Hello,

I have a couple questions about how sharing in the old Limewire worked because I am afraid that I could've accidentally shared personal files with the network and I'd like some peace of mind.

So I'm on a Mac and I downloaded Limewire back before 2010. The version that I had made three folders in the Limewire folder. They were called shared, saved, and incomplete. I had put some sensitive files in the saved folder to keep them safe back in 2012 (hah that was a mistake). I 'locked' the folder with a password using the Mac finder permissions so that I couldn't open it unless I typed in my password. Since then I had never opened Limewire (maybe once or twice because of a misclick, but immediately closed it), updated it, or used it in any way. During all of this I would unlock the folder occasionally but then lock it again.

Now my questions, is it possible the files in the saved folder could've been shared with the network with these circumstances? It would be surprising to me that Limewire would share the files if I never had Limewire open. I have also read that files in the saved folder that were not downloaded by limewire are not shared. Is this true?

If anyone knows the answer I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks

I am also a Mac user & was using LW 4 up until late 2010 which is what you were most likely using with the Saved & Shared options.

In regards to MacOSX permissions there's more than one way you can achieve what you wanted. Personally I use the permissions function found when selecting the information window of a particular file or folder or even drive. You can set the 'everyone' setting to 'Read only' or 'No Access' for example. (Or all others but yourself.) You will find the Permissions portion of the Info window identical for either a file or folder. There is a drop-down menu at bottom to allow you to apply and if a folder whether to apply it to all enclosed items.

Your method of locking the folder should have achieved the same permission level AFAIK. Locking usually means the file or folder cannot be changed & folders cannot be opened. However with the password addition I presume this would add the extra 'Read' permission you sought. It might be worth asking on an Apple forum about this permission issue.

As for sharing with LW, from memory you are correct that files are not shared from the Saved folder in the circumstances you described. To be shared the files would need to be manually added to shares using one or another method.

Ok great! Yes I believe my permission were:

Me -> write only
Staff -> write only
Everyone -> No Access

Plus I checked the 'locked' radio button.

I think I can be assured that nothing was shared as I never really fiddled with adding more folders to be shared plus with the lock on it I don't think Limewire could get to it anyways. The only way it could get to it would be if Limewire didn't have to be open to share files because I would occasionally unlock and open the folder to add new files.

I don't have the folder anymore or Limewire, but I do have a backup of it on an old Time Machine hard drive. Just to be sure I'll check around in that to make sure that the settings were never set to share the saved folder (don't think I ever changed that but who knows) and also check the permissions of the saved folder as I'm not 100% sure they were the above permissions but I do remember typing in password to open it. Thanks for your help!