limewire'll kill my mac?

can limewire do bad things to my mac? I've heard this before but i'm not sure

 

I haven't experienced any issues. A lot of files shared on Limewire are viruses/spyware, but a majority of those only target Windows machines. If you are careful about what you download, you should be fine.

 

i would avoid using limewire with any computer.

 

well, limewire is like almost synonymous to piracy....aint it..??

 

lime wire is bad news people can steal your info off you aswell.

 

if you're smart and cautious, you won't get a virus from limewire. otherwise, i suggest using a very good antivirus program.

 

thats why god created Virtual Machines my friend

 

instead of limewire, I use parallels to run windows vista/xp to run a program called bearshare. I think that program is much better suited for music d/l.

 

Do not use Limewire on any system, Mac or PC unless your prepared for serious consequences. Not only is it one of the best trojan/spyware delivery system ever created by man (or woman) you can easily be spotted by the authorities if you choose to download something illegally. These are strict P2P systems, your IP can be traced even if you try to hide it and your traffic monitored and details recovered. I should know, I work for a provider and we can trace almost everything P2P based. Such details are always on file and if somebody wants to prosecute 5 years down the line you could end up very very sorry.

Even in my little country, Ireland, last year we saw 23 people being convicted for moderate filesharing over Limewire and its like. The prosecution were not looking for compensation, they wanted to see these 23 separate individuals get prison time. And thats exactly what they got, in addition to confiscation of their systems. This isn't scaremongering, it actually happened and with new European tracking and piracy laws they now communicate with the US and others for each others prosecutions.

If you are going to download anything then use torrents and set it to only accepted encrypted non-legacy connections. Also set your seeding rate to less than 100% (I use a setting of 10%). Using torrents with encryption and setting low seeding thresholds produces a legal nightmare to track and trace who you are and what you downloaded and shared as regards infringing copyright IP (not that you would be doing anything illegal i'm sure). Also you can check the comments from others who downloaded the torrents to see if they found any viruses or spyware.

I cannot repeat this enough or more vociferously, do not ever install standard P2P software on your system. You can lose info, money, equipment and potentially your liberty, all for an mp3. Its not worth it, ever. Use torrents.

 

yeah torrents are the best....since most of 'em are already reviewed....one knows what they are downloading....

 

And there's always Soulseek for OS X

 

thank you, i'm glad i asked and didn't get it

 

So let me get this straight MR. Jurisprudence...

We can't download movies/music off the internet using torrent sites because thats illegal. We can't buy movies/music off iTunes because they wont sell to my country, Youtube.com wont allow my "region" to view those same contents even though they are available for the rest of the world, local government don't allow the import of such movies/music because of censorship issues and if they are smuggled somehow then they're being sold double or triple their original prices! What the hell are we supposed to do?

Btw, same thing goes to video games.

 

I wouldnt install Limewire on ANYTHING that you want to have functional still a month from now.

Pros of Limewire:
1) Free Music, Movies, Software

Cons of Limewire:
1) Completely Open Network Ports for Trojans, Viruses, Worms to come in
2) Completely Trackable P2P Sharing
3) Mysterious appearances of spyware.
4) Open access to your personal information. Literally a neon sign on your computer saying. "Identity Thieves Welcome!"
5) Bonus Features of the software "improving" the performance of your computer by eating any unused system resource making even opening notepad/textedit an incredibly cpu intensive task.
6) Items 1-5 all over again.

Need i say more?

 

Actually, a coworker of mine's iMac came into my Precinct the other day after they got something off Limewire.

I didn't hear the full story as to what had happened (as I was leaving for my weekend), but the Apple-certified repair tech said they caught something.

So, don't think simply because you have a Mac that you're immune to catching things.

 

True story, there are plenty of viruses out there for any OSX or Linux distro out there, for anything using the Unix Core within the kernel to be honest. The thing is they are useless for the most part due to how the Unix Kernel is set up security wise. No app, or object can do anything to the kernel without permission. That said, if you have something like limewire on there, guess what you give limewire permission to access your computer and by extension you give anything that comes over limewire access to it as well.

Ive seen it several times, stupid college kids bring their macs in scratching their heads when they stop working right wondering why and the Apple store simply turns them around and sends them over to us. Lo and Behold, the first thing our techs look for is Limewire installed in the Applications folder.

Guess what they find?

 

Viruses, trojans, etc?

And yes, the pro of a Mac is that the operating system itself, inherently, can't get infected as easily.

However, if you have something handing out permissions - bingo.

This is one reason why I don't use Limewire, or anything other similar form to that, at all.

 

Hi Nameless,
If you didn't get a hint of sarcasm in my comment regards me being sure people don't use torrents for illegal purposes I really can't help (I have 70 running right now, legal of course ). As for the rest, what 'you are supposed to do' is to make sure that you, your friends and family don't become victims of corporations like Warner and Sony and their legal teams and outsourced intra-national hired solicitors firms who make obscene amounts of money while giving less than 25c to artists/entire bands. You don't use programs like Limewire because they are using these programs to trap people, to prosecute them, to imprison them. You also don't open your systems up to viruses, trojans and root-kits (probably from Sony) to take your money and info and potentially also assist in tracing you for the authorities and the aforementioned using standard P2P software.


As for youtube their content restrictions are suspect at best. Try looking up a certain bunch of psychos from 1930's/40's Europe (I have an obsession with war, human rights violations and the law) on iPhone youtube and a laptop in Europe, you don't get the same content. Other friends around the world report differing content including entire topics simply 'missing' using any pc. For local governments try to hook up behind a proxy to mask your real location, oftentimes this will be enough to disengage the restriction. Also try peer guardians to make life more difficult for THE MAN. This also applies to youtube etc. To me restrictions and censorship like this are a breach of human rights and people may choose to resist them (as long as its not paedo stuff and such like). An unjust law is not a law at all.


As for legal purchases of content the situation for me is this: I am Irish and a European through and through, I love my Union and its people and am sick of companies in the music and movie business seeing me and others as people they can discriminate against because we are not from American or Asia and an easy target. Until I am charged the same (taking into account Euro taxes) as others in the US (don't talk demographics as population est Europe=727 million, USA=301 Million) people will continue to pirate material. Dare I say it for many people I know they feel it is revenge against this discrimination, its a war for many. I know where I stand.


As for iTunes you will have to pry the credit card from my bloodied dead severed hand before I spend a cent on a service which even attempts to discriminate within Europe's own borders. Steve Jobs you can burn in hell. With games I can't really comment as I'm not a big gamer but the same comments may be relevant if pricing is the same as music/movies.

2 things are required if you plan on downloading material such as this.
1) A torrent client
2) A brain/some cop-on

I can't give anyone a link to the latter.

Conclusion: I'm not gonna get banned from this forum for advocating anything illegal but I will warn any member if they so request if they may be threatened by the law and try to stop them potentially getting hurt or in trouble by using alternatives which can't be traced.


P.S: Hey Nameless, BTW, what is your region if you don't mind me asking as you seem to be getting a bad deal wherever it is.
P.P.S: If the MR. Jurisprudence bit was meant to be insulting I study law man, I get worse in the bus queue. Have a nice day.

 

Jurisprudence, I'm from Kuwait... Its the second country in the mideast, after israel, to have internet connection. everything was going on pretty cool until last year when the rulers/government/parliament decided to screw us and began filtering the internet and censoring it.
Now they have people reading local blogs and forums, blocking torrent sites, news sites, science and arts sites, of course blocking porn too... And the latest - just read about it two days ago in the news paper - they're going to block Skype!! At some point and back in 1932 we were the only true democracy in the mideast with people talking freely and doing whatever they want. Now it feels like Saddam's era all over again!

Anyhow, I don't want to end up in jail for three years, like some other dude just few months ago, so I'll just my mouth and complain about youtube instead...

...Whats pissing me off about youtube is that they're starting to remove music videos uploaded by regular people because those videos are being uploaded by their true owners. Okay so I dont mind the extra effort of having to look up a new link instead of the broken one in my favs. But what really sux when I click on one of the videos at the artist's official page and I get the message that says "Sorry, this video is not available in your country". Seriously wtf!

I've stopped downloading music long time ago because I had youtube. And now I can see the songs in the search result yet I CAN"T view them. Seriously, isn't that invitation to piracy?

Again, as I've mentioned before.. If they're going to put their songs on youtube and not allow everyone to view them, and they sell them on iTunes but don't allow us to buy them cuz our credit cards are not issued in europe or the US, and our "wise" government censorship is not allowing the imports of those music albums, and if they're ever found here then they're over priced... then what the hell are we supposed to do?

hmmm...

btw, i don't listen to music to much. I'm just pissed at youtube!

 

and about viruses through p2p programs... I've been downloading stuff for about 8 years. never got infected by any virus. *touch the wood*

 

dont worry nameIess....if u feel that way i can upload a torrent for u stuffed with trojans and keyloggers....