NewsBin Pro | Everything you want to know about this popular newsreader

This post is also available in: Nederlands (Dutch)

Newsbin Pro is one of the oldest search engines and newsreaders for Usenet. This newsreader works on all modern versions of Windows (XP, 7, 8, 10). Newsbin Pro is a paid service, but there is a free trial available with which you can test all functionalities for 15 days. In this introduction guide to Newsbin Pro we will explore the possibilities. We will also try to answer the question whether Newsbin Pro is worth paying for.

Note: To download with Newsbin Pro you will need access to a news server. This access is obtained with a subscription to a Usenet provider. Make sure to have a look at our overview of the best Usenet providers.

Download and install Newsbin Pro

Step 1. Download the software

On the website of Newsbin Pro you can easily download the software. Simultaneously, you can sign up for a free trial key, which you will receive by e-mail. With this trial key you will be able to test Newsbin for 15 days.

Download Newsbin Pro

By using the big orange download button on the homepage you will land on a page where you can choose to download the free trial. You can once again request to receive a free trial key, if you haven’t done that already.

By clicking the button ‘Trial Download’ a .exe file will be downloaded on your computer. You’ll find the file in the bottom left of your screen. You can also find it in your download folder. Open the .exe file to initiate the installation procedure.

Step 2. Installation

You will first need to select a language for Newsbin Pro. We went with English in our example, so all screenshots in this guide will refer to the English version of Newsbin Pro.
You will be asked to accept the license agreement.
In the next screen you will need to choose which components to install. Our advice would be to keep the default settings. Just make sure the option “Associate with NZB files” is activated, which it should be by default.
Next, you will need to select the folder where you want to install Newsbin Pro.
Then, you will need to select a folder where all files you download with Newsbin Pro will be stored.
Subsequently, you will need to assign a name to your news server, so you can recognize it within Newsbin Pro. You are free to choose a name of your liking. We will be using Eweka, and called our server ‘Eweeeka’.
In the next screen you will need to fill in the news server address. You will receive this address from your Usenet provider. In our example, the address is ‘news.eweka.nl’. We also select that we want to use a secure SSL connection. This adds a layer of security to our downloading process. It makes it harder for external parties to intercept or monitor our download traffic.
In the next screen you will need to fill in the username and password corresponding to your Usenet account.
Now you need to set a period for which Newsbin Pro should download files the first time you access a newsgroup. The longer this period, the bigger the number of files and the slower the process will be. Our advice would be to go with 30 days, which is the default setting.
You will also need to indicate how many connections you want to use. The standard number is 8. We are using Eweka, where a maximum of 20 connections are allowed. So we could still increase the number of connections from 8 to 20 (or anything in between). However, we can always change the number of connections at a later point in time if needed. The higher the number of connections, the more bandwidth Newsbin Pro will use. If we feel the downloading process is not fast enough, we will increase the number of connections later on. For now we’ll we go with 8 connections, as recommended by Newsbin Pro.
You are now finished with the installation procedure and ready to start Newsbin Pro.

Step 3. NewsBin Pro configuration

If you want to use the free trial, you will first need to fill in your registration key (this is also needed if you have a paid subscription to Newsbin Pro by the way). Possibly you already requested this code during the registration process. In that case you will have received an email with said code. If you don’t have a registration code, you can request this on the Newsbin website. To activate your registration code, go to the top menu in Newsbin and click Help > Register/Update Key.

Fill in your first name, last name and registration code. Press ‘Click to Finish Registration‘. You will need to restart Newsbin Pro after this to effectuate all changes and to gain access to all functionalities.

If you have rebooted Newsbin Pro, you can still change some settings in the top menu. Go to Options > Settings.

In this menu you can customize a lot of features and make the necessary amendments. Most default settings will be perfectly fine. We will not go into detail here in describing all functionalities. Instead, we encourage you to have a quick look through the numerous submenus and to see if everything is to your liking. For instance, you can still change the download folder where all downloads will end up.

Step 4. Download files with Newsbin Pro

You are now ready to download files. Type in the name of the file you are looking for in the top search bar (indicated by the green arrow with nr 1 in the image below). You can filter the search results based on group, size, age and filter profile. By pressing the magnifying glass (green arrow with nr 2 in the image below) you will initiate a search. In our exemplary search we are looking for files with the word ‘david’ in the file name.

You will see a list of files matching your search criteria. For each file you can see the status, the size (in KB, MB or GB) and the date they were posted. You can also see in which newsgroup they were uploaded. In the screenshot above we omitted that information, because the image would become somewhat small and unreadable. But it’s all very straight-forward and self-explanatory. Once you find a file you want to download, you can double-click it and the download will commence.

You can follow the download process in the bottom half of the screen. On the right you’ll see a blue bar, which shows the progress of your download.

When the download is finished the file is extracted automatically and repaired if necessary. In your download folder you can find the file.

There is a small search bar in the bottom half of the screen as well, to search among your active downloads. There are also some buttons there to pause or stop a download, or to change the order of your downloading queue.

All the way in the bottom of the screen you can find a page with all downloaded files (called ‘Files List’) and failed downloads (called ‘Failed Files’). In case you downloaded an NZB file, you can use this NZB file as input for GrabIt or SABnzbd. With this NZB file you can subsequently download the ‘real’ file from Usenet.

Conclusion: what do we think of Newsbin Pro?

Newsbin Pro is a fine newsreader. When the 15 day trial expires, you will need to decide whether you are willing to spend $20 for a lifetime license for Newsbin Pro. There is also a lifetime license which costs $30, and then you will also have 1 year of access to the ‘internet search feature’. This makes it possible to enter very specific and detailed searches in Newsbin Pro.

Newsbin Pro has to battle some tough competitors which offer a completely free newsreader, like SABnzbd. And that is not an easy task. Newsbin Pro’s selling point is that it is very suitable for finding NZB files, while with SABnzbd you often need to find those NZB files with an external source, like an NZB site. We advise you to try the free Newsbin Pro trial. If you like the service, then $20 is a worthwhile investment. Especially if you know that many decent NZB sites also cost several dozens of dollars per year.