How to Completely Close Bearshare

BearShare is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program for the Windows operating system. During the installation process, BearShare scans your computer for any media that can be shared on its network. Once completed, the discovered media is shared with other BearShare users continuously throughout your Windows logon session. In most cases, this program is also configured to start simultaneously with Windows. Unfortunately, closing the program's interface does not completely close the program or stop operations. Since this type of program consumes a fair amount of computer resources and Internet bandwidth, this is not always ideal. Completely close BearShare using the Windows Task Manager, and disable the automatic startup feature from within the options menu.

Instructions

1. Double-click the BearShare icon located in your system tray to open the interface. Click "Menu," then "Tools, Preferences." This opens a BearShare Preferences dialog.

2. Click the "General" option on the left pane, then click to deselect "Load BearShare on Startup." Click the "Apply" button to save, and "OK" to close the BearShare Preferences dialog. BearShare will no longer start automatically.

3. Right-click the BearShare icon located in your system tray, click "Exit" and this closes the interface.

4. Right-click the taskbar, and select "Start Task Manager." Open the "Processes" tab, and click the "Show Processes from all Users" button.

5. Click the "Image Name" column one time. This sorts the list of running programs alphabetically. Right-click "BearShare.exe," select "End Process," then click "End Process" again on the confirmation window. BearShare is now completely closed.

References

• BearShare: User Guide
• Microsoft Windows: Open Task Manager