Software Update: NewsLeecher 4.0 Beta 5

Last Thursday, the fifth beta release of NewsLeecher 4.00 was released. With this program it is possible to download files from newsgroups in a simple way. NewsLeecher has support for nzb files, has a so-called ‘super search’ and can automatically check downloaded files for completeness and then extract them independently. The main improvement in version 4.00 is the support for threads. Furthermore, adjustments have been made to deal with the increased retention of super search: it is now 370 days. Below is the changelog for this release:

New features:

• Added possibility to change colors of ‘Downloaded’, ‘Paused’, ‘Highlighted’, ‘Incomplete’ and ‘New’ articles in the NewsLeecher listviews. The color settings can be found at: Settings -> Adv. Nerdy Tweaks -> Article_Color_…
• Double clicking a article in the ‘group browser’ or the ‘SuperSearch’ will now optionally ‘Open / View / Execute’ it. The option can be switched at: Settings -> Adv. Nerdy Tweaks -> Article_Doubleclick_To_Open
• Double clicking a queued article will now pause / unpause it.
• The ‘Space’ key can now be used to add articles to the transfer queue, aswell as removing articles from the queue.
• Added a ‘Don’t show this message again’ option to various message dialogs.
• Added an option to turn on / off control popup hint windows. The option can be accessed at: Settings -> Adv. Nerdy Tweaks -> Interface_Show_Popup_Hints
• Added a popup context menu to the Advanced Nerdy Tweaks listview.
• Added an ‘Extract Destination Folder’ column to the Repair’n’Extract listview.

Improved features:

• <<< Performance Improvement >>> Optimized the handling of the Repair’n’Extract view. Certain parts of the code is now ~250 times faster than before. This optimization should fix the temporary freezing some users see when having many entries in the Repait’n’Extract view.
• <<< Performance Improvement >>> Improved the way NewsLeecher detects whether articles should be marked as ‘downloaded’. The new way of detecting is ~500 times faster than the old way.
• Simplified the Repair’n’Extract toolbar a bit.
• Smaller improvement here and there. (made the SuperSearch query box a little wider, etc..)

Fixed bugs:

• The limits set for maximum number of headers to fetch on usenet group updates were not working in the previous betas. This has been fixed.
• NewsLeecher didn’t work properly under certain system locales, such as Japanense and Korean. This has been fixed.
• NewsLeecher ignored the ‘Max Days’ setting, when loading group articles, which caused all cached articles to be shown. This has been fixed.
• Fixed bug where NewsLeecher would sometimes spit out an error when removing entries from queued article collections.
• Fixed bug where unpausing queued articles collections didn’t always work.
• During previous betas, the preview pane button and the server grouping button would sometimes get stuck. Fixed.
• Fixed bug where the ‘Shutdown when downloads are done’ option didn’t always work.
• Fixed bug where the Adv. Nerdy Tweak Option: “paranoia_hide_ supersearch_categories” didn’t work after NewsLeecher restarts.
• Fixed bug where temporary files and folders where not always removed.
• Fixed bug where left clicking a downloaded file in the preview panel didn’t launch the file as it should.
• Fixed bug where NewsLeecher would sometimes crash during shutdown, if there were articles in the transfer queue.
• When expanding Repair’n’Extract entries, NewsLeecher would sometimes freeze for some time. This has been fixed.
• Many smaller fixes. (size of collections in transfer queue were sometimes incorrect, etc..)