I am new to the Gnutella Forums, but not new to file sharing or the software that makes it possible.

I have also been an active worker in P2P security for about a year and a half. I am trying to reduce the threats to file-sharers' privacy, while at the same time reduce the risk of virus and Trojan infection to file sharers posed by fake files. I download fake files from the P2P networks, examine them in detail, and then report my findings to other organizations who care about Internet security.

One of those organizations is Bitzi, who catalog files of all types, including the bad ones ... and man, there are several hundred bad ones available on the Gnutella networks! There are many bad files on the eDonkey network as well, and I research those, too. In many cases, the same malicious fake files are available on G1, G2, and ed2k, all at the same time.

I also have some experience using protective software, such as firewalls and IP-blockers, that perhaps will be useful to someone. I am not a "guru" in this area, but maybe I can help.

I recently was forced to upgrade to Windows Vista, after my Windows XP computer seemingly died. This change forced me to learn how to make my favorite security software work in the new Windows environment, and that experience might be helpful to someone, too.

In any case, I think I may have something to offer the Gnutella Forums community, and have problems and questions of my own that someone here may be able to help me with, so here I am!



P.S. My OS is Windows Vista Home Basic, on a Compaq SR5703WM, with an AMD Sempron LE-1250 2.2 GHz processor with 2 Gigabytes of RAM. My P2P application is Shareaza 2.4.0.0 - the real Shareaza, not the fake!