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Downloading from Limewire

R

rs7

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 24, 2008
137
0
I just read about a trojan on Limewire. Two questions...
1. Would the trojan show in my downloads next to what I downloaded, allowing me to clearly see it and just delete it?
2. If I'm just downloading files/text documents, am I at risk? Or is it only a risk when downloading applications?

Thanks
 
Normally the trojan is embedded in the software you are downloading.

The only way to really avoid it is to only download legitimate files from legitimate sites.
 
You will have to supply your administrator password to the trojan to allow it to affect your system. Don't download applications over Limewire.

Downloading movies and music and text files is normally safe, but if they ask for your password, they are a disguised application, and a trojan. Remember that there are often vulnerabilities discovered in Quicktime which can be exploited by specially crafted movie files.

Really, Limewire is a terrible P2P network.
 
i'm actually quite interested myself.. where do u all download? where is the safest way to download?
 
I use Acquisition sometimes for p2p. It's pretty obvious when files are fakies.

I don't do too many torrents, because my campus tracks/monitors uploads.

Is there a way to download torrents without uploading, I know this is selfish, but given I'm on a college campus, it's essential.
 
dophineh said:
I use Acquisition sometimes for p2p. It's pretty obvious when files are fakies.

I don't do too many torrents, because my campus tracks/monitors uploads.

Is there a way to download torrents without uploading, I know this is selfish, but given I'm on a college campus, it's essential.
Click to expand...

It is possible. Uploading torrents is called "seeding", and within torrent apps, there should (using Transmission as an example) be an option to limit upload and download speeds. I usually have download speed set at unlimited, and upload speed capped at 0kb/s, meaning I do not upload.

Not seeding/uploading will make you (and myself) a leecher, and is frowned upon by the torrent community. Some trackers even ban leecher IPs (or at least threaten to).
 
richthomas said:
i use Frostwire as its a free version of Limewire Pro which has more connections to faster peers.

the viruses and trojans are mainly Windows executables and so wont harm a Mac. but that doesnt that mean the Mac is invincible; there may be trojans when searching for Mac stuff (im not sure).

as a general rule for Limewire/Frostwire its safe if you download something which has an appropriate file size for the file type. for example if its a video and it has a file size of KBs then its probably malware. a useful tip ive found is to add the "Type" column (if its not already there) and only download files that have the file type you are looking for like .mp3 for audio and .mpg for video. also only download audio if it has a bitrate.
Click to expand...

File Sharing (Limewire, etc) App for Mac
 
Message to a forum moderator: would you please tell me why my posts in this thread are being deleted? (twice now. No forum rules broken.) Could you send me a PM?
 
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