20-October-2014

Forté releases Agent 8

Forté is excited to announce a major release of Agent 8.0 with powerful new features that will make your life easy when downloading binary media files. With Agent 8.0 you can select, download and view binary files of any size with just a single click. To accomplish this, Agent automatically downloads, joins and repairs your binaries using a minimum amount of bandwidth and disk space.

Late last year we sent surveys to all our customers to find out what features you wanted the most. The response was clear - focus on significant improvements to Agent's handling of large binaries. That’s what we did with Agent 8.0. Whether you use Agent for text groups, binaries or email, we think you'll love this major upgrade.

Watch this brief YouTube video to see Agent 8.0 in action:

Then be sure to watch all the Agent Tutorial Videos.

One-Click Binaries

Most Usenet binaries are split into smaller "archive" messages using RAR or SPLIT. In fact, a single binary archive can have over 100 messages. Now, with a single click, Agent 8 can:

• Select all the messages in a binary archive (RAR or SPLIT)
• Initiate a simultaneous download of the selected messages
• Analyze and repair any damaged files
• Avoid password protected archives and other scams
• Reassemble the archive into to the original media files
• Clean up any temporary files
• Launch the media files for your viewing pleasure

Binary Usenet has never been so easy!

MegaJoin

MegaJoin is Agent 8's proprietary pattern-matching technology that:

• Identifies related message headers that are elements of an archive
• Combines related messages into a single "mega" message for easy access
• Provides a clean message body UI for working with individual messages

MegaJoin really shines when you import NZB files:

With MegaJoin enabled, Agent creates a single message for each series in the NZB. If Agent 8 ever fails to MegaJoin a series, please contact support to help us update Agent's MegaJoin pattern-matching rules.

RAR / PAR / SPLIT Automation

Agent 8 automatically downloads and combines RAR and SPLIT files without the need for any 3rd party software. When PAR files are present, Agent will automatically repair any damaged files by downloading a minimal number of PARs. As you might expect, Agent 8 provides Folder Options that give you fine-grained control over how Usenet Archives should behave. The default settings should be ideal for most users:

Binary Archive Preview

Usenet binaries are getting so big that you really need to "sample" what you download to avoid wasting time and bandwidth. So we've added a Binary Preview feature that enables you to download and view a small video sample before downloading the entire archive. Didn't get enough preview video the first time? Run it again with a larger sample size until you are satisfied.

Archive Password Detection

Agent 8.0 can also sample media files to determine if a password is necessary to extract the content. By default, Agent will prompt you for the password before proceeding. However, you can also configure Agent to ignore password-protected archives.

Other Changes

Agent 8.0 also includes other minor features and bug fixes. A list of these changes is included in the Agent Release Notes.

Forté Support

Forté provides you with world-class support with a single point of support for both Agent 8.0 and Agent Usenet (APN).

About Forté

Forté develops the Agent family of products; Agent 8.0 is the most powerful newsreader and email program for managing communications available today. Forté also provides the Agent Premium News (APN) a high-speed Usenet news service feed. Forté is in the process of developing Directra a small business App that makes it easy for your team to respond, manage, and track customer interactions using any communication channel (e.g. voice, email, live chat via SMS) anywhere on any device.

Regards,

The Forté Team