How limewire smart are you? That depends on how often you download corrupted and virus files.

I've downloaded at least 300 (probably that many songs alone) from limewire and haven't had a single virus or corrupted file yet! I can't help but laugh at those who complain about viruses and trojans. That can be prevented VERY easily. It's not about configuring limewire, it's about being smart about files.

The first thing you should do is take steps to prevent yourself from even seeing the spam. Get the list of IP addresses to block (hostiles.zip) and install in in the .limewire directory.

People around the board say to only look for the song name when searching for music. While it may not have as much spam, it doesn't narrow down the existing spam. If you look up a song and its artist, the search will be 'song name artist'. For example, if looking up 100 years by five for fighting, the search will be '100 years five for fighting'. Any downloads that say this are 99% likely to be spam. Proper downloads should be in a format like 'artist - song name'. For example, to download the 100 years, the download would probably be something like 'Five for Fighting - 100 Years'.

Also, songs that have numbers such as 01 BEFORE the song name are often real. This is because windows media player will rename the song to accompany the track number, which is proof of a legimate original.

Another thing to look for is the case. While it is not neccessarily true, I often search in all lowercase. Real files will most likely have proper case.
ie: five for fighting - 100 years ==> Five for Fighting - 100 Years

Next is the filesize. Music is usually just under 1MB/minute. However, higher quality may make larger files. Though the difference between 128kb/s (most common) is very difficult to tell over a 256kb/s audio track. Don't even bother downloading anything less than 1MB unless the song is less than a minute. Lower quality songs aren't even worth it.

Video filesize is far more versatile. A low quality mp4 (ipod) video is just over 1MB a minute, though most files on limewire are AVI, which is extremely versatile. I recommend looking up files on Bitzi. Most videos are there. A full movie is very versatile, and I have tried a few ripping softwares myself. Good video quality is usually about 800-1500 kb/s. Yes, video is huge.

Do not worry too much about the number of peers hosting the file. This should only be used to tell which of the good files you should download (more peers, faster downloads).

Programs are VERY versatile. Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend limewire for programs. Most of them are viruses, trojans, and spam. There is no real way to know if the program is legit. File sizes vary totally, though most viruses are less than 1MB, but some developers hide there viruses in legit software, making it very difficult to detect. Get an antivirus. I would recommend Avast! because it is free to home users. It also scans a file when you try to open it, and it should be trying to scan files as they are downloaded.

When downloading music, only download mp3. WMA often is used to have false liscences and codecs forcing you to download other viruses. Likewise for videos, except they should be AVI. There is a few good mpg and mp4 if you need, but they are lower quality and more likely to be porn or spam. MOV is almost always bad.

One thing to look for which is helpful is properties. Video and audio files may have properties such as composer, artist, title, etc; This is a very good sign of validity, but many valid files will not have them.

Remember, when in doubt, try Bitzi!

By being smart, you prevent viruses. STRIKE DOWN SPAM!