Here's an option which can help people find whether there are good or bad reports about a particular file. And if there is no feedback about a particular file, we would hope people will post their findings to help others.

Right-click (mac use control-click) on the file in the search results & choose Advanced -> Bitzi Web lookup & your browser will open. If there's any info about it then it will show you. Users report whether a file is good or bad. I recommend you also add feedback to help Bitzi be more efficient. They need as much input as possible. You can also search the Bitzi site. (Edit: the magnet links at bitzi are either too old or not totally compatible with gnutella! So don't even try them!)

BTW I've added the newer location of finding Bitzi search option in the 2nd attachment image (as I noted at lower down in this thread.)
LimeWire 5 users see post #6 below about how to use Bitzi lookup

Attached Thumbnails

   

Once you're at the Bitzi site you can view the reports. I've split this sample report into 3 to save viewer space. Normally it will be on one page. As you can see, there's alternate names this sample is known by. So in this case you could search for any of the alternatives & might be able to find more sources to downld from. And in this case the original magnet link seems to be an old one & didn't work as well as some of the alternate named ones. By the way, to submit files to the Bitzi site & their BitPedia Encyclopedia you'll need their Bitzi Bitcollider Utility (click on link) & finally, How to use Bitcollider for your own files & adding info & feedback to Bitzi (click on link)

Attached Thumbnails

 

How to use Magnet Links & Direct Connect

If you're wanting to send files to a particular person such as a friend or relative you can direct connect or another way is to use magnet links.

For Direct Connect, see: How to Direct Connect, Browse & Chat (click on link) & keep in mind your & their firewall need to be properly configured for LW's full access otherwise you will have some problems using DC. To find out do this test: Bug Report instructions & sample image Is the result True/False? If false then you need to configure your firewall (only need one firewall as 2 can interfere with each other.) Remember XP has its own firewall. Instructions section by section: Firewall problems? Check here first! (click on link). * Direct Connect & Chat do not apply to LimeWire 5 users. 'Share with Friends' has replaced Direct Connect. For 'Browsing Host', see post #6 below.

For Magnet links (See image below), this is also a very effective method of sending particular files to other people. Go to your LW Library window, select the file you wish to send, Right-click (Control-click for mac users) & select Magnet Details for file, & your browser will open & give you the details of the magnet link. Use the link opposite the 'Magnet' word. Then copy & paste this link address & email or send it via chat to your friend. They can copy & paste this magnet link address into their browser & the browser will send the details to their LW which will immediately open & start to downld the file. Of course you both should have LW open at that time so they can access your LW shared files. Once they are connected, they & you can browse each other's files. Remember to browse someone it's best to have Chat enabled. (Image below is purely an example & some details been changed.)
(LW 5 users see post #6 for sample image to show how to obtain Magnet links. Same principle applies, get the magnet link address, send it to a friend, they copy-paste the link address into their browser. Then their LW will open & start downloading the file. Of course they can Browse you as they are downloading the file if they choose to.)

Attached Thumbnails

 

I made a small error in my details. LW does not need to be open at the time you type the magnet details into your browser address bar. After typing the address in & entering, LW (or your default magnet handler) will automatically open. (I thought it was about time I fixed this error in my instructions though it's not so important.)

New location for Bitzi Web Lookup & Magnet links (this applies to LimeWire 4 only! It was a new location in 2005 )

When doing a Bitzi Web lookup for search results, you'll find the option under the Advanced options.




Example for Mac OSX users below. OSX users use Control-click (far left lowest key) on the file of course to get the option. This example below was from the Library window with a shared file. Either Show magnet details or Copy to Clipboard work fine for obtaining magnet details for giving someone else. Either way you're going to be copying it. But Show details allows you to makes sure the details are correct.



.

Attached Thumbnails

 

For LimeWire 5 users, to Browse another host's files you can click on the downward arrow next to their listing in the search results. If difficulty doing this, right-click (control-click for mac users) on a search result. Choose View Files of .... If there's multiple file listings within the one search result, you have the choice of which host to Browse. (see such an example in image below) The Browse Host search result tab is found under the 'On LimeWire' tab below the 'Share with friends' tab. Those hosts listed in faded grey cannot be browsed.

Why Browse host? They may have more similar files to what you are looking for. Browsing host with similar files 'might' also help you in your endeavours seeking a rare file & thus get you further in your later searches.



Bitzi Lookup for LimeWire 5 users

Right-click a search result & choose View File Info ... from the pop up menu. _ From the Properties Information window, click on the More File Info link near the top right corner which will open up your browser web page & take you to Bitzi. If the file is listed you can see other good or bad user reports about the file, else you can report the file yourself. ____Copy Link will give you the Magnet link details if you wish to send that to a friend for them to download a particular file. Copy the link address, send that to a friend, they copy-paste that into their browser & LW will open & start downloading that file. They might choose to browse you to see your files via using the 'View Files of ..' option, then download more of your files.



.

Attached Thumbnails