[Edit: Bitzi web-site closed down 31 December 2013. Archived details might still be available here. But the tool itself will no longer work.]

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

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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)

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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), (LW 5 users see post #6 at bottom to see how to obtain the magnet link) 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.)

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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.



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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 beside the normal search tabs (the Browse Host search simply shows as a separate search window), or for earlier LW 5 versions it is found under the 'On LimeWire' tab below the 'Share with friends' tab. This also depends whether you are using the Classic search window or List mode. Those hosts listed in faded grey cannot be browsed. It is much more difficult to browse hosts from the upload window than search results window or download window. One tip, if you see a host with multiple files listed in search results, select each one simultaneously, right-click & choose Browse host, this sometimes seems to give LW a stronger browse attempt.

Fair is fair! Do not be cheeky to browse other persons files if you are not sharing files. If you are not sharing files, you are not worthy of browsing other's files. Remember, p2p file-sharing is sharing files between us, not being greedy, selfish & unsharing. There are no website servers, only other persons like yourself happy to share with others who are happy to share files.

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. (The sample image below is an earlier LW 5 version, I will update it soon.)



Bitzi Lookup and Magnet Links 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. Magnet Links for LW 5's Shared Library: Click on the Copy Link which will copy the Magnet link (for a file in your Library), which you can then send to a friend. All they need to do is type this address into their browser & LW should open & start downloading your file. (This file needs to be a Shared file.)




[Edit: Bitzi web-site closed down 31 December 2013. Archived details might still be available here. But the tool itself will no longer work.]
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