Setting up LimeWire

This page will help those who want to install LimeWire. Several issues will be addressed by this process. Be sure to understand the purpose of this procedure. Using this process is not mandatory, but suggested.

This is the list of reasons I have developed this setup process:

1) You will prevent others from downloading your files. It is easy for people to share copies of LimeWire, install it, and be happy about the great selection of material. But you must be aware that using the default options will let others see what media is stored on your hard drive and download those files. You might have private or family videos or pictures, and those will become public and accessible to anyone.

2) Download location will be put into a better location to make user aware of how LimeWire operates, and to prevent Windows reinstalls destroy your downloaded files.

Navigate to other pages from the LimeWire section to learn more about LimeWire.

IMPORTANT: If you have already used LimeWire, do not use this instructions, and first read <for those who already use LimeWire> page instead!

1) Obtain LimeWire

Install by obtaining the newest version from their website. If your friend gave you the PRO version (look at the filename), then use that instead. It might not be the most recent version, but it has very few benefits over the basic version. I recommend installing the website basic version anyways.

2) Install LimeWire

Just click next thru all options.

3) LimeWire Setup Dialog

After you install the program, and before you can use it, you will be presented with a LimeWire Setup Dialog. Look carefully thru the following pictures what settings to change. If I have not listed a setting, then use the default one given.

4) LimeWire Setup Dialog: Save Folder

You will be presented with a setting of where to save the files. This setting should be changed from the default.

The default might be listed as "C:\Documents and Settings\..." where "..." could be anything. This location is wrong for several reasons.

1) The location is inside a folder (Documents and Settings) that was created and used by Windows.

2) This location is not visible from either My Documents, nor is a shortcut provided for a user. Since you will be handling those manually, you will need to place them in a location that will permit you to do so.

3) In the even of a Windows screw--up (to save time listing every little thing that could happen to Windows) (a very likely event that you should expect), your files will be gone.

4) If you know a little about the Windows filesystem, you might think that the files are here to separate files from other users that might have their own versions, their files, etc. Wrong! Any proficient user will be able to see, copy, or delete your files. They are not encrypted by default.

5) This folder will get big. Very BIG. You will need it somewhere that will allow you easy access, file moves, and deletions.

If you are smart enough to be the only user on your computer (you are the administrator and there are no other users), then the best place is to put it closest to the root folder as possible (ideally at C:\). If you are even smarter than that, you will have another partition set up for your files. I will document the reasons and techniques for that elsewhere.

In the remaining discussions, I will use C:\ as the location. If you used another location, or another drive letter/partition, then use that instead of C:\ (note not to use a remote location for this).

1) Create a "Downloading" folder at C:\, and a folder named "LimeWire" inside the "Downloading" folder:

Press the "Browse" button back in the dialog, and navigate to the C:\Downloading\LimeWire folder. Select the LimeWire folder.

The dialog should now say "C:\Downloading\LimeWire" instead of the previous "C:\Documents and Settings\...".

Click next until "System Startup".

5) LimeWire Setup Dialog: System Startup

Uncheck "Start Automatically". This will prevent LimeWire from automatically starting or resuming downloading whenever you login into Windows. You need to be in control and know what and when LimeWire downloads. Instead of it running continuously, you will manually open the program when you are not using the Internet or your computer, and let it download. When you need to work, you will shut it down.

6) LimeWire Setup Dialog: Scan for Files

Select "No". This will be the first option you will use to prevent LimeWire from allowing others to download your files.

7) Inside LimeWire

Naturally, Tip of the Day appears, and naturally, most users will uncheck "Show Tips at Startup" and press close.

Now there is that Getting Started text right in the center. It has a close button in the corner, but it will appear there again the next time you start LimeWire. And you will have to repeat closing it whenever you see it to infinity. '''Very Sad'''

Now we still have some options to change. Go to Tools>Options.

Options

I will select what options to change in screenshots with red rectangles. Read the text about what to change the setting to.

8) Options: Saving

You will need to know about how LimeWire operates to develop a precise value for the "Days to Keep Incomplete Files" field. Generally, if you are paranoid about downloading every file that you select for download, if you do not want the files you selected for download to disappear, or if several days pass between your LimeWire runs, then you might want to increase that to twice the number of days between longest periods of inactivity.

8) Options: Sharing

1) Remove all entries in the Shared Folders list.

2) Remove all shared extensions. By the way, all files with those extensions would be shared from your computer if you have not done this. Practically every file type would qualify.

3) Uncheck "Share Finished Downloads".

8) Options: Downloads

1) Maximum Downloads is another value that you will decide from your experience. For example, if you are downloading a few video files, or need a lot need a lot of Internet bandwidth for other work, or if you are downloading you your home network while others are using the Internet, you might want to decrease it to something as low as 4.

On the other hand, if you are downloading a lot of picture files that download in a few seconds each, then even a value like 32 will still use small bandwidth.

You can leave the value as it is, but adjust based on speed as I described.

2) Select "Clear Completed Downloads". This will reduce clutter as you download files, and besides, because you will know the location of your files, when files appear there then they have downloaded. Simple.

9) Options: Uploads

1) Uncheck "Automatically Clear Completed Uploads". Because that will give you a list of files that were shared from your computer (for damage containment and related issues).

2) Uncheck "Allow Partial Sharing".

10) Options: Downloads

Set both values to zero.

11) Options: Connections

1) Set "Shutdown Behavior" to "Shutdown Immediately".

2) Uncheck "Show System Tray Icon"

The importance of these settings will be soon found out if you use the default settings. I that case, when you would close LimeWire, it would just remain running as a tray icon, and you would have to close it from there again. Besides the stupidity of double close, and the presence of a reason whenever you try to close LimeWire, I could list a few more reasons why that is stupid behavior.

12) Options: Chat

Uncheck "Enable Chat". Because you will not use it.

13) Options: Player

Uncheck "Use LimeWire Media Player". Because you will use VLC.

14) Options: Status Bar

Uncheck "Show Connection Quality Indicator". Because you can do only a few things about your Internet connection speed.

15) Options: iTunes

1) Uncheck "Share My Music".

2) Delete "Shared Name". Just for the heck of it.

16) Options: View>Autocompletion

Uncheck "Enable Completion of Text Fields", so that:

1) You won't be ashamed of your previous searches.

2) If someone else uses your LimeWire, they will at least not know what you searched for, and any content you might write off to "it downloaded it automatically"

3) So that a nasty result won't suggest itself when you are demonstrating your LimeWire skills to your friend and searching for a benign phrase. HeHeHe.

17) Options: Searching

1) Maximum Searches is another one of those things that "varies". Since most of the time you will be greedy, and search terms will just pour out of you for "more, more, more downloads!!!", you will probably need to change it to at least 20. But that would be a mistake. Because greed always has to pay. As I discuss on the page about problems with LimeWire, searching for more than 5 items, and downloading them all will cause LimeWire to dump all of those files. And yes, that means you have just wasted all those searching and downloading; besides you were so greedy you do not remember a single search term you have used. And you will cry. Like a baby.

2) Disable "Show License Warning". Because you are not a RIAA employee.

18) Options: Filters

Whether you select or deselect "Enable Content Filters" is entirely up to you. That is partially why you had to read those Wikipedia and LimeWire website pages. You did read them, didn't you?

19) Options: Junk

Select "Do not display junk". Because you should not be greedy. You have enough files to download already. Besides you will still have to remove junk, ads, inappropriate material, corrupt files, and wrong files most of your time anyways (besides having to look, listen, and watch thru all of them; and also delete and organize the files as well).

20) Options: Keywords

1) Whether you check or uncheck "Ignore Adult Content" is entirely up to you.

2) Check "Ignore .htm/.html Files"

3) Don't be too greedy and uncheck "Ignore .vbs Files". Because vbs files are the easiest way for people to introduce you to a virus or a malicious script. Besides, there is nothing interesting inside vbs files

4) Don't be too greedy and uncheck "Ignore .wmv/.asf Files". Because all of them are encrypted, and you will have to visit a website, download adware, and get a tracking cookie before you can even found out what was in the file.

21) Options: Advanced> System Startup

Uncheck "Run on System Startup". So that it does not start whenever you login into Windows and slows down your Internet connection and your hard drive. You will manually start LimeWire when you are not using the computer or the Internet connection.

Guess what? That takes care of the settings! Now you still have to read those other pages from the LimeWire section of my website...


˅˅˅ Additional valuable information is available at one of the links below: ˅˅˅

 

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Page last modified 03-Sep-12 16:21:45 EDT

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