Solve : Peer to Peer program safety?

1.	Solve : Peer to Peer program safety?
Answer» My son has used a Peer to Peer program over the years on his computer. He has used Limewire, Bittorent, Bearshare, etc. Knowing this I have had discussions with him about the dangers of viruses, spyware, hackers, etc. but he likes the ability to find mostly music. I have secured his computer best I can. I learned a lot from this forum over the years. However twice in the past few years he has gotten a virus. Right now he is not running anything because I told him I would try to see if any one stood out as being safer than others. So here's my question, does anyone have a recommended P2P program based on it's safety features. For example, is there one that scans for viruses and spyware? Another question is, can all P2P programs be configured not to share anything from his computer. He does not want to share anything, just download stuff. While I don't like him using a P2P program, he is an adult and I am just trying to help him be as safe as possible. Thanks, JimP2P programs, when used for illegal activities, will almost always cause problems. No P2P program is inherently safer than another, disregarding the programs that themselves contain malware. Most programs can be configured not to share anything, however this is KNOWN as leeching and is usually frowned upon and may lead to slower download speeds on some networks. My advice to stay safe is to install a decent antivirus program or suite (AVG is good, and free), a good antispyware solution (Spybot, also AVG includes some protection) and use common SENSE (don't download illegal files).A general rule of thumb: Think of it as 50% of all P2P files being viruses... half the files I were looking for on P2P the last time I used it were... Bittorrent is generally safer for various reasons, though, its not bulletproofed. You say that Bittorrent is generally safer for various reasons. Does it have a built in virus scanner? Can you elaborate on the "various reasons"? Thanks, JimThe reason is a little bit difficult to describe... No, it doesnt have a virus scanner, but, Torrents are less targeted for hacking and for spreading of viruses, and you must have various users to actually have a fully working torrent... If a user somehow got a virus, they would find out and would probably stop sharing the file. Thus, the file never really makes it "off the ground" The second thing is that if a file is "accidentally" infected on another computer, it wont pass file verification, and the whole infection cant be spread, because it wont "fit in" with other parts of the file... Try open source software such as emule (edonkey net) or azureus (bittorrent). Notice: Girls end with jpeg, not with exe. If you download an exe (cracks, warez), expect a virus. If you're downloading music, there won't be exe's, so there shouldn't be a problem. If you want to be safe, get a virus scanner (keep it up to date). Scan your files before running it. ... works for me ....Quote from: slowfly on October 20, 2008, 09:42:57 AM Try open source software such as emule (edonkey net) or azureus (bittorrent). Forgive me if I'm wrong....but would that not be illegal? Quote Notice: Girls end with jpeg, not with exe. If you download an exe (cracks, warez), expect a virus. If you're downloading music, there won't be exe's, so there shouldn't be a problem. Also, you should know that not all viruses are executable files (.exe). Many viruses can be disguised or hidden (these are called Trojans). Viruses can also attach themselves to files (called worms).I appreciate all the replies. I have on additional question. Is there a way to run one of the Peer to Peer programs and DISABLE the ability for the user to download executable, image or movie files? Quote Is there a way to run one of the Peer to Peer programs and disable the ability for the user to download executable, image or movie files? Music files may contain virus as well. I've used azureus a little. It actively prevents the sharing of material that has copyright. I don't how this aspect works or how reliable it is though. I'm using qtorrent for downloading large things. Just look over a torrent site and look good to the comments people post about it they ussually post if it's good or not. For small things like a song I use limewire, and I admit it's sometimes dangerous. In limewire no matter what you look for, you always get on top of the results virusses with extremely odd TAGS, for example when I search on 'foo fighters' on top appear files with texts like 'foo fighters [removed]' etc, you can ussually tell that those files are not safe. I ussually only download a file that has .mp3 extension and has only the tags I'm looking for in it's filename. Sometimes when you download a .mp3 and open it in windows media player it asks you to download a codec, never accept this, you'll probably be taken to a site to download a .exe which will infect your system. (you'd better use VLC player anyway, if that can't open it, delete the file) I'd recommend a virus scanner and some knowledge on what looks safe. There is a bigger chance that you might fall for one of these tricks when using limewire.I edited the above post to remove references to material some may find offensive/objectionable. Leejjon, we don't deal with pirated material here. The only torrents I can think of that people would be using (in a world without piracy) are for, say, Openoffice, Linux distributions, and other free/open source software that takes a long time to download. These will always be safe as you'll find the torrent on the software's homepage.

Answer»

My son has used a Peer to Peer program over the years on his computer. He has used Limewire, Bittorent, Bearshare, etc. Knowing this I have had discussions with him about the dangers of viruses, spyware, hackers, etc. but he likes the ability to find mostly music. I have secured his computer best I can. I learned a lot from this forum over the years. However twice in the past few years he has gotten a virus. Right now he is not running anything because I told him I would try to see if any one stood out as being safer than others. So here's my question, does anyone have a recommended P2P program based on it's safety features. For example, is there one that scans for viruses and spyware?

Another question is, can all P2P programs be configured not to share anything from his computer. He does not want to share anything, just download stuff.

While I don't like him using a P2P program, he is an adult and I am just trying to help him be as safe as possible.

Thanks,
JimP2P programs, when used for illegal activities, will almost always cause problems.
No P2P program is inherently safer than another, disregarding the programs that themselves contain malware.
Most programs can be configured not to share anything, however this is KNOWN as leeching and is usually frowned upon and may lead to slower download speeds on some networks.
My advice to stay safe is to install a decent antivirus program or suite (AVG is good, and free), a good antispyware solution (Spybot, also AVG includes some protection) and use common SENSE (don't download illegal files).A general rule of thumb:
Think of it as 50% of all P2P files being viruses... half the files I were looking for on P2P the last time I used it were...

Bittorrent is generally safer for various reasons, though, its not bulletproofed. You say that Bittorrent is generally safer for various reasons. Does it have a built in virus scanner? Can you elaborate on the "various reasons"?

Thanks,
JimThe reason is a little bit difficult to describe...
No, it doesnt have a virus scanner, but, Torrents are less targeted for hacking and for spreading of viruses, and you must have various users to actually have a fully working torrent...

If a user somehow got a virus, they would find out and would probably stop sharing the file. Thus, the file never really makes it "off the ground"

The second thing is that if a file is "accidentally" infected on another computer, it wont pass file verification, and the whole infection cant be spread, because it wont "fit in" with other parts of the file...

Try open source software such as emule (edonkey net) or azureus (bittorrent).

Notice: Girls end with jpeg, not with exe. If you download an exe (cracks, warez), expect a virus.
If you're downloading music, there won't be exe's, so there shouldn't be a problem.

If you want to be safe, get a virus scanner (keep it up to date). Scan your files before running it.

... works for me ....Quote from: slowfly on October 20, 2008, 09:42:57 AM

Try open source software such as emule (edonkey net) or azureus (bittorrent).

Forgive me if I'm wrong....but would that not be illegal?

Quote

Notice: Girls end with jpeg, not with exe. If you download an exe (cracks, warez), expect a virus.
If you're downloading music, there won't be exe's, so there shouldn't be a problem.

Also, you should know that not all viruses are executable files (.exe).
Many viruses can be disguised or hidden (these are called Trojans).
Viruses can also attach themselves to files (called worms).I appreciate all the replies. I have on additional question. Is there a way to run one of the Peer to Peer programs and DISABLE the ability for the user to download executable, image or movie files? Quote

Is there a way to run one of the Peer to Peer programs and disable the ability for the user to download executable, image or movie files?

Music files may contain virus as well. I've used azureus a little. It actively prevents the sharing of material that has copyright. I don't how this aspect works or how reliable it is though. I'm using qtorrent for downloading large things. Just look over a torrent site and look good to the comments people post about it they ussually post if it's good or not. For small things like a song I use limewire, and I admit it's sometimes dangerous.

In limewire no matter what you look for, you always get on top of the results virusses with extremely odd TAGS, for example when I search on 'foo fighters' on top appear files with texts like 'foo fighters [removed]' etc, you can ussually tell that those files are not safe. I ussually only download a file that has .mp3 extension and has only the tags I'm looking for in it's filename.

Sometimes when you download a .mp3 and open it in windows media player it asks you to download a codec, never accept this, you'll probably be taken to a site to download a .exe which will infect your system. (you'd better use VLC player anyway, if that can't open it, delete the file)

I'd recommend a virus scanner and some knowledge on what looks safe. There is a bigger chance that you might fall for one of these tricks when using limewire.I edited the above post to remove references to material some may find offensive/objectionable.
Leejjon, we don't deal with pirated material here. The only torrents I can think of that people would be using (in a world without piracy) are for, say, Openoffice, Linux distributions, and other free/open source software that takes a long time to download.
These will always be safe as you'll find the torrent on the software's homepage.

Solve : Peer to Peer program safety?

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