I posted this thread in the open discussion but decided I should also post it here as it could be useful for some people.

Maximizing upload/download Success LimeWire

Objective:

I'm starting this thread to address two common problems which seem to appear over and over again in the forums.

General description of the problem:

1. Problems downloading content
2. Low upload count


With the influx of users to peer to peer networking and specifically New LimeWire users many of which I assume are also new broadband users there are several issues that arise out of a general lack of knowledge in what is required to participate in this type of networking model with moderate success. There are a few things that become self evident if you've spent any time on the Gnutella network and these forums.

1. Posts to the forum that don't adequately describe the problem. (for example, I can't connect.) -

The status of these problems would have a higher probability of receiving useful feedback if users provided some basic information such as; machine, operating system, connection speed, location of connection I.E. School work or home.

For example: I'm new to Limewire- I just downloaded limewire and installed it on a Windows 98 Machine with a T1 connection to the network from school. I don't have a firewall installed on my computer and don't know if there is one here but I cannot seem to connect using limewire. My other application i'e web browsers and email work fine. Can anybody tell me what's wrong?


2. Posts to the forum for issues that have been addressed in the FAQs suggests that people are not reading them.

3. Posts to forum for issues that have been addressed in other threads this also suggests that people are not even reading the threads before they post.
4. Post to areas of the forum that are not necessarily dedicated to the issues being raised. Connection Problems in the Open Discussion Forum. MAC issues in the Open Forum.

5. Finally, posts to the forum that have nothing to do with file sharing.


Now, for the problems people are having with uploading / downloading, Consider the following suggestions:


To maximize your ability to download successfully do the following things:

1. Go to tools/options/searching/Quality (show all four star results)

This will effectively filter out all of the people who are behind firewalls or have other connection issues, this will greatly reduce your frustration in downloading.

I should note however, that this could significantly reduce the amount of content you see, as most of the content being shared on the network is being shared from hosts which are poorly configured for sharing and you would probably have problems downloading from them anyway.


2. Go to tools/options/searching/speed (show all speeds)

I make this suggestion because if you are already filtering by Quality, filtering by speed will further reduce your results. If there 20 people on modem connections that have the content you want why not download from them.

3. Go to tools/options/filters/hosts under the disallow all messages from specific hosts add the following IPs: 192.168.*.* AND 10.*.*.*

I make this suggestion to filter out all the host who have incorrectly forwarded their private IP address on the network. These IP addresses are NOT routable and you will NOT be able to connect and download content from these hosts so ignore results from these guys. if

4. Go to tools/options/filters/keywords Filter out search results containing !!!

Most likely viruses or porn files emulating your search queries.


Now on to problems with uploading. If you are experiencing problems with people up loading from your computer the suggestions I made in and maximizing your ability to download see 1 through 4 above.) your machine could be one of these hosts.

I'll start with some general suggestions:

1. Make sure that you are not sharing from a work or school location as peer to peer traffic tends to be administratively prohibited. although it may not be explicitly blocked they could be applying quality of service rules to your traffic.

2. If you are sharing from home - leave your machine on for at least 4 hours (you can't expect people to download from you if you jump on the network do some searches and then disconnect.)

3. Finally, if you are using NAT (meaning that the IP address of your machine is 10.x.x.x or 192.x.x.x ) now, might be able to connect, search and download from the network but no one will be able to upload from you. If you have taken the advise of others to force your IP using limewire then your half way there, as your port forwarding is working correctly. But, you need to FORCE THE IP OF YOUR ROUTER or FIREWALL to the network. To find out what your ip is from the machine that you use to get on Gnutella open a web browser to http://www.whatismyip.com
(write this IP down and force this IP in Limewire) If you need help testing this Just post a reply to this thread.

By implementing these suggestions you will have better luck downloading and uploading on Gnutella.

__________________
Lee Evans, President
LeeWare Development
http://www.leeware.com