Number 296 - January 2008

yEnc Explained in Plain English
by R. Grimes, Simi Valley Computer User Group, July 2007
yEnc is a new way of encoding files so that they can be posted to newsgroups.    Newsgroup articles can only contain text, so pictures, movies, MP3's, and any other files, must fIrst be converted to text before they can be posted. yEnc is a more efficient way of doing that, which is why it has caught on so fast.    (When you use a browser like Outlook Express, it automatically decodes pictures, so it looks like there are pictures m the newsgroup, but it is only an illusion. To break the illusion and look at the text, do this: right-click on the article, choose Properties from the pop-up menu, click Details and then click Message Source.)    yEnc is not a file format. It is only a temporary format for when the file in question is residing in a newsgroup. So, if somebody has a picture in JPEG format, he may use yEnc to encode it so that he can post it to a newsgroup.    When you download it, you will want to convert it back to JPEG so that you can view it, edit it, etc. Therefore, if you use a slide-show program like WatchFast. it does not need to support yEnc, only JPEG.    Why does Outlook Express show a bunch of symbols when I click on a yEnc article?    Because Microsoft is asleep at the switch. Outlook Express (for Windows and Macintosh) does not yet support yEnc.    yEnc has caught on very quickly, and the big companies will be the last to catch a clue. yEnc is a grassroots technology created by and rapidly adopted by newsgroup enthusiasts.	Don't hold your breath waiting for Microsoft. yEnc has been in use since December 2001, and at press time, a search on Microsoft's web site found nothing at all!    NewzToolz is a good program to use instead of Outlook Express.    I already downloaded a bunch of yEnc-encoded fdes. Can I decode them?    Yes you can! Just download our free NewzToolz program.    My newsreader supports yEnc, but many of the files come out bad. What is the problem?    There are a lot of yEnc-posting programs in use that have bugs in them. Here are some:    * NNTP Power Post 2000 (Build 25b; yEnc )    * NNTP Power Post 2000 (Build 24c )    * yPost / 0.45    * MT Newswatcher 3.2    If you find somebody posting bad yEnc files, you should email them and tell them to upgrade their posting software.    Where can I find technical information about yEnc?    On this web site: http://www.yenc.org/
Number 296 - January 2008