Greetings

Well first I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me by posting great tips and techs.

I've been searching this board for hours now and I can't find the answers I'm looking for so that leads me to my first post.

I've been playing around with LW for about a month now and I find my self reading a lot about it lately So I want to get serious.

I've done searches and got alot of hits on items that interest me but I'm not familiar with formats.

Here's some for example:
zip
exe
bin
msi

Now let's say I wanted to download a free version of a cd/dvd burning software. What format would I be wanting to download?
I don't want to download something that I'm going to be sorry for later.

I'm currently running XP

Thanks for reading
FTB

Here's some links that will help you: http://filext.com/ & type in each of the above extensions to get a better understanding of them. bin is a type of image file. Cue is another word you should know. See: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/search...der=descending

Any free program you're not sure about should be in zip compressed format. You'll need winzip/winrar or Stuffit expander to open zip files.

Make sure you have anti-virus softw. & http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ & also http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html so you don't run into problems. These last 2 are free too.

If you don't have antivirus software you can get a free antivirus scan here: http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/h...nt=true&bhcp=1

Thanks for the help.........all green lights across the board....ready for take off!!

Dear feelthebite

I would just like to make one point, which I am sure other experienced users of this forum may not agree with.

The file formats you have mentioned are part of a whole group of formats that have filtered out of my LW search. For example, a *.zip file is a file (or a number of files) that have been compressed into one special file. However, some misbegotten person could plant a virus (or a worm) in that zip file, unless you have an anti-virus app running you would not know that the zip file contained something harmful to your PC. Not until the file was uncompressed and the program it contained was up a running, then it would be too late.

Exe files are program files that run, and they may not be what they say they are (e.g. if someone renames virus.exe to CDPlayer.exe), so if you run them you could be in for a world of hassle.

Call me paranoid but I only downloaded zip, exe, pdf, doc, etc. from trusted sites, not via P2P, it is a lot safer.




UK Bob

As you mentioned ukbob, there would be users not to agree with you on this.
I am one of them

If a .zip is a so called self extracting zipfile, then there is indeed all reason to be carefull.
You can hoever extract those files not by a double click, but by opening with winzip or winrar and scan the contents after extracting.
A normal .zip or .rar is just a compressed set of files, wich could contain nasties, but they never install by themselves.

The golden rule is to be sensible and never touch a .exe or any other self extracting file before scanning it with a good updated antivirus.

I prefer AVAST, but I allso heard good things about AVG.
Theyre both free (and from what I experienced even better than "the world's most trusted") so there's no excuse for not having one and I warn everyone to never ever download a antivirus from P2P becouse that's asking for trouble. (from own experience )

__________________
Het algemeen gnutella forum in Nederlands

Just as a side note: I know Norton AV for mac will uncompress the files be they zip or sit to check the contents. But I've heard the more recent Norton AV for windows has some other side issues that don't please some people. And of course Norton AV is a commercial product.

Greetings Raaf and LotR.

Just a quick note: NIS operates the same way on windows operating systems. It will put up a window saying it is waiting to scan the file (zip or otherwise), and closes the window once the scan has been accomplished.

As to anti-virus software that is up to each individual users decision. They all are suppose to do the same thing. Some are better than others at accomplishing this, whether they be free or commercial products.

I only have one point to make. Not having an anti-virus program is foolish.