UseNetServer Full Header Retention

UseNetServer members have access to more headers as UNS now supports full header retention.  The UNS engineering team put a lot of effort into making full headers possible.  In the weeks to come all members will be transitioned to the new set of article headers which have different article numbers.  You don’t have to wait though as UseNetServer will let you go ahead and migrate over now.  We’ll show you how in a moment.

UNS Header Retention

Members of UseNetServer can either wait or go ahead and migrate to enjoy the  full header retention right away.  Those who want to migrate early will need to make a change on the UseNetServer website.  Along with changing your Usenet client in preparation for the new article numbers.  The first thing you’ll want to do is log into the UseNetServer control panel.  From there click the “Change XOVER Server” link.

Next you’ll want to update your newsgroup client.  UNS provides details in their FAQ about the new headers:

How do I get my newsclient updated with new headers?
Newsleecher: No problems detected when switching. However, this may not be uniform across all versions.
* Right-click and select Wipe Group Cache. You can then download the headers again.

Newsbin Pro: [16:07:55] ERROR – Server:UsenetServer Reports bogus MaxGroup > MinSpool Groups numbers :878:338016 – alt.binaries.pictures.rail
Must unsubscribe/resubscribe to group
* Right-click on the subscribed group and choose Post Storage > Delete Stored Posts. Then you can download the headers again.

Grabit: Incrimental Update fails when retreiving new headers, causing all headers to disappear.
* Right-click on the newsgroup (or the server) and choose Full Update.

Xnews: old headers w/o already downloaded bodies fail to load.
* Click Group > Refresh Headers Special
* Select the entire range
* Select “Retreive and INclude read articles”
* Click Okay

News Rover: old headers w/o stored bodies fail to load.
Right-click on newsgroup and choose “Redownload list of available messages.”

Thunderbird and Outlook Express/Windows Mail have to have the group physically removed/unsubscribed and re-added.

Unison: Right click on the newsgroup then click “reset newsgroup”

If you’re new to UseNetServer and would like to give the service a test drive UNS offers a 14 day, 10 GB free trial.

If headers are a confusing topic then check out Newsbin’s resourceful guide on how to download headers with their Usenet reader.  Newsbin is our favorite client for downloading headers.  Especially for large newsgroups.  Newsbin let’s you to download all headers or the latest in a group.  You can also search for newsgroups and subscribe to them inside the client.  Newsbin offers new users a 10 day free trial as well.

With the popularity of Usenet search engines and binary clients like the Newshosting browser and SABnzbd some of you probably aren’t too familiar with the term headers.  That’s understandable.  If you can easily find Usenet content currently then ignore our post for now.  If you ever find searching for content through other sites and client search engines challenging then headers are there for you to fall back on as needed.

So what the heck is a header?  Without getting all techie we’ll give you a quick explanation.  When articles are posted to a newsgroup they include header information.  For simplicity think of Usenet headers as being similar to email headers.  For Usenet a header displays the subject of the post, date posted, article number and list the newsgroups in which it was posted.  There’s more but that gives you an idea of why headers are useful.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet and follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest offers.