroups, nearly all ISP's have free newsgroups for their customers although many groups may be missing and retention and completion may be poor. Another problem i often hear concerning people wanting to try out their ISP newsgroup is that it isnt always easy to find out the details you need to connect to them, mainly the address (i.e mine is "news.ntlworld.com") the logon (username and password) should be the same 1 that your ISP gave you when you joined them. Some ISP's are more helpfull than others on this matter. So the preferred method is to use a premium newsgroup provider, for a small amount you get far superior service. You can find a comprehensive list of Premium providers with price comparisons and what they offer for your money on the "Newsgroup Providers" page.

3. Parity files

Parity files are an ingenious method devised to get around the problems that can occur when large files are transferred over the internet as sometimes files can arrive incomplete or corrupt, this is when parity files come to the rescue. Almost everyone that uses usenet will need to use par files at sometime so it's important to understand how these work and what they do. They come in 2 varieties..par 1 (largely redundant now) and par 2's which are the common method used today. Check out my "Par File Guide " for a more complete run down on what they are and how to use them.

So now we have gone over the basics and hopefully you have downloaded a news reading client and you are armed with your newgroup provider details and are ready to go lets move onto the tutorials.

Note: If i use any words or terms that you don't know or understand then check out the jargon busting section which should shed a little light on what is ment.

• Usenet Etiquette

You must always remember that whatever files are posted to the groups you view they are not yours by right. Enthusiasts who enjoy sharing with others, make them available free of charge (and at some risk to themselves). No one owes you anything.

We are extremely fortunate that numerous posters contribute a wide variety of formats. This doesn't just happen, it takes a lot of work and is very time consuming. Each encode posted represents many hours of processing and uploading time. Some formats are provided specifically in response to the needs of some downloaders and are not intended for you and i so accept it.

Nothing is asked of you in return for these efforts, except respect for the other members of the groups. Good manners and mature, polite behavior will gain you more respect than Inflammatory, abusive, or rude posts. Highly critical negative comments about the quality or types of encodes or posts available will just make yourself look bad and unappreciative. Overly abusive comments towards posters or groups have, in the past, caused some to stop posting. None of us wants that. With no post available, there are no groups!

People posting such attacks will be most probably be kill filled/plonked by the majority of a groups members. This will almost certainly lead to no repost or requests to be filled for you in the future.

If you don't like the quality of a specific poster or groups work, then don't download those files. Many posters welcome constructive criticism about their efforts. But keep such comments pleasant, and provide specific suggestions regarding what you think could be improved. Otherwise, keep your comments to yourself. Derogatory criticism serves no useful purpose. Keep in mind that numerous factors influence the final result of digital captures some, such as source quality, are beyond the posters control. Only the poster can truly judge the quality of their posts, and each makes personal choices about what pleases them. It's my experience that most posters are their own harshest critics, constantly striving to improve their products. So appreciate their efforts.