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Posted by Penelope Pitstop on 10/17/43 11:51
Anon <nepotism+despotism@whitehouse.gov> wrote:
> I'm happily running winmx v3.31 by using the(?) additional
> hosts file entries.
>
> The other day my winmx displayed "CLICK FOR URGENT UPDATE!!!"
> in the line below the title bar (where, for months, it'd only
> been saying "Please be Patient!!!").
>
> I read the articles here, and the article at
> http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1214 (about dealing
> with "false files"). The article left me scratching my
> head... (Was I supposed to know what "smokeblower" is?
> Without "the patch" will I [just still] see "false files"?)
>
> Since I had no concerns about "false files", I never felt
> the need for any "patch", and so I am naturally concerned
> about the possibility that the (executable) "cure" could
> be worse than the "disease", at least as far as the health
> and security of my system is concerned.
>
> Can someone here please explain what, if anything, I need
> to do to my installation (and why) if I wish to remain a
> participant in the winmx file-sharing community? (It seems
> as if fewer people are finding/offloading my files lately.)
>
> TIA,
Since the hosts file provides servers to connect to the network and
those do change occasionally, it is important to update your hosts file
when a new one becomes available.
If you connect as a primary, you *do* need to block the "bad" IP ranges
since you host other users connections and process search results for
yourself and those other users connected to you.
However, if you connect to as a secondary, there's no need to block
those bad IP's, IMHO. It would not be effective except if you connected
to a faker directly by attempting to download a fake file (which would
probably time out anyway whether you blocked or not).
A primary connects directly to the network and a secondary connects to a
primary host. If, as a secondary, you connect to a primary who *does
not* block those IP's, you will get fakes in your search results
(depending on your search criteria and if the files you are after are
currently being "faked" by the bad guys). If, as a secondary, you
connect to a primary who *does* block those IP's, you should not get
fakes in your search results. Although, not *every* faker can be
blocked - only those major bad guys who are on the blocklist are caught.
Vladd's website suggests that you block those bad IP ranges with PG Lite
with the BlockTard list (though *not* for Windows 95/98/ME). Get it
here - http://www.blocktards.com/p2p.html
HTH
-PP
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