just letting you know that the gnuttela is spreading like wild fire through bear share
this virus has the same characteristics.

it is 8192 bytes
it is an exe file
it copies the name of the song you are looking for in its file name. so be on the lookout everyone.

Personally I wouldn't run Bearshare as I hear it loads spyware on your computer and to me that is detestable.

You got it man. Bearshare is much too far on the commercial side. Perhaps they will even try to play out their influence on the gnutella network.

The thing about the virus is this: it spreads all around the gnutella net, but bearshare users are just not experienced enough (no offence!) to spot it at once, so bearshare will be the main spreading client.

Always remember: No sensible user would EVER download an executable from the gnutella network.

O.K., I've been hearing a general thumbs-down on BearShare, mainly on account of the spyware thing. (And if they'll do that, no telling what else may be going on under the covers . . . .)

Anyone have the lowdown on IMESH, which I gather is some sort of Napster clone based overseas, where the RIAA would have a much harder time going after it ? If it requires some proprietary software though, I'd be very suspicious.


s_l

The RIAA already went after iMesh: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5530715.html

BearShare installs spyware called "SaveNow" on your computer...It also gives you the option of installing "GNet" which I'm not sure about. Also, the SaveNow uninstaller in BearShare version 2.2.2 didn't work. BearShare is an okay gnutella prog, but I don't recommend it to anyone cuz of the spyware issue.

Can anybody explain more about the Spyware Save Now in Bear Share and exactly what it does?? What happens if you remove it?? Any recommendations for a better servent?

A better servent, a better servent ... hmm let me think a while ... ahhh! I read your post in the Furi/Phex forum, so why not try out Phex? People seem to be quite happy with it.


Bye,
Konrad

To remove Savenow, Onflow and New.net you should use Ad-Aware from Lavasoft [lavasoft.de]. It will remove them and a lot of other crappy stuff, too. Hmm... What it does? Onflow is a sort of plug in to 'show enriched content', Savenow will advertise stuff to you (well, look at whenu.com), and New.new is a very questionable name space extender.

Beside all these issues (Spyware or not) I would still recommend Bearshare; using Adaware you could deal with the bundled software easily. And, as far as I know, it is possible since 2.2.4 to opt them out before installing. It is, in my opinion, still the best gnutella client.

Greetings....

Just so you know, Bearshare allows you to NOT install it's spyware programs. During the bearshare installation, it clearly states what extra programs are being installed, and then gives you the option to NOT install them. I've double checked this with AdAware 2.2.4 afterwards and it's true. So, if spyware is an issue, you should fear not the Bear. My only problem with bearshare is that it slows my computer to a crawl when I leave it on all night. Well, at least it doesn't crash. On another note, Gnucleus seems quite impressive. Do check it out.

2.2.4 still sends out spy packets as search queries. Bearshare hides them so if you want to see them you need a client that will monitor searches in passive mode like gnotella.
I looked and they are still there in 2.2.4, so this guy won't quit.
Gnotella seems to hog more CPU but it doesn't crash as much as the Bear does on my system. The CPU usage doesn't bother me much, you can hardly tell its there, it's the bandwidth that I need more!