Im New.....need To Know What...

[Ashley23]

Im new I want to know what one of the three on the download page I should download?? I just was told by a friend that utorrent was the best place for downloading songs so here I am! I will only need to download songs/music thats it! And yes I read the page that explains everything....might take me awhile to learn how to do all this hopefully its as easy as Bearshare and Limewire. Also can I get a virus or worms or whatever downloading since I have Norton?? If I can get them then I might not even bother with doing this cuz it costs alot to fix a computer and mine is brand new I dont wanna mess it up like I used to on my other one! THANKS EVERYONE! Please help!

-Ashley

[µtorrent-Guest]

Ashley, if you only download legal torrents from sources you can trust, it is as hard or easy to get a virus or worm from doing downloading with the Bittorrent technology as it is to get those nasty stuff with any other downloading utility like Bearshare and Limewire or even your normal browser.

if you are not used to the fact that programms can work from one single file without having aditional shortcuts to that file on your desktop or in your startmenu, then you should go for the installation version of 1.6.1. otherwise you can download the standalone exe.

If you choose the 1.7 beta version which has a few aditioal fetures and bug fixes it will ask you if you want all those aditional shortcuts and menuentries created on its first run.

[Switeck]

You are FAR less likely to get a virus or trojan from BitTorrent downloads than from BearShare or Limewire. They are general-purpose network file-sharing programs. BitTorrent is specialized in that each .torrent file represents a connection to SEPARATE isolated networks rather than parts of a whole network like the general-purpose Gnutella network. BitTorrent's DHT works like a search engine that very loosely connects the .torrent networks, but it does not connect identical private-flagged torrents as far as I know. ...And many/most people either have DHT turned off OR half-crippled anyway due to networking issues. (Mine is off so I don't have to forward UDP ports on my marginal router.)

Although fakes and poisoned torrents exist, the fakes are almost always harmless and the poisoning just makes the "good" torrent take a long time to complete. A decent ip blocklist goes a long ways to limiting poisoning...and fakes are normally stalled downloads that never complete anyway.

But it is ALWAYS a good thing to scan a new file to your computer for viruses/trojans before using even if they came from a trusted source...because they may unknowingly/unwittingly been infected with a virus or trojan.

[Ashley23]

OK! Thanks! I am gonna go for the 1.7 it just sounds easier...LOL! Anyways if I need anymore help I will be back! Also is there a way to tell if the torrent file is legal or good? Is there something I should look for when searching through a list of them?

-Ashley

[µtorrent-Guest]

"Also is there a way to tell if the torrent file is legal or good?"

as a rule of thumb; if the content is still for sale on CD in shops or via itunes, a torrent with which you can get the stuff for free is probably not legal in most western jurisdictions.

But IANAL, so don't ask me.

[Lord Alderaan]

Even CDs that are not for sale anymore are illegal to download in most western countries. You need permission (public licenses and/or offered for free at the author (or its representatives) website) or it has to be in the public domain (not much is).