exactly what UKbobby said. If you stay away form the illigal software, then you wont get a virus. Hopefully you scan your hard drive everyday because not all AV's will pickup the Gnutella viruses. and the software IS NOT FREE even though its there, you sound like you're trying to download the small files which are ALL viruses. I suggest you go by the largest file, not the smallest. and keep your AV up to date. All the software you see is nothing but a demo version of old crap thats been floating around Gnutella for ages that wont be up to date and has a time limit on it anyway, you will need the serial number a working one etc. Go buy it if you want it that badly.

Edited to add: Its shared because it has viruses, not because someone is kind enough to share it. Its a wonder you still have a computer that functions.


(Happy Birthday To Me)

yep, if you've got £4000 to spend on computers, what's another £40 for a year's subscription to anti-virus software to make sure the computers don't die on you?
pretty good value! Also try to keep up to date with the latest software security fixes, and make sure you have a firewall installed and turned on.

After that you just need to make sure you use your common sense. Eg, if you're looking for software, it's not likely to be less than a few MB in size, and avoid dowloading .EXE files. Humans are often the weakest link in security.

There's also a nice little plugin by mcafee called Site Advisor for internet browsers (I hate to preach, but use Firefox..) that can help you find out about the safty level of an internet site too if you ever try to use them for things you may not be able to find..