I have been a Limewire user for several years. Limewire used to be a really great site to belong to. However, over the last couple of years, or so, I've experienced a truly huge number of downloads that are either bugs, viruses or advertising not having anything to do with what you are trying to download. Some of it plants undesireable cookies or multiple spams.

I've also been communicating with others who also use Limewire and feel exactly same way. So far, nobody I've held communicatons with on the subject has disagreed with what I just stated.

What is going on here? Do thousands of us have to drop Limewire before something is done about it? It's really annoying.

And yes, I recognize that if I don't like it, I don't have to use it, but, personally, I'd rather see it fixed! I've liked Limewire too much to find myself having to do without it just because jerks out there like to automate their unwelcome "messages" to answer to any everything anyone may input as search criteria.

Elmo

There's no way that anyone from LW can control what's being shared on the Gnutella network...it's p2p. Users connect to other users' computers to download. There are lots of organisations whose aim it is to sabotage p2p. There's more info in these links.
Recognising Fake files
autogenerated mp3 spam results


So, yes there are heaps of infected & spam files around but there are a few things you can do:

Use the junk filter.
Pay attention to file sizes...if a file looks suspiciously small then avoid it!
Use the keyword filter to filter out common spam-related words (eg pranked).
How to add words to the filter
Keywords worth filtering

If you're using LW 4.13 or later, try applying the hostiles list. Click below for more info.
The TechNutopia Fullsize Hostiles List for BearShare and LimeWire