Installing/uninstalling

To install #News, just download sharpnews.exe and put it in the directory of your choice (for example, C:\Program Files\#News). There is no installer, the downloaded file is the program itself, no other files are required.

#News is written in C#, so you need to have the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed on your computer. Click here to download the .NET framework if you don't have it already.

#News is a "clean" program: it does not put any files anywhere but in its own directory. It does not install any extra dlls, and it does not put anything in the registry. All the configuration files and the downloaded binary files will be saved exclusively in the directory where sharpnews.exe is placed.

If you want to uninstall #News, all you have to do is delete its directory.

Configuring your news server(s)

When you first start #News, a configuration dialog is displayed. Click New to add a news server, and enter the name, address and port of your newsgroup server (choose whatever you want for the name). If your server requires a login/password, enter them too. Then, select the All tab in the newsgroup list on the right, and wait for the available newsgroups to be downloaded. You can type a string in the Filter field above the list to show only the newsgroups whose names contain the filter string. Check the newsgroups you want to subscribe to. You can configure several news servers if you want. You can go back to the configuration dialog at any time using the Configure button.

Choosing a server and a newsgroup

The Server and Newsgroup combo boxes in the top toolbar let you select the news server to use and the newsgroup to read. You can also type a newsgroup name directly in the Newsgroup combo.

Getting article headers

Once you have selected a news server and a newsgroup, click the List button to get the article headers.The article headers are displayed in the list on the left of the window. All the available articles of the newsgroup are normally loaded, but you can click the Stop button at any time if you do not want to load all the articles: the headers loaded so far will be displayed.

You can filter the articles by typing a string in the Filter field above the list (or you can select an existing filter). The Attachments only check box lets you show only the articles that contain attachments. The Sort check box sorts article subjects in alphabetical order.

Reading articles

To read an article, just click it in the list. The article will be downloaded. The text of the article is displayed in the Message tab, and if the article contains an attachment, it is displayed in the Picture tab.

Attachments

When a news article contains an attachment (a picture, a video, or another file), the attachment is displayed in the Picture tab. #News displays the picture or video progressively while it is downloaded. Attachments are saved to your hard disk (unless you unchecked Save attachments to disk in the Configuration dialog).

Attachments are also displayed as thumbnails on the right of the window. You can click on a thumbnail to display the picture or video in the Picture tab.

Automatic mode

To get all the attachments in a newsgroup, click the Start button. This will read all the articles and save the attachments that they contain. The attachments will be displayed as they are read, unles you uncheck the Show last box. Click the Skip button to skip an attachment. Click the Stop button to leave the automatic mode.

Viewing pictures in full screen

Click on a picture to view it in full screen mode. Click again or press the Escape key to leave the full screen mode. When in full screen mode, you can use the mouse wheel to zoom in or out. You can drag the picture with the mouse to view a different part of it.

Viewing pictures in real size

If you press the left mouse button on a picture and keep the mouse button pressed, the picture is displayed in real size in a separate window. The real size picture is hidden as soon as you release the mouse button.

Multi-part articles

#News automatically assembles multi-part articles, so you do not have to do anything manually.

Decoding articles

#News automatically decodes UU-encoded and Yenc attachments.

Loading NZB Files

NZB files are index files that you obtain through specialized search engines and that let you read a set of articles without browsing newsgroups manually. To load an NZB file, click the Open NZB button, and select the .nzb file to load. The article subjects appear in the article list, just like when you list a newsgroup, and you can load articles or start an automatic scan just like when you browse a normal newsgroup. #News reads the articles from the server that is currently selected in the Servers combo, so you can easily try different servers if necessary.

NEW Downloading RAR/ZIP Archives

With #News version 1.5, you can easily download files posted as multi-part RAR (or ZIP) archives. #News recognizes collections of posts that make up an archive, and the collection is shown as a single item in the article list (like for multi-part attachments). When you click on the collection in the article list, all the parts of the archive are downloaded, then #News tries to extract the archive. The files contained in the archive are then displayed like normal attachments and added to the thumbnail view.

If the archive is not complete, or if a part is corrupted, the archive can be repaired if enough PAR2 (parity) files have been posted together with the archive. #News will try to load the PAR2 files and repair the archive as soon as this is possible.

The auto-UnRAR and auto-repair features require the installation of the freeware command-line programs UnRAR.exe, par2.exe and unzip.exe. These programs will be automatically downloaded and installed (in the #News directory) the first time you load a RAR/ZIP archive, but you can also download these programs separately from the Download page and configure the command paths in the Configure/Preferences dialog.

#News also recognizes and decodes .CBR and .CBZ archives ("Cartoon Book" archives).

Shortcuts

Right-click or press the Down arrow to go to the next article.
Middle-click or press the Up arraw to go to the previous article.
Click in the Picture tab to go to full-screen mode.
Keep the left mouse button pressed to view picture in real size.
Press Escape to stop the current download, or to leave the automatic mode, or to leave the full-screen mode.
Press Escape again to iconify #News.
Press Delete to delete the current attachment.
Press Delete twice (double-press) to delete all the downloaded attachments.

Preferences

Click Configure then select the Preferences tab to display the preferences dialog. The options should be self-explanatory... (If they are not, just tell me, I will be glad to add more details)

NEW Quotas (Download Limit)

Freeware License