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When I combine and decode media files from newsgroups sometimes it works and
often I just get all the lines of code. Why does it work sometimes and not
others? I make sure all the file are there to decode.

"bobmelton" wrote
> When I combine and decode media files from newsgroups sometimes it works and
> often I just get all the lines of code. Why does it work sometimes and not
> others? I make sure all the file are there to decode.

You are running into yEnc encoded files, as mentioned in
my canned answer about OE and multipart binary posts:

To assemble a multi-part post using Outlook Express,
click part 1, then, while holding down the Ctrl key,
click each of the remaining parts. When you have
highlighted the last part, Right click and choose
"Combine and Decode." Make sure all parts are in
order in the window that pops up, then click "OK."
When all parts have downloaded and been decoded,
a window will appear with the File Icon in the
bottom left corner (OE4) or in the "Attach"
line (OE5 & 6). Right click on the icon, choose
"save as" and, within the browser window that
appears, choose "Desktop" as the place to initially
save it. If you want to keep it, you can later CUT and
PASTE it from Desktop to any folder you want.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In OE4 it is possible to download
a multi-part binary while simultaneously reading or
posting to other NGs, or reading/sending email -- But:
in the "upgraded" OE5 & 6, downloading a multi-part file
makes the program UNUSABLE for most other functions
while the process goes on; so, if you frequently want to
download multi-part binary files, it's more practical
to use a dedicated news reading and posting program,
such as Agent ("Full" Agent @ $29 -- NOT Free Agent):
http://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.htm
or Xnews (free):
http://xnews.newsguy.com/
or Gravity (free):
http://lightning.prohosting.com/~tba...ty/start1.html
for downloading binaries.
Also, for $35, there is Newsbin, which is strictly
for downloading binaries:
http://www.newsbin.com/ .
You could still use OE5 or 6 as an email program
and to view/post to text-only NGs, while using one of
the above programs to retrieve binaries.

yEnc is a type of binary to text encoding that has much
less "overhead" than Uuencoded files.
Note: OE does not internally decode yEnc messages.
You must use a third-party program to acheive this,
the easiest being yProxy:
http://www.brawnylads.com/software/

Again, I suggest that, for binaries, it would be more
practical to just switch to one of the dedicated newsreaders
mentioned above, which all handle yEnc internally.

RAR files are (usually) large multimedia type of files (.avi,
..mpg, .mov, .rm, etc.) that have been archived and split into
parts. You need WinRar to reassemble the archive and
decompress it. http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
(shareware, but always usable, even after the trial period).