If your newsreader does not support SSL yet, you may be able to use STunnel. Read below for the proper steps (which were originally written for GrabIt). Please note that in this day and age, most newsreaders have SSL capabilities built in. The steps below are meant asa work around for those still using clients that do not, however this method can cause additional CPU load on your system.
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There is a work around allowing SSL encryption download from the newsgroups if you use Grabit as your client which does not have SSL yet. I have tested it and it works.

Below are instructions for installing and configuring Stunnel for Windows. OSX and Linux users should visit »www.stunnel.org/faq for instructions on how to compile and configure Stunnel.

Stunnel setup (Windows)
Download the latest Windows Binaries from »www.stunnel.org/download/binaries.html and install the program.
After installing, go to "Start>Programs>Stunnel>Install Service". You should receive confirmation that the service is installed.
Next, go to "Start>Programs>Stunnel>Edit stunnel.conf" Stunnel.conf is a plaintext file with all of Stunnel's options. Make these changes:

Find the line ";client = yes" and remove the semicolon ; . A semicolon at the start of a line causes it to be ignored, which you want to override. Add the following lines to the bottom of the file:

[nntp]
accept = 119
connect = **news server address here**:563

The service name in [brackets] can be anything. The "accept =" field is the port your Usenet client connects to, generally 119. The "connect =" field is the IP/domain and port of the secure server you are forwarding traffic to.

Save these changes and close stunnel.conf.
Go to "Start>Programs>Stunnel>Service Start" or "Run Stunnel". The program's icon should appear in the taskbar.
News Client Setup
These steps are not particular to any news client and should be simple changes in most clients.

Change the server address in the client settings to "127.0.0.1" or "localhost".
Make sure the client is set to connect to the same port used in the "accept =" field in stunnel.conf. This will almost always be port 119.
Save these changes. Test settings by updating headers or downloading an article. When you hover your mouse over the Stunnel icon, it should display "x session(s) active" where x is the number of connections you have configured in your client.

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by swintec
last modified: 2010-09-12 00:42:57