First, let’s explore the options of accessing usenet.  There are usenet providers such as Giganews (which is a very large access provider) which offer different packages per month of download size ranging from a few GB to Unlimited downloads, as well as large retention rates of posts (up to 240 days!).  Retention rates are good so that if you are looking for something, you have a better chance of finding it if the access provider you have has higher retention.  Another thing to look for is whether they offer SSL connections.  Secure connections means that not everyone can look to see what you’re downloading (if someone was filtering your internet traffic). 

Secondly, we need to take a look at a newsreader.  There are many types, some free, some you pay for, which means there are different features.  Get one that suits your needs as you see fit.  I really like Newsleecher, but it is not free.  The benefit is that you can use their supersearch feature which will mean you do not have to update groups (this take awhile as some of them have over a million posts – each file is a post) in order to find something you are looking for.  An alternative to using their supersearch feature is a site I HIGHLY recommend called Newzbin.

Newzbin is great for several reasons.  First, it is very cheap to be a member of (I believe like a dollar a month), and having excellent filters for searching as well as easy organization of all files needed (many movies, etc. are broken into several files so you don’t have to download one LARGE file, but several small files – normally Winrar’s .rar compressed format).  These include the par2 files (use QuickPar to check to see if all the files you downloaded are not corrupt or if they are, to repair them).  Also, being a member there allows you to have access to their “Adult Material” site as I like to call it.  That would be NewzXXX which has the same features as their other site.

With that being said, read the comments on newzbin.com, if there are any, and download all the files into one .nzb (this will open with most newsreaders).  Then unpackage the files (many are .rar which you will use Winrar as previously mentioned) and enjoy!  If you download something and are not sure what program you will need to unpackage it or join it, either google it, check on filext.com (the file extension site), or go ahead and contact me.  Good luck hunting!