I'm new to all this (including computers). With a greedy eye on all the goodies in music and film I decided to treat myself to a life membership package. What I didn't realize when installing LimeWire was that I would be forced to share files. I don't like anything I have no control over, and I don't believe the company's self-serving reassurances about it being risk-free. I'm screwed without LimeWire, obviously, and I'm sorry if this sounds a bit dim, but why is file-sharing not a matter of choice? Can anyone put my mind at rest or must I uninstall and reconcile myself to having thrown $58 down the pan?

Why is that you wanna join a file sharing network when you don't wanna share any of your goodies in music and film???

There are some possibilitys but I would not share them with you !!!

May be someone else will HELP YOU...

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Now... Verry slowlly... Put the gun to your head... slow... spin the cylinder... pull the trigger !!!

.~Stamp Of The State~.

1st read the top sticky in this forum, and join the legion of the scammed. Sorry to say that, but you are not alone.

The basic version of LimeWire is free and can be downloaded here. http://www.limewire.com/english/content/download.shtml

contact your credit card company or bank and explain what has happened. You might be able to get them to reverse the charges.

I would uninstall that version as it appears to be bugged, flawed, or loaded down with spyware adware, and install the free version from the official LimeWire website in the link above.

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WindowsXP MCE sp2
P4 3.0 Ghz HT
4 Gb DDR2 @ 533 Mhz

Look you got scammed.........

__________________
Now... Verry slowlly... Put the gun to your head... slow... spin the cylinder... pull the trigger !!!

.~Stamp Of The State~.

Thanks for this Fabion. I signed up with MyMusic.com. Installing LimeWire was mandatory I'm afraid - and it was the basic version, not the Pro. Both appear to have the same default so I'm not sure it would make any difference anyway, but you probably know more about that than me. It's going to be Tuesday now before I can contact my bank and through my bank the credit card company (I'm in England, where Monday is a public holiday). I'm not optimistic but I'll see what I can do. A shame really. The idea of something like this is a good one.

You can unshare if that is what you really want to do, but that defeats the purpose of LimeWire and p2p applications in general.

In LW tools>options>sharing ---- shared folders --- you can highlight the folder then select remove. You can repeat this process for each shared folder. Download sharing --- uncheck this box. Then click apply then okay.

In LW tools>options>uploads>basic ---- partial files ---- allow partial file sharing --- uncheck this box --- click apply then okay.

You can also unshare folders or files from the library tab. Highlight the folder or file you would like to unshare then right mouse click and click unshare. **Warning** Do not click delete if you do your files are gone and you will need a file recovery program to retrieve them.

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WindowsXP MCE sp2
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4 Gb DDR2 @ 533 Mhz

It isn't sharing in principle that bothers me Fabion - merely that I should be able to confine sharing to the relevant folder within the P2P application, and not have to worry about the world and his wife having open access to my hard drive.

As I recall your default shared folder is the same as the folder where you put your downloads so your entire drive is not "open to the world and his wife"

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To get Phex Click on the Fox

It was to ask for reassurance on this point that I posted in the first place. If what you say is true, however, there would be no need for the warnings floating about regarding the potential for unauthorized access. I came across at least two such gentle reminders soon after signing up. Anyway thanks for your comment OAH, which was actually quite helpful.

In normal circumstanses you are fine, but if someone wants badly enough to get into any computer connected to the internet, They will do it. and this risk can be minimised by installing suitable protective software. The hackers are more likely to go after the Banking and Govenment sited than you or I, So I don't worry too much

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To get Phex Click on the Fox

Fair point. Of course the internet is the best means of population monitoring yet devised. The only way to real peace of mind is to get rid of your computer.

Dear Hobo & Edward54

Whereas in most circumstances I agree wholeheartedly with Hobo's postings there is one little bit I have a problem with:
You must have miss my recent posting, containing a URL link to the BBC news website, about a server harvesting PC user's IDs and financial details. You see, it's not just hackers you have to worry about but booby traps hidden in web pages set by criminals that want your information.

Here is the latest on the story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4186972.stm

So, don't worry but be careful.

Edward, sorry you got scammed but that's the price you pay for rushing in without first looking, i.e. doing a little research.

However, you said: I strongly disagree with that statement, you forget that in the recent past, when our newspapers were in bed with our politicians, we were told lies upon lies because as simple people (the population of this country) it was felt that we couldn't handle the truth.

However, since the advent of the internet it has been much harder for our politicians and the government to lie to us and get away with it.

Having real information is enpowering and I feel that we have become enpowered and freer since the popularity of computers and the internet has taken off. We are much more able, in the history of this country, to fully take part in the democratic process because we now can find out what is really going on.

So, all in all, getting rid of our computers would be like getting rid of all motorised transport, i.e. stepping back into the bad old days.

Anyway, I feel that computers have done more good for mankind than it has done harm, without it the majority of us would still be in the information dark ages.



UK Bob

I harboured similar reservations about Hobo's advice, but chose not to air them since others know more than me about these things. He is to a large degree correct in what he says however. There are pluses and minuses to all technological advances Bob. So far as our masters are concerned the major drawback is the free flow of information, which they've had little success in staunching so far. Soon, however, they will compel ISPs to install black boxes as standard (national security of course).

You know in spite of all I've said I do wonder if the wonders of the internet are not greatly exaggerated. Politically unacceptable opinion is easily suffocated. All the controlled media have to do is ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist, deny it the publicity it seeks. After all people get their information about what is going on in the world from television, not the internet. Control terrestrial and satellite outlets and you control how people think. I agree about newspapers being in bed with politicans, but I doubt the world wide web has done anything to alter that particular arrangement.

Look before you leap is good advice. That's the problem. I DID look. I looked and found nothing untoward, nothing to indicate that installing the software meant agreeing to file-sharing. I'd have stepped back at once had I done so. So would most others, which is probably why they don't draw attention to it until your money is safely in their bank account.

Edward

I have no problem agreeing with your first two paragraphs, we have touched on a complex subject for which there is no definitive answer, i.e. the role computers and the internet play in modern society. Personally, I think that the use computers are put to is dependent on how much the person running the keyboard wants to know. If all he wants to do is play games then that is what he will do. But if he seeks knowledge then he will find that too.

However, Edward, you were the victim of a scam site, that is you paid for something that is free. You said that you did your research but I guess, as an inexperienced internet user, you looked in the wrong place for your information.

For example, never buy any software via the internet unless you can try it for 15 - 30 days free of charge, if you're asked for fanancial information you abandon the transaction.

I do all my shopping via the internet including software, furniture, kitchen appliances and most things that I own. Using the internet can be safe if you take the necessary precautions and keep your PC clean of all the spyware, keyloggers and diallers that your PC picks up while surfing.

So, in other words, I think that your inexperience got the better of you this time but if you gain the knowledge you need using the internet will become like crossing the road.

Until next time.



UK Bob

Thanks for this Bob. Ultimately I must chalk it up to experience, as you all but say yourself. Is http://www.mymusicinc.com really a scam site then? Crickey. Of course it's typical of me that I go for the life package instead of the I-year deal, a difference of around $40 all told, or about £25. I'll probably wear a jackass costume next time I leave the house.

However something has changed even at this early stage. Complacency is setting in. Panic, that natural accompaniment to vulnerability, has subsided to the extent that I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself now, downloading tunes I haven't heard in ages (everything from Ronnie Hilton to Vera Lynn and, of a more recent vintage, even James Blunt) and thought more or less unobtainable. It's as if I have access to whatever I want, when I want it, which is delusional but nice. If I could just muster the confidence to know for certain that the only information leaving my computer will be from the LimeWire user files and nowhere else, as I am led to believe, that would be so much the better.

Many don't care about online security of course. One American journalist, for example, dismisses it as shutting the door after the horse has bolted. As far as he's concerned they all ready have your details, an accumulation of data that continues to grow every time you use your credit card or write a cheque or draw money from a cashpoint. They know what you read, what food you like, what pornography you watch, which football team you support, even your medical history (patient confidentiality? You're having a larf...). There is nothing they don't know or can't find out about you in pretty short order - so stop worrying. It's true for me I have to admit. Like you I shop online all the time (I'd be lost without Tesco to deliver my groceries, and as for the temptations of Amazon and e-Bay....). Maybe the fellow has a point.