Amongst the specific file-sharing programs that may cause the most problems are LimeWire, BitTorrent, Kazaa, and WinMX. Remember: Although the business, group, or individual that operates the file-sharing service may be completely honest and have the very best of intentions, there is no guarantee that one of the users of their product will not try to mess up the playground for the rest of us.
Some of these companies promise their products are "spywarefree" and then load up your computer with adware, including programs that report back to someplace on the Internet about what you are up to when you're using your machine. Just simply because they call it something else does not mean that it is not spyware.
Here's a short and simple explanation of how one of these programs, LimeWire, works. Instead of keeping a bunch of files on one large computer and letting users sign on to get at them, this service concentrates on linking together individual machines owned by users.
In many methods, it operates like Facebook or other social networking sites. Whenever you allow your machine to turn out to be a place known to LimeWire, you also let it turn out to be known to the machines of your friends. And via your friends your machine finds other groups of friends. Like an electronic chain letter, it does not take many actions before your computer is recognized to hundreds of thousands of other people - most of them strangers.
Once your machine is on the network, it can then search through any shared directories it finds. If you are looking for a particular song, your computer will hunt from machine to machine in search of it. Your small search, then, is stealing time from your machine and dozens, hundreds, or thousands of other machines. Then if it finds the file, it brings it back to you. If you're lucky, all you will get is what you asked for. If you're not lucky, you will get the music plus a virus.
The nature of digital files - an organized collection of 0s and 1s that a computer can reconstruct into music, video, words, or perhaps a program that can allow your machine to perform certain tasks - also makes them simple to copy.
The reality that you can make a copy of a digital file does not mean you have the correct to give (or sell) a copy to someone else. Most performances, literary works, and programs are copyrighted, and you may be violating the law.
Because files are coming from other peoples' computers, you cannot know if they're infected with viruses, spyware, or other malware. A capable and up-to-date antivirus program should protect you from most threats, but some problems might not be apparent till you attempt to use the file, and some malware might get past firewalls and antivirus programs.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Andrew Vrassey at 01152011
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