Hi

I have a friend, who is not at all proficient with computers, that today told me of a weird problem.
He got a call from his neighbour, who said that, after dl'ing some stuff with limewire while asleep, he woke up and had somehow downloaded my friends entire shared folder.
This sounds really weird to me, and I can't imagine how limewire would somehow do this, but my friends neighbour insists that he didn't initiate the downloads in any way.
I've read in the "features history" that limewire has a feature, where you can see what someone else on your LAN shares via limewire, and it may be that he didn't actually download it, but only saw what my friend shared, but it didn't sound like it. Does limewire has a feature where it automatically shares stuff on a LAN?? And if yes, is there a way to turn it off?
My friend kept his music in a windows default shared folder, so it could be he maybe got it over the LAN, but that shouldn't be possible, since they can't actually browse the local network. He is really worried about sharing his music with his whole apartment block, so if someone has any idea what this could be, please help.

This is complicated b/c it depends upon how the lan is set up. On some lan set-ups you can open other computers on the network & check their files. Regardless of any other program. So it's difficult to say. Just the way the lan is set up.

However for LW, what's shared is what's listed in the Library window or what's listed under shares in the Share options of LW. If he was downlding to his desktop for example, & sharing his downld folder, then his entire desktop folder & folders within would most likely be accessible. Which is why I always strongly advise against using destop or root level of partition to downld to! Particularly if they share their downld folder or/& what they've immediately downlded in this scenario. There was a security risk bug in versions between versions 4.2 up to 4.8.0 but after that, all shared files were totally the users responibility. If they're irresponsible then they're the ones at fault for their own stupidity & thoughtlessness.

Let's not forget iTunes which also has lan capabilities. If you set the options up for share, then anybody else on the lan will be able to see their playlists. They can play them but not copy them!

There may be other programs that are running & affecting things.

__________________
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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
640 K [of computer memory] ought be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates (1981)
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. -- Albert Einstein
When facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. -- Albert Einstein
Religion keeps the poor from murdering the rich. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -- Albert Einstein
"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians." -- Frank Zappa
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"The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson
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Thanks for your quick reply.

His network is a LAN shared by a whole apartment complex, and it is not accesible for browsing, f.ex. via "network neighbourhood" It's just because they are all connected through some kind of "big" internet connection, common for the whole complex.

The files were the files he shared in limewire, and I'm trying to encourage him to keep sharing his media files + the one's he's downloaded.
The real problem is, if it's not some mistake his neighbour made, that the files were accesible all over the LAN, without other limewire users looking for the specific files. I mean, he dosn't mind sharing stuff, but he certainly doesn't like all his neighbours knowing that "the guy from 2B likes this music, these movies" and other stuff.

I've told him to move his media from the folders commonly shared by windows, but somwhow I don't think that's it.
From what I heard from his recounting, his neighbour somehow got all the music he shared, with clear indication, what username it came from.
As you point out, I was thinking maybe it was something like itunes, that automatically makes shared music visible on a LAN.
Again, if limewire shares stuff automatically, and in a very visible way, on a LAN. Is there some way to turn this feature off?

Be careful about what folders you share!!! You can decide which files & folders to share. Just select them in the LW Library window & right-click & to decide whether to share or not this file or folder.

As previously mentioned, he should be careful how he goes about sharing his files. Normally the default location for downlding is C:\Documents and Settings\"your account name"\Shared
The newer versions of LW also allow you to immediately share your downlds as soon as you downld them. This is an option you can turn off. However, I believe the biggest issue here is what folders he is sharing. Nobody should be able to find his username via LW. Not unless he is recklessly sharing everything. Unlike some other p2p programs, the directory path makes no difference, people can't see what the directory path is. So there's no reason his username should show. Not unless this neighbour perhaps has a spy program. If yes, then LW is not the issue & I can't see why it should be "unless" he is recklessly & carelessly sharing folders he wasn't aware he was sharing.

I believe in the future, LW will be looking at folders or files you can share to "friends" & not necessarily everyone.

The thing is, neighbour contacted him, without knowing he was also using limewire, so he must have somehow found out what user he was getting the files from. My guess is that it's the thing where other user on the LAN can see and play the files on his playlist, but can't copy them, and his neighbour just thought he'd downloaded them. Where can you turn this off??

I'm going to tell him that what his neighbour told him just isn't possible, and that he must have misunderstood something. It didn't sound right to me either, that somehow his neighbour just downloaded everything automatically.
I've told him to run adaware regularly, but he's fairly new with computers, so I'm not sure I got the point across, but it's not like he has a totally infested computer.

All i got is 3rd hand info on what his neighbour saw, but he said something like "..and the user name changed to (my friends name) instead of my own name!"
My first thought was that it wasn't possible, but I wanted to ask the question here anyway, just in case limewire somehow made it possible.

Thank you

If changes username that quickly then it sounds like an iTunes issue. There's 2 ways you can change it. One is in LW, go to LW's menu bar, Tools > Options > iTunes > Sharing & disable sharing. That's one place you can change username. Also, .... go to iTunes, Edit menu > Preferences > Sharing & disable sharing. You can also change username there also.

but my friend is not using itunes, he never has.
I think I will just call this a case of bad communication. It was also hard for me to at all grasp the problem, since I heard it from a not computer literate friend, based on a phonecall from his neighbour.

I'm guessing from what you're saying, that limewire doesn't do the same as itunes, ie. share media files automatically on a LAN?

I just looked at some of the documentation on the itunes feature in limewire.
It sounds very much like this could be the cause of his problem, since it shares it not only to itunes, but other players/programs that have a similar feature. I just never thought to look under the "itunes" header in the options, if I had, I'd have seen that it actually describes something like this exactly, that is, if his neighbour only saw the playlist, and didn't actually dl the files.

It also explains the way he discovered the user name, I just saw on my own comp. that the default share name for this is "(windows user name)'s limewire tunes"

I suspect you're on the ball. Yes the username is usually the default account name unless you personally rename it. I always rename it. If he does that & restricts access then he shoud be safe afaik.

__________________
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
640 K [of computer memory] ought be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates (1981)
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. -- Albert Einstein
When facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. -- Albert Einstein
Religion keeps the poor from murdering the rich. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -- Albert Einstein
"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians." -- Frank Zappa
"Tobacco is my favorite vegetable." / "May your sh*t come to life and kiss you on the face." / "Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion?" / "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." / "There are three things that smell of fish. One of them is fish. The other two are growing on you!" / "Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny." / "The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese." / "Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over." / "The most important thing to do in your life, is to not interfere with somebody else's life." / "Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, in order to provide articles for people who can't read." -- Frank Zappa
"The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson
The shy can light the dull dark room with life when their eyes mirror their inner sunrise - LOTR