Almost everybody uses the internet to download music, movies, TV shows and other media. We have entered a new technological age of digital technology which has been largely powered by the internet. Shareware is the term for the technology used for sharing digital files online. Limewire is the most widely used shareware program in the world. However, unfortunately most people never make the most of this software because there isn't a lot of information avilable on exactly how to use limewire.

The software works by acting as a connection into the gnutella network. At any one time there are thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of users on this network. What this fundamentally means is that users can search for and download ANY file that is shared through the network. As you can see this is a very powerful tool with many pros and cons. The major benefit of this network is that it provides a FREE platform for users to share any digital files with other users over the internet. On the other hand, the risks associated with linking to this network include opening up your system to malicious trojan viruses and harmful malware or spyware. This is often enough to put most people off using this system. However, this is unfortunate because there are a lot of tools accessible to decrease this risk, most users just don't know about them.

Correctly configuring your limewire settings prior to opening yourself up on the network can greatly decrease your exposure to malicious attacks. If you also learn how to search for 'safe' files to download, this can also help you keep your powder clean. The rest of this article is dedicated to some of the best strategies on how to use limewire. There isn't adequate space in this article to provide you a total run down, however, here are 3 top tips for remaining safe on limewire. Uploading - to increase the performance of limewire go into your settings and shift the upload bandwidth bar to zero. It is also important to stop partial file sharing as this can seriously have an effect on your download speeds. Search for safe file types - based on my own personal experience I suggest the following file extensions. Music files; Mp3 is the best! WMA and m4a and a close second depending on your user platform. Video files; I have found avi files to be the most consistent in terms of quality and reliability. Dodgy files are mov, qt and srt. All other files types are somewhere in between.