Post #146417 by Mai Tai on Sun, Mar 13, 2005 1:45 AM

Some file sharing programs have spyware type programs like "Gator" built into them, and that is part of the stipulation of downloading and running them - you must agree to install and run the spyware program along with the file sharing program. And if you run an anti spyware program, like SpyBot Search and Destroy or Ad-Aware, then the file sharing program won't work at all if you disable or remove the spyware program.

The solution to this problem is to download a file sharing program that is spyware free. Just do a google search for file sharing programs with the word "lite". Those "lite" versions are usually spyware free. The other added benefit is that the lite versions usually don't allow your IP address to be tracked either. There are a couple of "lite" file sharing programs out there that are really great.

You should run some kind of good anti-virus software, though, because you are downloading things off of someone else's computer. You should do a virus scan of each and every file that you download from a file sharing program, before you open and run them, or move them to another folder on your hard drive.

And it's good to run anti-spyware software in general if you are surfing the internet a lot, regardless of whether or not you use a file sharing program like Limewire. I recommend downloading both Spybot Search and Destroy, and Ad-Aware, and running them in conjunction - what one doesn't catch, the other will. The first time you run these, you might be amazed as to how much spyware has already been downloaded into your computer!!!