It's the network not LW's fault. Spammers are the problem!!! See the following links to get an idea of the groups sponsored to spam the gnutella network with fake, corrupt, & virus ridden files: (1) Mediadefender, (2) MediaSentry, & (3) Overpeers


So how do we beat them? They mainly only target copyright material in general. So if you're not searching copyright material less chance you will get the fake files, however you will still receive some spam files which may be viruses or rubbish files. Their intentions are to bring p2p to a halt. Though you may still get some of the basic spam such as (a) autogenerated spam results, & (b) autogenerated mp3 spam results, but those are very easily filtered out using the Junk filter.

To overcome the issue, using bitzi will definitely help for videos to check whether they are valid files or not! How to use Bitzi Web Lookup. Also see plays at 32kbs. Use 6_pac's advice. Also when you see search results that have 100 for one, 99 for next on the list, etc. instead choose those with 10 or 10 or so sources under the # column of the search results. Check the file sizes also to see if there's any small difference between those with less sources & those with 100.

(clicking those with 100 results are fake & you'll never download them!!! They'll spend ages pretending to try to connect, & then eventually go to Need more sources!)

One example article about a company that prouds itself in spamming p2p networks (Peermatrix): Slyck; Topic - For the last time: Spamming P2P networks doesn't make you like Google

Other techniques of recognising fake files:
. Avoiding fake files, __ . http://www.gnutellaforums.com/tips-t...ance-tips.html, __ . Use How to use Bitzi Web Lookup ... to check what other people have said about the particular file if it is listed.

The extended tool tips often show identical info for fakes (eg: all might show only song title, album name & track 1). This isn't always the case, but often.

Searching for artist plus song title seems to bring up fakes more often than searching for just artist, album name or song title.

Also with the file sizes, they often don't correlate to bitrate. Seems like they've tried to be clever by offering a range of file sizes but they haven't matched these to the bitrates of the fake files. Recognising fake audio files. And this next tip is also handy to know Corrupt files from certain speed sources which is similar to the plays at 32kbs problem in link above.

_____ . Some Typical file SIZEs of Spammed Virus files posing as audio files (& some other types of spam sizes) (click on link)


Porn & advertisement sponsored files & some other types of spam, filter them out using these terms Direct instructions to eliminate porn & other marketing junk from results