Possible Limewire issues

[Possible Limewire issues]

Greetings,

I cannot say for sure if Limewire is the culprit, but we've experienced 2
disk read errors over the past 3 months(my son downloads quite a bit of
music). The first time, his music library was not quite as expansive as it
currently is, so I went on the newsgroup asking for help on the disk read
errors, & the recommended action didn't work, so I re-formatted the HD &
re-installed Windows, pretty much writing it off as a non-recoverable disk
read error whch contained the MBR. Fast forward to the present, 2 weeks ago
we experienced the same thing all over again, but this time, his music
library is so extensive that I needed to find a way to preserve the library.
So I purchased another HD(my thinking at this point is that the HD with the
disk read errors is basically a bad drive), & installed Windows on the new
drive. Now I have 2 drives & everyting from the bad drive can be accessed. So
going forward, how do I best handle the Limewire software which is
constantly used for downloads? Here are some thoughts I have been toying with:

1) After copying everything we need from bad drive to good drive,
reformat bad HD, Install limewire on bad drive. If anything goes awry,
the OS is
still intact in the good drive.
2) After copying everything we need from bad drive to good drive,
reformat bad HD, run system backup & use bad HD as backup HD

3) Use an external HD for downloads.

Of course, I realize that a disk read error resulting in the violation of
the master boot record(MBR) may have no relation to music downloads, but this
is the only thing that this machine is used for. I cannot help but think that
downloads are somehow violating the integrity of the drive in some way. Of
course at this point I'm guessing. The basic answers I'm looking for are to
the following question(s):

What is the best way to keep your OS safe in a machine being constantly used
for downloads? How do you protect yourself against apps like Limewire that
could potentially make your machine vulnerable during downloads?

Thanks,
CFabius

 

[orange]

"Possible Limewire issues" <Possible Limewire
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message

Greetings,

I cannot say for sure if Limewire is the culprit, but we've experienced 2
disk read errors over the past 3 months(my son downloads quite a bit of
music). The first time, his music library was not quite as expansive as it
currently is, so I went on the newsgroup asking for help on the disk read
errors, & the recommended action didn't work, so I re-formatted the HD &
re-installed Windows, pretty much writing it off as a non-recoverable disk
read error whch contained the MBR. Fast forward to the present, 2 weeks
ago
we experienced the same thing all over again, but this time, his music
library is so extensive that I needed to find a way to preserve the
library.
So I purchased another HD(my thinking at this point is that the HD with
the
disk read errors is basically a bad drive), & installed Windows on the new
drive. Now I have 2 drives & everyting from the bad drive can be accessed.
So
going forward, how do I best handle the Limewire software which is
constantly used for downloads? Here are some thoughts I have been toying
with:

1) After copying everything we need from bad drive to good drive,
reformat bad HD, Install limewire on bad drive. If anything goes awry,
the OS is
still intact in the good drive.
2) After copying everything we need from bad drive to good drive,
reformat bad HD, run system backup & use bad HD as backup HD

3) Use an external HD for downloads.

Of course, I realize that a disk read error resulting in the violation of
the master boot record(MBR) may have no relation to music downloads, but
this
is the only thing that this machine is used for. I cannot help but think
that
downloads are somehow violating the integrity of the drive in some way. Of
course at this point I'm guessing. The basic answers I'm looking for are
to
the following question(s):

What is the best way to keep your OS safe in a machine being constantly
used
for downloads? How do you protect yourself against apps like Limewire that
could potentially make your machine vulnerable during downloads?

Thanks,
CFabius

Run the checkdisk utility in Windows. It will isolate the bad sectors. Or
dump the faulty disk and only use the good one. Limewire will not cause
physical disk errors.

When connected to the web, make sure you run the antivirus in the background
(update it regularly), and use a firewall.

Cheers,
Jerry

 

[Possible Limewire issues]

Jerry,
Do you know for sure, supposing PC is left unattended with Limewire running,
& since Limewire is a file-sharing service, can someone from I-net access
files from my PC?

 

[orange]

"Possible Limewire issues"

Jerry,
Do you know for sure, supposing PC is left unattended with Limewire
running,
& since Limewire is a file-sharing service, can someone from I-net access
files from my PC?

If you're afraid about catching something run your antivirus every now and
again. People can take control of your PC if you download a visrus. Your
antivirus AND a firewall should take care of that.

Limewire is software, not physical. So it can't hurt your hard disk. Virus'
can. You do have an antivirus AND are running a Firewall ???

Cheers,
jerry