I know that numerous people have already posted this but it seems that people keep asking me the same questions via email and it gets annoying, so I'm going to help a little.

When you download some P2P programs there are spyware programs that come with it. This is so that companies can send you annoying pop-ups on topics that 'may' interest you.

In KaZaA the application is called 'savenow'. However, should you delete this KaZaa will no longer be able to run.

Try to install either KaZaa or another P2P program that does not use a spyware application (i.e. read the Terms of Service, you agreed to it then you are a slave to their contract). If you are not worried about that then you can continue using KaZaa.

Download a program like Ad-Aware 6.0 or similiar to remove unwanted files. Make sure you do not remove 'savenow' if you are still keeping KaZaa on your computer. The data miners and everythign else (I bet almost all of you have gator applications installed and you don't even know it).

There are also other ways to help.

In KaZaa there are options. Make sure that the options are all checked (if you are naughty then deselect filter of adult stuff). This filters out most bogus files. If you want to get technical it filters out files with *.wc or similiar which are actually viruses.

Documents do NOT carry viruses, however they can carry a viral code. A program may use this code to run, that's how that kind of virus is run (have you ever had emails with 2 attatchments? One was a text and the other a 'game' or some sort?).

If you want you can get a monitor. I haven't found one that's very effective, but Norton Anti-Virus has an option. Make sure that it scans all files in a single directory (not drive, it takes to long) and it will scan the drive every given time limit. This detects any unwanted files from infecting your computer.

Anime movies are normally safe, but sometimes can be corrupted. If this is the case, they are not harmful. Just delete them from your harddrive directly without going through the recycle-bin (not that it makes much of a difference).

If anyone has further advice for people, please post. If you have any MORE questions, please feel free to ask, but I won't be able to reply in a while because I am going abroad.

Also, my server will be temporarily offline at this time.

Gomenasai.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2003

Answers

Kazaa lite Disables the Spyware and that Annoying Save now Application. It also has a Keep rating at 1000 cheat option. Makes it easier to grab stuff. I have Systemantec Antivirus. So far that monitor has caught ever virus that's been on my system, Well at least the ones i know about...

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2003