Quick Instructions (Text Version)

Getting Started

1. Once your registration is complete, you will receive the following 2 emails:

• The “Welcome to Binverse! / Authentication information” email will have the access data for the Members' Area on the Binverse website.
• The “Binverse Software Access Data” email contains your username and password for the Binverse Software and news servers.

2. Binverse Software download and installation:

• Download and install the Binverse software here: Download Now (Install Microsoft.NET if prompted. It is necessary for installing the Binverse software).
• The Binverse software will launch automatically once the installation is complete.

3. Configuration:

• Once the Binverse software has launched you will be prompted to enter the username and password sent to you in the “Binverse Software Access Data” email.
• Now logged in you will automatically be taken to the "Account Dashboard". The Account Dashboard tab will give you information about your current downloads and your Binverse account usage. To recall the Account Dashboard tab in the future, you click on the "Account" icon located at the top of the window.
• Before continuing you will want to configure your search options. To do this click on the “Configure Search” icon located to the left of the "Account" icon (between Settings and Chat icons). The Configure Search tab allows you to subscribe to newsgroups based on keywords that you enter. You can refine the search further by choosing the specific area of interest on the drop-down menu under "Refine Search".
• To subscribe to a newsgroup click the box located to the left of a newsgroup name (To unsubscribe unclick the box). The newsgroups you subscribe to will be the newsgroups searched when you use the search panel to search for discussions or files.
• You can organize your newsgroups by creating folders in the “Favorites” column of the Configure Search tab. To rename a folder, select it in the Favorites column and simply type in the "Name" field located above the column. Any newsgroup that you subscribe to will automatically be included in the folder currently selected.
• Once you are finished with configuring your search click “OK” at the bottom.

Searching

1. The Difference Between “Files”, a “Files Series”, and “Multi-Part Files”

• A File is a standalone file that is small enough to be downloaded in one part
• A File Series consists of separate files that are related and grouped together for easy downloading. An example of this would be someone using a file series to share photos they took on a family vacation. Even though each photo is a separate file they can be included together in a file series to make downloading all the files at once easier.
• The maximum file size in Usenet is between 15 and 50 megabytes. If you are looking for a file which is larger than the file size limit, this large file will be split into several smaller files so that it can be uploaded to Usenet. When this happens it then forms a multi-part file. These multi-part files can be automatically reassembled to form a usable file using “File Genius” which is discussed in the downloading section of this guide.

2. File View

• “File View is the default tab on the Binverse search panel, it offers you several options for searching for files.
• The “Search” box is a great way to find content on Usenet. You can enter a word or phrase into the box to find files that contain your search phrase. You can also add file extensions to your search phrase to find specific types of content.

EXAMPLE: If you wanted to find family vacation videos just entering “vacation” in the search box might result in many different types of content being returned (photos, audio, etc). If you modified your search phrase to include a video file extension such as “vacation mpg” you’re going to be much more likely to find what you’re looking for.

• “Compact View” is selected by default in the search panel. With Compact View enabled multi-part files and file series are compacted into one search listing. If you would like to search for an individual file within a multi-part file or a file series you can change to “File View” by clicking on the File View radial button.
• The “Favorites” dropdown in the search panel is set to “All” by default. This will include all the newsgroups favorites folders you selected in the Configure Search tab. If you would like to filter your search to just the Newsgroups in a folder that you created, you can select that folder from the Favorites dropdown before performing your search (This option will also filter any searches done on the images tab).
• The "Read Group" dropdown allows you to easily browse the latest and most popular files posted to your favorite Newsgroups which you previously selected using the Configure Search tool. When you select one of the Newsgroups using the Read Group dropdown, a window will open with the latest files present for the selected newsgroup. Within this window you will also find tabs to further filter your search (Depending on the Newsgroup these could include Latest Multi-Part Files, Top Multi-Part Files, Files, Articles, or Images).

3. Photos

• To search for image files choose the “Photos” tab on the search panel. Enter a search term in the box and hit the search button and you will see thumbnails of the images matching your search query. You can enlarge an image by double clicking the thumbnail; this will open a slide show of the images within that file series and also allow you to save the file series.

Downloading

1. Downloading files in Compact View (easy)

• Right click on a file and click "Download". Click "Start Download" in the tab that loads. Click "In Progress" in the top menu to see the status of your download. Click "My Files" to access your file when the download is complete.

2. Downloading files in File View (advanced)

• Right click on a file and click "File Genius" to download all the associated files. Right click on a file and click "Download" to download just that particular file. Click "In Progress" in the top menu to see the status of your download. Click "My Files" to access your file when the download is complete.

3. Multi-Part Files That Are Missing par2 Files

• Double click on the multi-part file that you want to download. A window now opens displaying all the associated files. Click on one of the files and Select All. After this, click on Download. After the download, click on one of the .rar files and then on Unpack File. The Binverse software now suggests looking for par2- files, which you should download if any are present. This enables missing or incomplete files to be repaired before unpacking. (For more information on incomplete file series, please read about this here under "What are .par2 files?")

4. Unpacking Files Which Have Been Downloaded Without The File Genius.

• With larger files, you will now have a list of files such as "xxxxxxxxx.partxx.rar" or "xxxxx.r01" in the Download directory. These files are "packed", i.e. compressed and split into so-called "archives".



Simply select one of the files and click on Unpack File. If the archive is not complete, you will be notified that a part of the archive is missing, which you can usually find using the Search or reconstruct by means of .par2 files. If the archive is incomplete, you can select the target directory into which the archive is to be unpacked.