Agent

[Onestep]

Hi,
I have Agent as my newsreader for downloading headers off the newsgroups. This morning I notice that when I download a "info file" or even the "Par 2" for whatever I am downloading it doesn't show up in my folder I am downloading but instead the tab turns "white" (instead of green) and its all scrambled and unreadable. BUT, now get this, the big headers it downloads and the litttle tab turns green next to the header. I know it has to be a setting but what, who, where? Any and all help is deeply appreciated. Many thanks, Onestep :(

[locustfurnace]

Have not used agent in a long time. If your downloading binaries, you should use a binary downloader, such as http://www.bnr2.org/
Are you using 'Free Agent' ?, maybe those pars and nfo are encoded using yenc? and your free agent has expired its ability to decode yenc encoded files.

If your getting all the parts without a problem, then you do not need the par files.
I'd have to switch over to Windows and setup 'Agent' again to get a better understanding of the problem. But if the actual bins are coming in fine, then you dont need to worry about grabbing the parity files.

When you say it downloads the 'big headers' you mean the bodys, correct? If you are having a problem with the actual headers, then it could be an issue with retention on your NNTP.

[Onestep]

Hi locustfurnace,

I thank you for replying.
Yes I am downloading binaries and I use a paid licensed program of Agent.
I downloaded a movie on svcd today and really don't need the extra pars ( but I was unable to download the extra pars anyway?) as I have all the files. But when I went to double click on the last rar file as usual I got an error message saying "The archive is either in unknown format or damaged". But I know its not. I have Road Runner cable and they are having trouble with there email at present.

So do you reckon agent has expired its ability to decode yenc encoded files?? How can I get it back? Can all these problems be due to Road Runners email service at this time? I have been downloading movies for a couple of years with no problems til now.

Do you think I should get "BNR as my news reader" in stead of Agent? And is it easy to install?
Once again I thank you for responding.
Onestep :(
PS-- what is NNTP.

[locustfurnace]

Originally posted by Onestep+Oct 7 2004, 08:48 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Onestep @ Oct 7 2004, 08:48 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>But I know its not. I have Road Runner cable and they are having trouble with there email at present.[/b]
E-mail (SMTP/POP/IMAP) has nothing to do with NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol), they are sometimes run on seperate servers, they are different protocols. Such as HTTP is different than FTP. So one *should* not affect the other.


Originally posted by -Onestep@Oct 7 2004, 08:48 PM
So do you reckon agent has expired its ability to decode yenc encoded files?? Not if you have a licensed version it should not have expired.


Originally posted by -Onestep@Oct 7 2004, 08:48 PM
I have been downloading movies for a couple of years with no problems til now.. If this is the first time you have had an issue then it could be an issue with the retention of the servers, or it is possible that the uploader has incorrectly uploaded the last par, or had a problem while uploading the last file.

<!--QuoteBegin--Onestep@Oct 7 2004, 08:48 PM
Do you think I should get "BNR as my news reader" in stead of Agent? And is it easy to install?.[/quote]
Its easy to install, since its a simple exe file. I have used it under Gnu/Linux.
Its not the easiest app to use, but thats because it is very powerful. It also has a great feature that Agent lacks, and that is multiple threaded connections, which basically means it can create 4 simultaneous connections to the server, which should help speed up downloading, by using your full bandwidth.

There are a few other Binary downloaders you could try, if the BNR2 turns out to be too much.
You can find them in a previous thread.
http://www.oldversion.com/talk/index.php?a...&st=0#entry6683 (http://www.oldversion.com/talk/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=1853&st=0#entry6683)