I posted this thread in the open discussion but decided I should also post it here as it could be useful for some people.

Maximizing upload/download Success LimeWire

Objective:

I'm starting this thread to address two common problems which seem to appear over and over again in the forums.

General description of the problem:

1. Problems downloading content
2. Low upload count


With the influx of users to peer to peer networking and specifically New LimeWire users many of which I assume are also new broadband users there are several issues that arise out of a general lack of knowledge in what is required to participate in this type of networking model with moderate success. There are a few things that become self evident if you've spent any time on the Gnutella network and these forums.

1. Posts to the forum that don't adequately describe the problem. (for example, I can't connect.) -

The status of these problems would have a higher probability of receiving useful feedback if users provided some basic information such as; machine, operating system, connection speed, location of connection I.E. School work or home.

For example: I'm new to Limewire- I just downloaded limewire and installed it on a Windows 98 Machine with a T1 connection to the network from school. I don't have a firewall installed on my computer and don't know if there is one here but I cannot seem to connect using limewire. My other application i'e web browsers and email work fine. Can anybody tell me what's wrong?


2. Posts to the forum for issues that have been addressed in the FAQs suggests that people are not reading them.

3. Posts to forum for issues that have been addressed in other threads this also suggests that people are not even reading the threads before they post.
4. Post to areas of the forum that are not necessarily dedicated to the issues being raised. Connection Problems in the Open Discussion Forum. MAC issues in the Open Forum.

5. Finally, posts to the forum that have nothing to do with file sharing.


Now, for the problems people are having with uploading / downloading, Consider the following suggestions:


To maximize your ability to download successfully do the following things:

1. Go to tools/options/searching/Quality (show all four star results)

This will effectively filter out all of the people who are behind firewalls or have other connection issues, this will greatly reduce your frustration in downloading.

I should note however, that this could significantly reduce the amount of content you see, as most of the content being shared on the network is being shared from hosts which are poorly configured for sharing and you would probably have problems downloading from them anyway.


2. Go to tools/options/searching/speed (show all speeds)

I make this suggestion because if you are already filtering by Quality, filtering by speed will further reduce your results. If there 20 people on modem connections that have the content you want why not download from them.

3. Go to tools/options/filters/hosts under the disallow all messages from specific hosts add the following IPs: 192.168.*.* AND 10.*.*.*

I make this suggestion to filter out all the host who have incorrectly forwarded their private IP address on the network. These IP addresses are NOT routable and you will NOT be able to connect and download content from these hosts so ignore results from these guys. if

4. Go to tools/options/filters/keywords Filter out search results containing !!!

Most likely viruses or porn files emulating your search queries.


Now on to problems with uploading. If you are experiencing problems with people up loading from your computer the suggestions I made in and maximizing your ability to download see 1 through 4 above.) your machine could be one of these hosts.

I'll start with some general suggestions:

1. Make sure that you are not sharing from a work or school location as peer to peer traffic tends to be administratively prohibited. although it may not be explicitly blocked they could be applying quality of service rules to your traffic.

2. If you are sharing from home - leave your machine on for at least 4 hours (you can't expect people to download from you if you jump on the network do some searches and then disconnect.)

3. Finally, if you are using NAT (meaning that the IP address of your machine is 10.x.x.x or 192.x.x.x ) now, might be able to connect, search and download from the network but no one will be able to upload from you. If you have taken the advise of others to force your IP using limewire then your half way there, as your port forwarding is working correctly. But, you need to FORCE THE IP OF YOUR ROUTER or FIREWALL to the network. To find out what your ip is from the machine that you use to get on Gnutella open a web browser to http://www.whatismyip.com
(write this IP down and force this IP in Limewire) If you need help testing this Just post a reply to this thread.

By implementing these suggestions you will have better luck downloading and uploading on Gnutella.

__________________
Lee Evans, President
LeeWare Development
http://www.leeware.com

LeeWare:

You're AWESOME !!!!

Can we make this a stickie on all of the LimeWire Forums? And then make it so that no one can post until it's read?

I know this is a place to ask for help, and not everyone is aware of the best way to do that, but it has been extremely frustrating lately with so many new threads being started with the same problem.

What's more frustrating is when someone posts a solution yet people continue the thread saying: "I have the same problem". Completely ignoring the fact that someone answered the question.

Ahhhhhh...just wanted to vent a little...

Julie, Thanks for your support!

You're very welcome.

And, THANK YOU!!! for all of your discussions and knowledge in these forums.

Yes... Your detailed, helpful participation is much appreciated. Thanks LeeWare!

twst

?

Thanks for the advice it has helped a great deal
although i still cant download warcraft3 from anyone although there are 50+ in one section i still get requery sent waiting for results any suggestions
cheers for the help without ppl like u us us users would be dead in the water
trhx again fryer

I would like to test my IP address as mentioned above. I have uploaded quite a few files since I first logged into Gnutella last night, but they cannot be found in a search. I use a Mac at home with a broadband connection and limewire 2.7.13. I believe I have enabled the ip to be forced and followed all other suggestions for uploading and downloading. Still, I am concerned my files are not available to others.

Thank you,

Donna

In addition it will reduce the number of four-star results left over for people who are behind firewalls and who are depending on those four-star results (while non-firewalled users can easily download from 3-star results). Furthermore if a search for rare content returns you only 1-star results you will see no results at all, although there is a good chance you could be queued in the 1-star hosts upload-queue or that the 1-star host could tell you who else might have that file.

Not a good idea either. While firewalled users could never download from the hosts you block, a normal user could with a little luck. Apart from that you are effectively blocking ALL firewalled users who don't know how to force their IP address from Gnutella.

That's wrong. LimeWire will not try to connect to them directly. It will broadcast a PUSH request so those firewalled hosts will make a connection to you, offering the file you wanted.

And don't forget to filter "/" while you're at it, since this character causes 90% of all CouldNotMoveToLibrary errors.

That means you cannot share with 100% of the bandwidth, so what? Most of the time you will not be able to connect to Gnutella at all, - and if you can connect to Gnutella you can probably share, too.

See above.