so i was having fun downloading music. now every song i try, including ones i've previously downloaded, it gives that warning "limewire is unable to find the licence for this file. download anyway?" I've checked the posts and found many people asking about this message. i did change some of the settings in "tools, options".

does anyone know what i may have done to cause this warning when it wasn't there before? i agree i shouldn't download songs without a licence. i don't want to do anything illegal.

on another note (sorry, this probably should've been in another post), how do i protect my computer files so they are not all accessible to outsiders? i want to do my sharing part, but don't want to get extra headaches for doing something stupid.

thanks for your help in this matter.

You must have updated your version of LW. They added the license warning for legal reasons somewhere around version 4.9.1 (I think), and whether you had the warning or not it wouldn't change the legality of it.

If you don't want to share you can in LW go to the library and right click a folder or a file and click "Stop Sharing". You can also go to Tools>Options>Sharing> and add or remove files from there.

Though if everyone decided not to share there would be no files for you or anyone else to d/l. And remember nobody likes a freeloader.

__________________
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is!

4.9.37 is the version of LW i have.

i asked the kids and apparently they did originally get the same warning but clicked "yes" to it, and probably the "always" buttong as well.

you didn't say if there was something in my setting changes that may have caused this warning to pop up. i'm guessing that's what happened since what the kids said.

it's not that i don't want to share, but how do i only share certain files, and not the whole hard drive?

what is the difference between upload and download?

in the LW library, under "hits", is that how many times i tried to get the file, or how many others are trying to share mine?

also, in the library, under the locations heading, what do those numbers mean? mine all say 0, except for one kelly clarkson song which says 26.

couple more questions...
1. when i go to the monitor tab and check off show incoming searches, are these the searches that are being done on my computer?
2. a box pops up that says...your client is a leaf node shielded by an Ultrapeer. Hence you will see few or no searches in the monitor window. what does this mean?

i'm a newbie...can't you tell?

To see the license warning again, In LW go to Tools>Options>+Searching>Basic> tick "Show License Warning" then click apply. Then the next time you try to d/l something the license warning will pop-up.

You definetly don't want to share your whole hdd. In Tools>Options>Sharing it will show you the folders you are sharing. You can add or remove folders from there. There should just be 1, by default it's C:\Documents and Settings\"your account name"\shared. Unless you've added more.

What you share is up to you, you have to use your own judgment. I can't offer legal advice. What ever your comfortable with and what ever the law is where you live. I wouldn't worry to much about the freeloader thing.

Uploading is when somebody is getting a file from you. In LW click on the Monitor tab and it will show the files being uploaded from you.
Downloading is when your getting a file from someone else.

In the Library "Hits" just show the number of times one of your files showed up in someone elses search results. Under "uploads" It shows the number of succesful uploads vs number of attempted uploads (ex. 4 / 35)

I don't know what "Locations" means. I searched for it but could not find a good answer except one that said it wasn't important.

Incoming Searches show searches that may relate in some way to one of your shared files. I normally have this turned off. Click on this link to see what the user guide says: http://www.limewire.com/english/cont..._monitor.shtml

For an explanation of ultrapeer leaf node click on the link Difference between Leaf and Ultrapeer

A lot of answers to common questions can be found in the forum stickys(in red at the top of each forum), also you can search the forums using the search button(upper right of this page).

We all start out as newbies. Hope this helped.

__________________
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is!

thanks alot. that was helpful.

in the tools, options, sharing section, i have a question about the 2nd & 3rd items found there.

under shared extensions, many different letters of the alphabet show up there. i don't know what most of them mean, but do i just leave what seems to be in there by default? i haven't clicked on the "use defaults" button, just in case i mess it all up, but i didn't remove any of the items there either.

the last section: should the "share finished downloads" box be checked off? this sounds like it will share more than what is in my shared folder.

speaking of shared folder or saved downloaded music...i don't know how to retrieve the "shared folder" window that shows the musicmatch songs that were downloaded from the other day. these songs dont show up anymore in the library screen of the limewire window, just what i did today. where did it go? how do i retreive it?

i have figured out how to put certain songs into a playlist and then save it as a certain name, then open it up later. i wish i'd done this to the stuff the kids downloaded the other day. now we can't find it, please help.

If you click on revert to defaults, it's like starting over again. You'll have to reset any preferences you had set in options.
I haven't changed any of them. I also don't know what most of them mean. You could Google each one to find out. But if there are any file types that you didn't want to share you could filter them by removing the file extension from the list. I control mine by only sharing what I've downloaded off of LW.
Another resource to check out is the limewire User Guide. It will be able to answer some of your questions. There's also an FAQ.I would untick it if you want better control. More on that in the user guide here: http://www.limewire.com/english/cont..._options.shtml

As far as I know, playlists are just links to where the files are stored on your pc. So if you make a playlist then delete the songs out of the library, when you go to play the songs there will be no songs for the playlist to link to.

Also if you delete a song from within the LW library the songs don't go to the recycle bin they are deleted from your pc.

It's probably a good idea to copy and paste the files in your shared folder to another folder outside of limewire.
Many people have posted that they accidently deleted their whole library.

__________________
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is!

Also since you mentioned your kids, it important to know that some of the content available on the network is stuff that kids shouldn't see. Here's a thread with tips on how to filter adult content: Barring Adult Content

Remember Limewire doesn't control the content on the network. It is just a file sharing program. People will share whatever they want.

__________________
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is!