Hey Guys,
Already have a lot of appreciation for the time you all take to answer questions, so thanks.
I've followed the instructions in all of the threads, but Bearshare 5Beta just won't start.
I've installed BS then run BearStart, but rather than 'changing back my clock' the pop up 'BS has expired' comes up.
I've uninstalled/reinstalled to ensure I've not opened BS before BearStart.

Something I have noticed is that people keep saying 'install' bearstart, as far as I can see it's merely an executable file and doesn't actually 'install' or am I doing something wrong?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You do not open the BearShare program !!! You open the BearStart program only. Put BearStart in your security exceptions so it does not cause problems. It only turns your clock back for a few seconds each time whilst BS starts up.
BearStart puts the clock back momentarily each occasion & links to the bearshare program to open.

I haven't opened bearshare. When I click Ok in the bearstart pop up, the expired notice comes up.
I don't open bearshare at all.

try placing the bear start utility in the same folder as the BS executable. double clixor BearStart...see if that works...

I've had what you describe happen now and again, but not terminally. I've noticed a definite correlation between my system being slowed down by other issues and the occurrence of this problem. i.e. many times a fresh defragmentation and having no other programs running at the time of starting up BS does the trick

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Bearstart woked fine for me under XP but now that i have Win 7 it wont work at all. Shows up on the taskbar with Script paused check. What can I do to fix the problem
Thanks

Just cancel any script errors! (I either cancel or click continue.) I just installed BS Beta on Windows 7 after I saw your post. BS opens fine for me using BearStart. You must have firewall & other security software clearance for both Bearshare & bearstart. This is almost always where the problem is.

Keep in mind you will also need fresh connection cache after installing.

Well LOTR I fixed the problem by running both BearStart and BearShare Test in XP mode no problems now,works great!
Again Thanks
Don

iam having problem with my bearshare it wont connect the light blinks red what should I do?

Sounds like BearShare is either totally firewalled (most likely) or cannot find a single good connection (probably both.)

Advice is to port forward a port for BearShare.

The way to do it is:

1. Set up a static internal ip address: https://portforward.com/networking/staticip.htm

(This is only your LAN address, not external ip address. Example: Router might use 192.1.1.1 and your computer might be using 192.1.1.2 or 192.1.1.5, etc. Different types of router might use very different LAN addresses. Example: 10.1.1.1. Port forward rules are based around a specific internal address. Without a static internal address, each time you reboot your computer your internal address might be different and the port forward rule will no longer work.

I would recommend using a relatively high internal address number. Otherwise if your computer is turned off, another device might steal that address and your port forward rule would no longer work because that address is no longer available and when you startup your computer it is allocated the next available address in sequential order. Other devices might include mobile phones, iPads or similar, TV's or any other household device that accesses the internet. Choose an internal number that ends with a higher number such as .30 or .50 or .125 or even .255 to be on the safe side. Example: 192.1.1.125)

2. Forward a particular port for your model of router: https://portforward.com/router.htm
Most routers will allow you to set the rule for both UDP and TCP. If yours does not then do separate rules for each of UDP and TCP after you log-in to the router's control centre. Some routers refer to the port forwarding as port mapping and some refer to it as virtual server.

3. Be sure BearShare is using that particular port, which you can find in BearShare's settings.

I will post a fresh BearShare host file at some point over the next day or two. So keep an eye out for either of these two links:
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/0t3v...s_8_compatible

https://sabercathost.com/folder/117330/BearShare

BearShare would need to be totally shutdown and not sitting in system Tray when you replace the host file.

Keep in mind the BearShare ultrapeer population is noticeably very, very low. BearShare reserves 18 peer slots (out of 26) and 37 leaf slots (out of 45) for BearShare hosts, which means most connection slots will end up being empty.

Note: if you hover your mouse's cursor over each of BearShare's red lights, a small contextual window will show that explains what each red light is telling you.

It's difficult not to sound pessimistic but there is not much in the way of BearShare hosts I can add to the host file installer.

Reasons:
1. Not many BearShare users on the network and likewise not many BearShare ultrapeers.
2. Always new users who give the program a try and then don't return.
3. Hosts that use dynamic addresses. A large percentage of what might be considered the most regular BearShare users either have (a) highly dynamic addresses that change daily or (b) bottom-end sticky dynamic with address lifespans of 3 or 6 weeks or (c) use VPN or proxy services where their address changes every session, sometimes up to 3 times over a 24 hour period.
4. Anywhere between 50 to 80% of BearShare Beta users are always firewalled. Neither BearShare or any other program will save such hosts to a host file. Another downside is any host starting a new session that sends them a firewall test ping will get a false-positive result and their BearShare thinks it is firewalled when in reality the program is not. This false-positive can have a negative impact upon the host's connections.
Unlike the modern programs, BearShare only sends out test packet messages once every hour to other hosts to check whether it is firewalled.
Also a firewalled BearShare beta user acts like just that, a wall stopping many network messages such as search queries from other members of the network including returning results when the BS host is in the middle of the ultrapeer search chain. A firewalled ultrapeer is a dud ultrapeer.

The following is what someone should see when using BearShare in ultrapeer mode: