As you may have found out by now using peer to peer software can be very fun and good way to get your favorite music, movies, games, and whatever else you want to download. I am sure that you have also heard though that using peer to peer software can openly invite computer problems like adware, spyware, trojans and viruses. Not to mention some files may be illegally distributed and could cost you some very hefty fines. I however want to show you how to safely use peer to peer software just the way it should be.
The Problems With Public Peer To Peer Software
There are several problems that need to be addressed with public peer to peer software. The biggest of them is that they are not monitored. As soon a free peer to peer software program is released it starts building up steam and more and more users join. Some of these users sole purpose in lives are to make others miserable. People will put things like trojans, spyware, adware, and viruses in their files and then distribute them to others. This causes a huge chain reaction as it spreads throughout that particular peer to peer software community. This completely ruins it for everybody.
Here Are Descriptions Of What These People Put On Your Computer
Trojan: A destructive program that masquerades as a true application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer. These are installed once the file is open and starts every time you turn on your computer. These programs can even allow someone to take complete control of your computer.
Spyware: Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user’s Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.
Adware: A form of spyware that collects information about the user in order to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects from the user’s browsing patterns.
Viruses: A program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. Viruses can also replicate themselves. All computer viruses are manmade. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security systems.
As you can see you would never want any of this stuff on your computer. These are the most common reasons peoples computers crash and need to be reformatted resulting in the loss of valuable data. There is really only one way to avoid this happening to you. That is to join a private peer to peer network. Many of the people that want to such destructive things will not bother going out of their way or paying to do so. Why would they ever want to do that when there are millions of people to wreak their havoc on much easier.
The Shinier Side Of The Peer To Peer Software Coin
As you very well know peer to peer software is not all that bad. There is no other way out there to get the music, movies, games, or whatever else you want on demand. To buy all of the things the average user downloads in a month would run literally into the thousands.
Peer to peer software is also the best way to insure that you get the titles that you want as quickly as possible. When downloading strait from the web or even on IRC for that matter you may have to wait weeks if not months to see the most newly released products. With peer to peer software everybody works together so that you can get the newest titles as soon as they are available to the public and sometimes before they are.
Speed is also a major plus for peer to peer software. If you where to download a product from the web you may have to settle for a speed allot slower than you connection will allow you to or even worse you may have to wait just to get that slower connection. When you use peer to peer software you can utilize the resources of everybody else on the network that also has that file. That means instead of downloading the file from one place you are getting it from several hundred places. You will never have to worry about the file being inaccessible because a site is down or a person turned their computer off.
Search speed is just another major factor when you become a downloading freak. When using web pages and resources like IRC it can take quite awhile to find what you are looking for. You have to jump from site to site or server to server depending on what you are using, just to see what they have available for you. Then like mentioned before you have to deal with slow speeds and possible a waiting period. Some IRC servers even require you to upload a file to the server before you can even download anything. With peer to peer software you can download anything without having to bother with uploading anything, it is all done automatically.
With all public peer to peer software applications you have to worry about a variety of other things such as amount of files, audio quality, video quality, legal issues, and possibly the biggest of all no tech support. These public peer to peer programs don’t offer tech support even though they are still making money off of it by means of advertisements. They would simply be to swamped with the amount of users they get.
5 Steps To A Safer Peer To Peer Software Experience
1) When installing your file sharing software, do not allow it to scan your hard disk for media to share. If you do this, it may end up sharing out every single song, video, picture, etc. it locates, regardless of whether it is copyrighted. This is a very important, especially if you have ripped your CD collection on to your PC.
2) Once you have set up the software, configure it to use a new folder as your shared folder. It may be worth putting some freeware items in the shared folder to make it look like your are not a ‘free loader’, e.g. the latest copy of Winamp, OpenOffice, music made freely available by the author, etc. depending on your uplink bandwidth.
3) If the file sharing software offers the ability to disable the browsing of your shared files make sure is checked. While this does not prevent your file sharing software from sharing out files, at least it prevents nosy people from remotely checking what you have shared out.
4) Periodically check the list of items your P2P application is sharing. Most P2P clients can view a list of shared items and this way you can make sure that you are not sharing out content that should not be shared out.
5) If you download something that you are not fully sure is free of copyright protection, immediately move it out of your shared folder once the download has complete. By default, file sharing software automatically shares any downloaded content, so just be warned. Some file sharing software such as eMule and BitTorrent clients even share out partially downloaded files.
Final Words And Recommendations
First off when using any peer to peer software I strongly recommend using a program like Peer Guardian. This software gathers a large list of computers you many not want to have access your PC (RIAA, MPAA etc.) and blocks them from connecting to your PC (to browse your shared files, see what you are downloading/uploading etc). It isn’t a 100% safe of course, as the lag between them changing there IP and PeerGuardian updating to block it would allow them time to theoretically connect to your PC if they really needed to, also not every single “anti-p2p” IP is known, so it does not leave you completely safe either way. However, for most P2P users it is still well worth having providing you update often. It does however slow down your PC when it is running, so I would suggest disabling it to start automatically with windows and run it only when you have P2P applications running.
Second off join a private peer to peer software group. This highly reduces the risk of getting files that have trojans, spyware, adware, or viruses in them. It is still possible but a lot less likely. You are also a lot less likely to be caught downloading something you shouldn’t since it is a private group and not just everybody access it. Overall these groups are the closest thing you will ever see to safe havens for peer to peer software users. I recommend iMP3Download because of it’s massive amount of files. There are over 14 million mp3’s as well as millions more games, movies, and software. It also gives you some killer speed, this group reaches speeds about two hundred and fifty times faster than kazaa and is completely spyware and adware free. They also give 24 hour tech support so you know there is somebody there if you have problems
This article originally posted on http://www.guruofinfo.com where you can find the solutions to your problems.
