Use the “Download List” button to download the list of newsgroups available on your Usenet server. Once that is done, use the “Search” button to find appropriate groups. For example, type in “astro” and click Search to see a list of all the newsgroups related to astronomy.
Once you have a list of groups you are interested in, select them in the list and click the “Check Traffic” button. The program will then ask the server how many posts are in the group(s). In general, the more posts the better. A good amount of traffic indicates that the group has not been abandoned.
In newsgroup land, “binaries” means “files”. So, groups with “binaries” in their name mean that they were created as a place to post files so as not to drown out the conversation in regular discussion groups.
You can drag-and-drop a single newsgroup to the Groups window – either to the list or to the Group-Name box. Using the normal list-selection methods, you can select many groups and drag-and-drop them to the list.
From time-to-time, click the “New Newsgroups” tab, and use the “Check for New Newsgroups” button to see what groups have been added.