have you tried searching through the archive google makes of the group
th shortcut I have is
http://groups.google.com.au/group/alt.comp.freeware?lnk=oa&hl=en
http://tinyurl.com/h3c5j
however my being in Australia will give a different url to someonr from
another country .. you will see that google (not google quick searches)
has some options aabove the dialogue box where you type your search
criteria.. click on the word Groups when that loads type freeware and
the alt comp freeware groups will appear at the top (for me at least)
once you have opened alt.comp.freeware there is an option to search
within this group
hope that helps