Let's get to the down and dirty
 

Okay. I don't want any corporate lies or "well, this, but that" from the makers or users.

What File Sharing Network has a decent collection, works well, and doesn't have spyware (aka crap)?

Gnucleus or any of the open source free clients are great and have no spy / spamware in them.
It can take you hours to clean out all the crapware those other programs install, even though they say "just hit remove programs", some of them install crap in the registry and you have to edit it to get it all out.

Re: Let's get to the down and dirty
 

Depends on what you searching. The Donkey network has the biggest collection of videos and other programs and is unbeatable with the download of these files.

Try eMule and Gnucleus as G2Pway suggested. You will have two reliable good working clients which are sure without any crap because they are open source!

Spyware isn´t a problem of the netwrok, you will find in every network clients which use Spyware.

Morgwen

Yep, some networks have become kind of specialized on certain files :) . For instance, if you want TV series, WinMX is the place to go, although lately you can find a lot on ed2k, too. Ed2k is The Place for movies, full apps and games (because good performance to transfer larger files), but it's not the best for music. Gnutella seems to be pretty good for music, but here you can also try Piolet.

Not only that usefull info, but are any af them Mac specific, or do we have to wade through the Windoze stuff to find it.
e.g. I've just been looking through
ed2k-it, and 95% at least, is for PC. Groan

Cyclic

I don't know of Mac-Specific networks, but Acquisition is a great piece of software using the Gnutella Nework.

I do call it the best designed file-sharing client avaible for any system.

Look for it at http://acquisitionx.com.

It doesn't have spyware or adware, but it has an unnerving nag-screen.
It uses the Limewire Core with a great interface by Porf, the interface designer.

Gnutella makes quite much Mac-Software and other tools for Mac avaible. Just add "dmg" to the search-string and you'll find only Mac-Software.

You could also use phex on the Mac, which isn't as beautiful as Acquisition, but also works decently and is a real downloading machine, a workhorse, where Acquisition is the fine tool to get the files you want elegantly, but not always as reliable.

And don't forget to share!

For Mac OS 8.1-9, LimeWire is the only choice.

For OSX 10.1, LimeWire

For Jag and Panther--LimeWire
(my kids like the interface Acquisition puts on LimeWire)

LimeWire has more developers working on it fulltime (they often post here in the forums too), and a goodly group of open source developers who will help out and have even added special patches. Since gnutella is a dynamic network and its development is dynamic, you want a client that will keep up with whatever changes happen to be implemented each week.

There is currently no spyware in LimeWire for OSX, but if you are nervous, Jens-Uwe Mager regularly builds an equivalent to LimeWire Pro that he offers freely http://baghira.han.de/~jum/LimeWire.html

As Arne said--share. LimeWire is my choice, but I support Acq too and plan to support Phex when I get a chance to try it.

I managed to package Phex for OSX, so Phex for OSX will continue.
It is also quite easy to translate.

If you are looking for prgrams yes the most are for Windows, the most users use Windows systems so its really no surprise... is it? ;)

But you can download videos, music, pics etc. which you can play on all operated systems... so 95% is MUCH to high.

I don´t know a network which is sharing mainly Mac programs, and I really don´t think there is one... the developers want to attract users and usually offering also a Windows version - ergo the most programs are again for Windows.

Morgwen

Yeah,
Limewire seems to be the best for my Mac purpose.
I'm looking for Mac specific apps, so the search facility is a must. Unfortunately the last downloaad caused all sorts of problems, but what the heck! They all get shared back with warnings

I haven't been able to download the OS X version of MacPhex, due to Download server failure ?? but Aquisition is ready to go.

Cyclic

May I recommend Poisoned and XNap for Macs.

For direct connections and browsing Carracho is unbeatable. Although you have to negotiate access with the server admins, once you are in it is great because you just look around and go for what you like.

Hotline is similar and older than Carracho but nowhere near as nice and riddled with PC nasties.

For those of you who seem happy with LimeWire can you tell me what I am missing out on? I have used it for ages and it has never been a stellar performer for me. It is slow and difficult to get to complete downloads.

Report Card:

Appropriate Forum Accuracy - Improving
Cessation of Client Slagging - Could Try Harder

Try it again, or better still: use Acquisition, which makes the connections look nicer.

For a list of Changes, whch improved Gnutella during the last year, plese look at http://gnufu.net : Gnutella For Users

These do not have spyware

Emule
Edonkey
Limewire
Bitorrent
kceasy
XS
Mute
mIRC
gnucleus

The best and latest content is to be found on usenet.
My provider has improved the newsserver lately and it's filesheaven now :D

Do not use outlook to browse newsgroups but use a decent newsreader like Agent.

The free basic version bundleds software, many people say its spyware (including me).

:confused:

You can use IRC for downloading files but its a chat client and not a filesharing client. And you should know that they asked money after the test period of 30 days...

Morgwen

Can you point me to a decent newsreader for MaOSX?

Sorry Arne,
I am not into Macs
Get yourself a cheap 2nd hand PC and join in for the goodies :D

Just wait for some MacProgrammer writing a NewsReader on a UnixBase as Interface Projectm and I'll need none of that.

And besides: I have a few, but they aren't up the the level I expect from a Mac. I hope I missed one.