File be there...

[The Last Word]

Problem: I would like to join all you lovely file sharers, but am unsure as to which application to go for. Kazaa? WinMX? other? Which is best/best avoided (and I've heard some horror stories about these things screwing up XP, which I'm running) Bear in mind I don't mind coughing up for the paid for versions as these things obviously pay for themselves after a while.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Deuce Bigolo]

kazaa.com is the one to avoid....contained 97 pieces of spyware/malware when I installed it and that was before I'd even downloaded anything

kazaalite.com is said to be free of these but many files have been maliciously changed so you never know what your getting
Have also downloaded a few viruses and trojans from here but luckily Norton picked them up straight away

Thats all I've ever accessed...being a dial-up user I just got sick of waiting
and went and bought the vids/dvds

Before you join the P2P world make sure your security is cranked up
to the maximum....firewall,anti-virus,spyware removal

Most of the vulnerabilities of XP can be found at

Your one stop shop of spyware/malware links to forums & useful sites is



cheers
B....OZ

[The Last Word]

Thanks, Deuce - sound advice as always and the links very useful. I think I'll tune up/patch up XP before going P2P, as google showed up a plethora of XP helpsites. It's fairly obvious now that Gates & co. have released it in a pretty much unfinished form, the swines (and just how many auto updates must users endure?) Makes me almost wistful for Win98.

Cheers.

[Lizard]

There,s not much you can do whatever p to p site, apart from taking some precautions, I have used kazaa lite for ages, and have had more spyware from links on this site, at the end of the day if you want free anything there is always a small price to pay...........

[Guilbert]

>kazaalite.com is said to be free

I think Kazaa Lite is no longer being distributed.

For those that do not know, Kazaa came with some bundled adverts and
software and so some people developed Kazaa Lite with no adverts or
software to get round that.

Eventually the people who wrote Kazaa took the people who did the
Kazaa Lite version to court and they had to stop.

I still have a version of Kazaa Lite and it works fine.

I also downloaded the usual version of Kazaa recently and it was
full of spyware and other awful software and it took me ages to
clean my machine up afterwards.

To be fair I have always found Kazaa easy to install and use, but only
use it if you can get the Lite version.

Also, install WinPatrol BEFORE you put on any P2P software and it will let
you know if anything else is being installed under the covers.

Guilbert

[Lizard]

Agree Guilbert, Winpatrol is a decent programme, still free or the plus version, for a few quid...........

[Deuce Bigolo]

Funnily enough I'm running windows 2nd edition 98

Every version has its problems...its just xp being the newest kid on the block gets all the attention

Another couple of useful links that I've found whilst burrowing through the above site are

great links list down the bottom

one link in particular
4 or 8 steps to securing your computers security
Its quite detailed and a little bit complicated(to me anyway)

cheers
B....OZ

[Snake Diamond]

The ONLY P2P Client i EVER recommend to use is EyeMesh, it is a "Tweaked" version of iMesh.

All the SpyWare/BannerWare/Ads/Pop-Up Ads/etc... have been removed.

I have used all the various Protection & Checker software to search my system, i have had NO instances of any Spyware, like the stuff you get with KaZaA or any of the other P2P Clients, & that includes the original of iMesh itself.

Make sure you have used something like Ad-Aware to sweep your system for nasties & remove the gunk.

Anti-Virus & Firewall your system, they try EyeMesh.

The .EXE Installer file for EyeMesh is 4Mb so I don't have any transfer possibilities with Dial-Up, but other ppl might be able to offer an answer.

Eyemesh is a lot safer than most, as all the gunk is removed, but you still have to keep your Firewall & Anti-Virus uptodate.

[mart]

I'm still on 98 SE as well. When I sent my laptop back for a complete overhaul and much bigger hard disk I asked the techies about upgrading the OS. Tha advice they gave was unless I was having real difficulties with my present system I was better off saving money by not changing the OS. Recently there's been the additional bonus that 98 and even older systems seem to have been ignored by the attacks.
The last time I looked at Kazaa-lite there was some sort of registration process, I didn't like the sound of that.

Mart

[Deuce Bigolo]

I took a recent look at before cancelling and found out its actually a front for access to imesh.

with patch access to edonkey,
bearshare,grokster,WinMx & Blubster for windows users
and a few others for mac & linux users

False advertising as far as i'm concerned even if these contain similar material to the old kazaalite programs

cheers
B....OZ