Larry kindly answered my question with more than I expected, and then some:
Forte's products are better at text than binaries.

Go download Xnews free from xnews.newsguy.com and...
snip

Thanks Larry, I will def check out xnews. My isp doesn't carry all the
groups, nor does it keep messages longer than 2 weeks, so I'll also have
to look into usenetserver if I get addicted

Red