Why Is it Easy for Limewire to Give You Viruses?
Limewire is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program. What that means is that if you use Limewire, you can download files from other people's computers over a secure server. According to Limewire.com, Limewire has more than 50 million unique users per month, making it one of the largest P2P programs available.
Other People Are Reading
-
Basic Limewire Security
-
According to Limewire.com, Limewire is serious when it comes to security. The developers' goal was to create one of the most secure P2P file-sharing programs available to answer for all the dangerous ones out there. Though you can change it in the options menu, Limewire disables program sharing by default, as downloading programs causes the most problems, virus-wise. If you enable the option, Limewire still won't launch the programs for safety reasons but will show you where on your computer they are located.
Downloading Limewire
-
Some P2P programs come stuffed with hidden bloatware, viruses and spyware right in the program installer. Limewire.com assures users that Limewire is different. The developers claim that there is absolutely no harmful malware of any kind included with the Limewire installer. That being said, if you plan on installing Limewire, make sure you download it from the official website, as the developers can't guarantee that another source won't package malware with the installer.
-
How Viruses Spread on Limewire
-
Viruses, spyware and other forms of malware are so prevalent on Limewire because of people uploading them with false information. Hackers and virus makers upload their viruses but claim in the description that they're something else; so while you think you may be downloading "Program A," you're really downloading a virus. If you have Limewire setup to share what you download, then you are sharing the virus you just caught with anybody else trying to download "Program A" from the same source.
Limewire Pro
-
Limewire has a premium version of its software, called Limewire Pro. Though it costs money, this enhanced version has an integrated copy of AVG anti-virus software. This improves Limewire's security considerably, as now each file is scanned in real time as it is downloaded. Limewire's AVG will alert you when it detects a virus and stop the download. You can then go to your download manager and delete the problem file. Limewire's AVG also allows for full virus scans, making Limewire even more secure.
Prevention
-
Unless you are using Limewire Pro with AVG integrated into it, Limewire.com suggests to always use anti-virus security when using Limewire. The developers also say to use extreme caution when downloading files with the ".exe" suffix and to scan files for virus as soon as they're finished downloading. Computer-Realm.net suggests that you refrain from downloading anything that exactly matches your search terms, as malicious programs on Limewire can change their names and often change to match search terms so people will download them.
-
References
- Photo Credit virus image by DAN from Fotolia.com
