Newsgroup Help

[Darth Homer]

Just wanted to say hi and ask a couple questions. I've been d/l through newsgroups for about 3 years and have learned alot on my own. Over the past 3 months I haven't d/l'd anything though. Started getting a little nervous(big brother 'n' all), but am trying to get back in. I guess I need a push, and some clarification.
1. I have comcast and was wondering if anyone knows a safe d/l limit not to trigger prying eyes? I've heard 60 gigs/month, but that seems high.
2.I've noticed alot more corupt files even from good posters that even crash my explorer.exe. Are these deliberate and are the ment to open holes in my firewall?
3. Am looking at the anomyzer total net shield package with a year subscription to their proxy server. Is this a good mood or does it matter seeings how in order to log into giganews I must use a username and password?
4. If I recall correctly wasn't it easy to prosecute Napster because it kept records of file sharing on one of its servers? And if so isn't it obvious to those who watch that even good pay newsgroups such as giganews have in the last year expanded it's retention on the main groups for DVD, software, music and games. If all these files are stored on usnet servers, 1- shouldn't the companies who allow this to go on also be held responsible? 2- since they obviously know which groups are HOT why don't the delete or filter these illegal activities?
5. I know this is alot for post number 1, but I miss it. What are the best defenses out there now? Does peer gaurdian still work? Firewalls? Proxies?
I know this is alot, even a link or two in the right direction would be well appreciated. Thanx in advance and nice to be here.

[pupudada]

Ouch, this is a huge one... am sticking to the basics.

1) Try to download other useful stuff like game and software demos. Keep the ratio to 30/70 (demos/p2p) and you should be on the safe side.

2) If there are any problems with the software, the programe used to d/load the same will detect the same and try to retrieve the correct pieces. Once in a blue moon there are genuine corrupt releases, but they are rectified by the same author soon. Case in point is the keygen of `catwoman'

3) Napster and Bittorrent are entirely different approaches for the same common goal. Will take quite some time before it can be banned and even then, it would be only in certain countries and you can always d/load from other countries (that's the beauty of p2p).

4) Anomizer is okay for surfing, but will not work with p2p programs. For one moment let's assume that it did work, then all of us would just try to download only (leechers) instead of downloading and uploading (peers) and just uploading (seeds), as a courtesy for those who have done the same for me, when I was stranded at 99.9%. As you sow, so you reap.

5) Use a good a/v, a good trojan detector, a good spyware a good firewall and of course use your 6th sense and you'll rarely fall in trouble.

Hope this, in a nutshell, answers your questions... cheers & sunshine... Pupudada

[DwarfBaby]

I have had Comcast for over three years; newsgroups are the only way to go. The past two years I have downloaded well over 40 gigs in any given month from Newsgroups alone, not to mention normal surfing, email, streaming crap and occasional P2P. As of yet I have not received any letter or phone call regarding a usage limit. Four months ago they upped their service to 3MB/sec and there is no way I've made it under 60gigs in any month, and still no letter.\

As far as bad posts go, newzbin or one of a dozen other sites checks for true complete files. That being said only about 1 in 20 will be bad, and you'll learn a few more tricks along the way to recognize fakes or bad posts.

Giganews is very good but expensive, the past year has seen some outstanding competition come to the Newsgroup market and there are cheaper good alternatives. I wouldn't worry too much about your downloads being stored or tracked. Most servers don't track your downloads or wipe them after a few days. The RIAA and friends seem only concerned about uploaders at the moment so you should be fairly safe. But you might try one of the many Canadian servers to be a little safer. No DMCA, and borders would make things a little tougher. Also use a trusted server.

Peer Guardian is for P2P. Newsgroups are not P2P, therefore it well not help. Newsgroups work as a secure connection from you to your server. There is no middle man and no way for the RIAA and friends to know what or if you are downloading anything.

Proxies really don't work that well and will certainly slow your downloads.

Don't compare Newsgroups to Napster they are two very different beasts and work in totally different ways. Newgroups were around before the Internet as we know even existed and long before napster.

[DwarfBaby]

Don't know if you've seen this before but http://www.slyck.com/ng.php has some good information and a decent list of servers, readers, and groups that might help. If you want to know which servers I think are best just ask. I've tried a great number and at least know which ones suck.