| News Flash: News Robot gains international recognition with a review in the popular computer magazine, "PC Magazine"! |  |
I
do not use hostile techniques such as Bulk-Email or Spam
to advertise my products. (C) Scott M. Baker |
Download the 16-bit version
[SBNEWS60.ZIP] (Windows 3.1x)
Download the 32-bit version
[SBN32_60.ZIP] (With Setup, Windows
95/NT)
Register
online with Credit Card. 
Read the Online Documentation! [NEWSBOT.HTML]
Installation tips for novice users [NOVICE.HTML]
Read the
SBNews Frequently Asked Questions list [SBNFAQ.HTML]
Screen
shots of SBNews in action! [SHOTS.HTML]
Tips on how
to avoid downloading SPAM with newsbot [NOSPAM.HTML]
Top 10
reasons to register SBNews! [TOP10REG.HTML]
What does it do?
SBNews/Newsbot is designed to automatically download
and uudecode files from binary newsgroups. SBNews makes no
limitation on the type of file that can be downloaded --
everythig is possible including archives, executable files, sound
clips, and images. Small files (such as images) which fit in a
single news message work best, as news servers do tend to drop
portions of large multi-part files. SBNews will hancdle
multi-part files, although if the news server has dropped part of
the file, nothing can be done to reconstruct it.
What are binary newsgroups?
(Presumably you already know this or you wouldn't be here!)
Binary newsgroups contain binary files which are typically
encoded via uuencode (or mime64) and sent as
text. These newsgroups are a popular means of distributing data
across a wide area, and in most cases newsgroup access is
inexpensive and posting is allowed by anyone. Newsgroup content
is very diverse -- including Newsgroups dedicated to archive
files, executables, sound clips, images. Most binary newsgroups
are in the alt.binaries subtree. The biggest problem is
ignoring unwanted, off-topic advertisements (SPAM) which are
present in newsgroups, and SBNews is designed with this important
feature in mind.
What special features does SBNews have?
SBNews has many features that make it unique. Most important
are advanced methods to lockout and reject
unwanted articles. The newsgroups are filled with off-topic
advertisements these days and SBNews is an excellent tool to
avoid wasting your time downloading junk. There are also
extensive duplicate elimination features to avoid
downloading the same thing multiple times. SBNews includes a
full-featured JPEG/GIF/BMP viewer, as well as thumbnail
viewers which show the image download in progress. There are
extensive statistical functions to help you keep tabs on
what's going on. File Encryption is built in to
automatically encrypt sensitive data when it's stored on your
hard drive. Although SBNews is intended to automatic and
unattented download, manual selection features are present
to allow you to manually decide which articles to download.
Keyword specification is supported to allow you to further
limit downloading to only articles which have a specific keyword
field in the subject or author fields.
What do you need to use SBNews?
You will need a TCP/IP connection. For most people, this
is an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the same service that lets
you access the World-Wide-Web. You can either use your ISP's news
server or you can use a third party news provider, such as www.supernews.com. To the
best of my knowledge, America Online (AOL) does not support
third-party news readers.
SBNews runs under the Windows environment and there are versions
available for both Windows-95/NT and Windows-3.1. The
Windows-95/NT version is the more stable of the
two and I recommend running under Windows-95/NT if possible. The
16-bit version has been reported to run in the Win-3.1
compatibility mode of OS-2/Warp.
Why should you register your copy?
I've prepared a special file on reasons to register. Shareware
is a distribution method that may be new to some of you. I
provide you with fully-functional software for you to evaluate --
if you like the software, you are supposed to register it.
Registering compensates me for my efforts and also provides you
with a few goodies in return (such as eliminating the
"unregistered delay").
Scott's rantings about shareware author ethics:
I strongly support the rights of individual privacy. I do not
give out email addresses or other personal information to anyone.
I maintain user information in the strictest confidence, and I am
willing to destroy your information at your request. I feel this
is only fair and it should be expected of any reputable shareware
author. I do not support Bulk-Email or Spamming. I've never used
these techniques to advertise my products and I never will.
Absolutely.
SB Image Explorer: Win-95 Explorer-Like Image Viewer w/ Thumbnails
SBNews 32-bit without Setup Program. Identical to the 32-bit version (SBN32_xx.ZIP), but without the GUI install program. This reduces the size of the archive significantly, and is fine if you're a power user and capable of unzipping and moving the files into the appropriate directory yourself.
Alternate download site (In case this one is unresponsive)
Return to
my homepage.