I'd like to see a future version of BS give the user the ability to specifically search on a directory/folder name.

And then also display the path/folder in the search results.

Similarly, it would be great if the browse host feature actually displayed the folder path or better yet the actual tree structure or the host.

This facility would be great for hackers.



UK Bob

How so?

If one was hacking, isn't the ip address (which is already available) all that you need?

I mean, you can already browse the host and see all the files being shared. Not sure how seeing the actual folder structure that those shared files are in is going to help hackers any.

But then I don't hack, so I don't know for sure.

Pheare

I will try to explain my thoughts on your suggestion, I may be wrong and my idea may be based on supposition only but here goes.

Must users shared folders are on their "C:\" drive therefore if the user makes a mistake, configure their software wrongly or it misconfigures on installation, the whole "C:\" drive could be exposed.

That in itself would not be enough to cause the user trouble but it would be enough to help hackers to target individual users for further investigation.

If you use your PC for serious stuff, like internet banking, shopping, private correspondence then your "C:\" drive will contain financial and confidential information, just the type of thing criminal hackers are looking for.

So basically, anything that can help hackers to target users I am against, and your idea, unfortunately, could do just that.



UK Bob

Ya I see your point, I guess my reply to that would have to be that the hacker can browse the host already as it is.

And while, I agree, it is not currently as obvious that a user is mistakenly sharing his entire c:\ as it would be with the proposed feature, any hacker (or anyone with half a brain) should be able to tell by the number and the type of files (extensions) being shared, that the user is probably sharing more than they should be.

There are other p2p clients that use this directory structure on browse client and it is very handy for grabbing complete cds or desktop wallpapers or whatever (there are 1000's of folders out there labeled 'Wallpaper', of which the files it contains do not have wallpaper in the name).

I guess to conclude, if a hacker is going to pick which computers to 'hack' based on whether or not the person is sharing his entire c:\ or not, they can do it easily enough with bearshare in its current state. I don't see adding this functionality as giving the hackers any more of an advantage. However, it could be a great help for the average guy just looking for files.

They were planning on adding this but active development has been stopped for the time being. You can tell they were planing to add this by right-clicking the bar with filename on it. A list will come up at the bottom it will say path click it and you will see a new column called path nothing should be in it now.

ya, I actually had noticed that 'path' column.

I sure do hope they make it functional

BearShare is no longer being developed. They shut down at the end of june.