How to Download what you want, and not a virus, for Dummies!
Rules on Finding and Choosing Files to Download! (walk carefully!)
One of the most important ways to not download viruses, is to be careful what you are actually downloading. This can be done by carefully watching what you search for, and finding the correct files to download. So you get your movies and music, and not a nasty virus or a key logger.
Rule Number 1: Be specific! This means search for "Live to win by Paul Stanley" instead of just "live to win" or "paul stanley" Because this will narrow search results and allow more specific files to be found that are closer to what you actually want. This specific also applies to file type. if you want music, search for .mp3 or .wma NOT .wmv or .avi files.
Rule Number 2: Listen to your friends! In this case your friends are "peers" on your downloading networks. All .torrent search engine and P2P client searches have some sort of Rating, comment, or trashing system for files. This means if its a good file, people will download it and then give it a good rating (a plus, or a 5 star rating depending on the system) and also, especially for .torrent files, there is usually a comment box where people can write whether or not it is what it says it is, and it is worth downloading.
Rule Number 3: Avoid new files! Very commonly the newer files have not been rated yet, and have very few people seeding, or sharing them. Avoid these files and find another one, or wait until more people rate/comment on it to be sure that it is safe
Rule Number 4: Follow the crowd! Stay with files that have hundreds to thousands of people seeding it. Chances are if hundreds of people are sharing it, it is a legitimate file. Most people wont share a virus once they get it (at least if it is up to them). So stay away from a .exe file that has 2 people seeding it, bad news!!
Rule Number 5: Pay attention to File Types! Again if you are trying to download a movie, you don't want a .rar or .exe extension. The safest is a .avi version (some .wmv can have embedded programs in them). And for music .mp3. If you are downloading software (ex. games or operating systems or office programs) be very careful. .exe files could be to install a virus, or even sometimes something fun (like Sim City when you wanted Counterstrike) So again pay attention to previous steps a lot when downloading software.
Rule Number 6: Avoid Tracers! These are programs attached to files in order to trace who downloads them, and means that anyone who downloads it will be added to a list and keep track of those downloading it. This is usually a separate file within the torrent (not commonly found in P2P because they can find your IP address anyways.) So avoid downloading extra files, just the media/software you desire.
Rule Number 1: Be specific! This means search for "Live to win by Paul Stanley" instead of just "live to win" or "paul stanley" Because this will narrow search results and allow more specific files to be found that are closer to what you actually want. This specific also applies to file type. if you want music, search for .mp3 or .wma NOT .wmv or .avi files.
Rule Number 2: Listen to your friends! In this case your friends are "peers" on your downloading networks. All .torrent search engine and P2P client searches have some sort of Rating, comment, or trashing system for files. This means if its a good file, people will download it and then give it a good rating (a plus, or a 5 star rating depending on the system) and also, especially for .torrent files, there is usually a comment box where people can write whether or not it is what it says it is, and it is worth downloading.
Rule Number 3: Avoid new files! Very commonly the newer files have not been rated yet, and have very few people seeding, or sharing them. Avoid these files and find another one, or wait until more people rate/comment on it to be sure that it is safe
Rule Number 4: Follow the crowd! Stay with files that have hundreds to thousands of people seeding it. Chances are if hundreds of people are sharing it, it is a legitimate file. Most people wont share a virus once they get it (at least if it is up to them). So stay away from a .exe file that has 2 people seeding it, bad news!!
Rule Number 5: Pay attention to File Types! Again if you are trying to download a movie, you don't want a .rar or .exe extension. The safest is a .avi version (some .wmv can have embedded programs in them). And for music .mp3. If you are downloading software (ex. games or operating systems or office programs) be very careful. .exe files could be to install a virus, or even sometimes something fun (like Sim City when you wanted Counterstrike) So again pay attention to previous steps a lot when downloading software.
Rule Number 6: Avoid Tracers! These are programs attached to files in order to trace who downloads them, and means that anyone who downloads it will be added to a list and keep track of those downloading it. This is usually a separate file within the torrent (not commonly found in P2P because they can find your IP address anyways.) So avoid downloading extra files, just the media/software you desire.
