Welcome

Many Usenet News Groups contain hundreds of beautiful and sometimes provocative pictures.

In the old days you had to use a news reader to sort through thousands of posted messages in order to select which pictures to download. Once you made all your selections you then had to wait hours to see what you downloaded. Plus, you had to view the pictures using special purpose viewing software.

AutoPix takes the drudgery out of downloading news group pictures!

AutoPix is the ultimate automated NNTP downloader/ decoder/previewer for Windows 98 and Windows NT.

Set up the news server name, pick some newsgroups and the AutoPix does the rest!

AutoPix will download the pictures from the subscribed newsgroups and place them in the directory of your choice.

While AutoPix is working, you can see a thumbnail of each picture as it is downloaded.

Features

· Support for multiple news servers

· Automatic download and decode

· Built in Thumbnail Viewer

· Built in image viewer

· Duplicate file checking

· Set min/max lines that you want to receive

· Sender lockout capabilities

· Domain lockout capabilities

· Temporarily ignore by sender or subject string

· Simple, user-friendly interface

Requirements

· Internet connection with a news server (NNTP with XOVER capability)

· Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51 (SP5) or Windows NT 4

Installation

Run setup.exe and follow the prompts to install AutoPix.

Configuration

Perform the following steps and you will have AutoPix up and running in just moments!

News Server Information:

Enter the name of your news server by selecting News Server from the Preferences menu, then select Maintain Servers from the drop-down.

Click on the New button and enter your news server information. You can enter either the news server host name or the news server IP address.

Enter your userid and password. (Most ISP news servers DO NOT require userid/password).

Once all your server information is entered, click the Save button.

Dupe Checking

If you want dupe checking turned on, select Options and then Preferences from the menu and then Click on Dupe Checking On.

Preview

If you want to turn preview off, select Options and then Preferences from the menu and then click Preview On to remove the checkmark.

Be sure to click Save before exiting the Preferences screen.

Get News Groups

Get the list of newsgroups from your news server. Select 'Newsgroups' from the Main Menu and then select 'Get Newsgroups'. One connected, this will take a few minutes. Some news servers maintain over 50,000 news groups!

Subscribe to News Groups

Subscribe to at least one news group by selecting News Groups and then Subscribe from the main menu. It may take a few moments for the screen to load, as it has to read all those news groups you just downloaded!

Once the Subscribe screen is displayed, scroll down through the list of news groups on the left and select the ones you want to subscribe to and press the button with the ---> and the newsgroup name will appear in the list box on the right.

You may select multiple groups by clicking while holding down the shift or ctrl key.

Exit back to the Main Menu.

Click on the Process Groups button and away you go!

Menus

The following section is a description of all of the AutoPix menus, from left to right on the screen.

File/Exit

Always use this menu item exit the AutoPix program.

Options/Preferences

This is the main control center for AutoPix. From here you can tailor different settings to your tastes or needs.

Download Path

Directory: This is the directory (or folder) in which you want AutoPix to place binary files as they are downloaded.

Create in non-existent: Click on this tab if you want AutoPix to automatically create the download directory that you specified as the download directory.

Save files in separate sub directories: If you would like files that you download to be placed in subdirectories named for the news group they came from, check this box. These subdirectories will be created underneath the directory that you specified in Download Path.

If the directory does not exist it will be created the first time a file from that group is saved.

For example, if you specify C:\pictures as the Download Path directory, and you download pictures from alt.binaries.pictures, they would be placed in C:\pictures\alt.binaries.pictures if you have this option checked.

Max / Min Lines

Articles on news servers are measured in the number of lines that they contain.

The more lines, the larger the binary, and usually the better quality the picture.

By placing constraints here you can avoid downloading small, low resolution pictures or extremely large or high resolution pictures.

Preview

Click on the checkbox to turn this option on.

This option gives you the capability to preview pictures as soon as they are downloaded from your news server and decoded. Once the picture appears in the preview box, you can click on the image to view the full size picture.

Note: Due to licensing restrictions, AutoPix will download, decode and store pictures with the “.GIF” extension, the preview window will not display files of this type.

Unknown File Types

AutoPix normally looks in the message header to see if a message contains the type of file that you want to download.

Some messages are posted to news servers that contain a valid picture but do not contain the file name in the message header.

Normally these messages are ignored by AutoPix, but with this option checked, if the message contains a binary file, AutoPix will attempt to download and decode the picture.

Dupe Checking

You don’t want to waste time downloading the same files from different news groups. There is a good deal of overlap of content between some of the various picture news groups. To avoid downloading the same picture multiple time from different news groups, or from the same news group during subsequent sessions, turn the Check Dupes option on.

With this option turned on any file on your news server that was previously downloaded will be ignored.

Note: AutoPix maintains a database containing the names of pictures that you have downloaded (if you have the Check Dupes option turned on). To delete entries from the Dupe table, click the Delete Dupes button inside the Check Dupes frame.

Delete Dupes: While it is possible for AutoPix to store an unlimited number of filenames in the duplicate table, you should bear in mind that if you store hundreds of thousands of filenames, you may impact the speed at which AutoPix can process articles from your news server.

Over time this file can become quite large if you don't purge it periodically, depending on your usage.

To delete some or all of the filenames that AutoPix has saved, click the “Delete Dupes” button. From the Delete Dupes screen you can select dupe entries to delete or click the “All” button to delete all dupes.

Crosspost Threshold

When a message is posted to a news server, the person posting it can elect to post the message simultaneously to multiple news groups. The act of posting the same article to muliple groups simultaneously is called crossposting.

Many people who are posting advertising will crosspost every message to 5 or 10 different news groups. To help filter out some of these spam messages you should set this threshold to at least three.

Splash Screen

Uncheck this box to stop showing the About box at startup. (Registered users only)

Timeout Settings

Since line speeds and server speeds vary from user site to user site, AutoPix gives you the capability to tailor various timeout settings to your specific needs. The defaults should work for most users, but if you notice a particular operation timing out consistently you may want to tweak that operation's timeout value. The following is a description of each of the timeout values (note: all times are in seconds.):

Connect Timeout: This is the amount of time that AutoPix will wait when trying to connect to your news server. The default for the Connect Timeout is 10 seconds.

Select Group: This timeout value comes into play when AutoPix first begins working on a news group. Before AutoPix can download message headers or bodies, it must first "point" itself at the group by selecting it. This timeout value is the amount of time AutoPix will wait on a positive response after selecting a news group. The default for the Select Group timeout is 30 seconds.

Get Headers: This is the total amount of time that AutoPix will allow to download message headers from your news server. If your server or your connection is slow, you may need to tweak this setting. The default for the Get Headers timeout is 6000 (100 minutes!).

Get Message: This is the total amount of time that AutoPix will wait when downloading a single message. For very large binaries, you might want to increase this value a bit. The default for the Get Message timeout is 180 (3 minutes).

Get All Groups: When you first start using AutoPix you have to download all the news groups on your news server. This timeout value reflects the amount of time that AutoPix will wait for the news server to send its list of news groups. The default for the Get All Groups timeout is 1500 seconds (25 minutes).

Options/File Masks

This is where you want to specify the type of files that you want AutoPix to download and decode for you. If a file type does not have an entry here, AutoPix will ignore it. Most picture files are ".JPG" files or ".GIF" files. AutoPix comes preconfigured with these two extensions.

Options/News Server

AutoPix will support an unlimited number of news servers, limited only by your available disk space.

Select Server

To make a particular server active, click here and select the server from the drop-down and click the select button. There can be only one news server active at any given time.

Maintain Servers

To make changes to an existing news server entry, to add a news server, to change or delete a server click on this menu item. The screen will appear with the currently active server information. Make corrections, or click New or Delete. Make sure you click Save for server a new or changed server.

Server Name: Here you need to enter the host name (or the IP address) of your news server. If you are not sure what the name of your news server is you may need to contact your internet service provider for this information.

User ID / Password: If your news server requires authentication, enter the user ID and password here.

Note: If your news server is provided by your Internet Service Provider, you should probably leave these fields BLANK. If in doubt, contact your Internet Service Provider or the provider of your News Server.

Subscribe To Newsgroups

To receive binaries from a particular news group, you must first subscribe to that news group.

To narrow down the list of groups to choose from, enter a search string, i.e., ‘picture’ in the text box in the middle of the Subscribe screen, then press the refresh button.

Subscribe to newsgroups by scrolling through the list on the left, selecting the ones you want to subscribe to and pressing the button with the ===>>>. The subscribed-to group should appear in the list box on the right.

To Unsubscribe from a news group, do just the opposite of the action described above. Select the group to be unsubscribed in the right-hand box and click the <<<=== button.

Note: Each server will have its own set of subscribed groups!

Get Newsgroups

This option will retrieve all news groups for the currently active server. This may take some time, depending on your connection speed.

Catch Up

Any newsgroup can contain thousands of 'articles' or news items. When you are first starting out with AutoPix you may want to use the 'Catch Up' feature to align AutoPix's article counter with the news server.

Note: Once you have "Caught Up" a group, it may be several hours before any new messages are present in that news group.

AutoPix Main Screen

The following section describes each part of the main AutoPix screen.

Newsgroup Box

Indicates the news group currently being processed. (When downloading all news groups, this box will contain the total number of groups downloaded so far.).

Low Message Box

The message number of the current message.

High Message Box

The high message number for the current news group.

Process Groups

This is where all the action is within AutoPix. Once you have everything set up correctly, pressing this button will make things start to happen. The first thing you should see in the activity window is a successful connect message. From that point, AutoPix will process each of the groups that you subscribed to. AutoPix will continue to process the messages within the groups that you subscribed to until all messages in all your groups have been processed.

Promote Group: While a news group is actually processing, you can "promote" another subscribed group by selecting in from the combo box that contains the names of the newsgroups.

Connection Indicator

This little traffic signal graphic indicates the current state of connectivity:

RED = not connected

YELLOW = connecting

GREEN = connected.

Stop

Press this button to interrupt the current activity.

Progress Bar 1

This bar indicates the progress of news groups processed so far this session.

Action Log

This listbox displays all interactions between AutoPix and your news server. You should expect to see standard NNTP messages displayed here as well as informational messages from AutoPix.

Note: You can hide the thumbnail by clicking on a line in the activity log listbox.

Thumbnail

This box will display a thumbnail preview of each picture as it is downloaded and decoded. To view the picture full size, simply click on the preview image (this is the same as clicking on the “View” button).

Note: You can hide the thumbnail by clicking on a line in the activity log listbox.

View

See a full-size version of the current thumbnail picture. To close the full-size viewer window, just click inside the picture area.

Clear

Clears the current thumbnail and displays the AutoPix logo.

Delete

Deletes the file associated with the current thumbnail.

Progress Bar 2

This progress bar reflects the current picture's download progress.

Subject

Subject header for the picture currently downloading.

From

Sender header for the picture currently downloading.

Lockout

By Sender: Abort current article download and permanently ignore any subsequent pictures from the current sender.

By Domain: To lockout a particular domain do the following: Select the "@" and all characters to the right of it and click on the Lockout button. For example, given the sender goaway@annoy.com, highlight "@annoy.com" and click the Lockout button.

Be very careful with this feature! If you only highlighted ".com" and clicked the Lockout button, you would be locking out EVERYONE with a ".com" extension!

Ignore

Abort current article download and temporarily (this session only) ignore any subsequent pictures from the current sender.

File Name

The file name that the picture currently downloading will be saved under.

Total Messages

The total messages AutoPix has handled this session.

Files Received

The total pictures AutoPix has downloaded this session.

Dupes Skipped

The total number of pictures that AutoPix detected as already having been downloaded (if you have Dupe Checking turned on).

Lockouts Skipped

The total number of pictures AutoPix skipped either because the sender was locked out or ignored.

Others Skipped

The total messages AutoPix skipped because they did not contain a binary file or the line count was too low or too high.

AutoPix is not a free program - it is shareware. As such you are only granted the right to operate it for a limited time for evaluation purposes. If you continue to use AutoPix, a registration fee of $10.00 is required.

The fastest, easiest and best way to register AutoPix is online from our web page at http://kenbrow.simplenet.com.

Once you have your registration code, select Register from the main menu and follow the instructions sent along with your registration confirmation.

Registration Form

Registration Policy

1. The fastest, easiest and best way to register AutoPix is online from our web page at http://kenbrow.simplenet.com.

2. Mail $10 (a personal check made out to "Ken E. Browning" is fine) to my US-Mail address. Make sure that you include your EMAIL address with the check.

3. I will email your registration key to you at the address you provided.

4. Run AutoPix and select Register from the menu. Enter your registration key I provided. The program will now be registered.

5. Your registration is good forever, and will be supported under ALL FUTURE VERSIONS of AutoPix!

Using a text editor, fill out the following form and email it to me at kenbrow@bellsouth.net (or via snail-mail to my mailing address):

Name: ____________________________________________ Email Address: ___________________

Address: _____________________________________

City: _________________________________________ State: _________ Postal Code: ___________

Country: _____________________________________

I will email your code to the address you provide within 72 hours, probably sooner.

Once you have received your code, you may proceed with the registration as described in the "Registration Policy (via US-Mail)" section above.

Specific registration benefits include:

1. Removal of nag screens.

2. All future updates and enhancements of AutoPix!

Future updates will be available from: kenbrow.http://simplenet.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US-Mail Address:

Ken Browning
6060 Old Huntsville Road
McCalla, AL 35111 USA

Email:

kenbrow@bellsouth.net

AutoPix Frequently Asked Questions

I want to register via snail mail. Where do I send it and how much?

You can register via snail nail by sending your name, address and email address along with cash, money order or personal check for $10.00 (US) to:

Ken Browning
6060 Old Huntsville Road
McCalla, AL 35111 USA

How can I keep from downloading spam pictures?

AutoPix has the ability to detect and prevent the download of most spam. In particular, the forced exclusions and crossposting limits are very useful.

Does AutoPix support Secure Password Authentication (SPA)?

Not at this time. As far as we can tell, Secure Password Authentication is a Microsoft method of allowing password verification without actually sending the password (the server challenges the client to calculate some value based on the password and the server does the same and if the answers match, authentication is complete and the password was never transmitted).
This is unique to MS and it looks as if SPA is not used, normal authentication as defined in the RFCs using the LogonName and LogonPassword should be allowed. If the user can access the MSN newsgroups using some non-MS client such as Netscape or Free Agent, then they should be able to connect using AutoPix.

I can't use AutoPix to connect to MSN, but I can with Outlook. Why?

The MSN news server appears to use Secure Password Authentication. Secure Password Authentication (SPA) is a Microsoft method of allowing password verification without actually sending the password (the server challenges the client to calculate some value based on the password and the server does the same and if the answers match, authentication is complete and the password was never transmitted).

AutoPix follows the RFCs (the official Internet standard) and SPA is a Microsoft defined standard. What this means is, we follow the standards and MSN does not!

Does AutoPix work with AOL?

Yes, but you cannot use their news server. AOL does not have an NNTP news server like real Internet Service Providers do. To run AutoPix on AOL, you will need to find a news server outside of AOL. There are some free public news servers around.

Does AutoPix work with Windows 3.1?

No, AutoPix will not run under Windows 3.1.

My news server requires a userid and password, Will AutoPix work with it?

AutoPix has standard userid and password authentication builtin. Note: most ISP's news servers DO NOT require userid/password authentication!.

Are there any limitations to AutoPix?

AutoPix is only limited by your hard drive, your connect speed and your news server!

Does AutoPix handle multi-part images?

No. If a picture is posted properly to the newsgroup it will not be multi-part. There are VERY few files seen in the picture news groups that are multi-part.

Will AutoPix save pictures from different newsgroups in separate directories?

Yes. AutoPix gives you the option of saving pictures in separate directories named for the originating newsgroup.

Where do I get the address of my news server?

The address of your news server should be provided by your ISP or news provider. If you are not sure what it is contact your ISP or news provider.

I want to be able to watch the previews as pictures download but I need to be able to hide the preview window when someone walks up!

You can quickly hide the preview window at any time by clicking on a line of text in the activity window.