Free WinMX Help and Tips from Cyberwolfman :-)
WinMX has reportedly stopped working, and their Web site is no longer available. This is supposedly due to 'cease and desist' letters sent out by the RIAA to some file-sharing groups following the Supreme Court's unanimous decision back in June 2005.
More information on this can be found here.
Hopefully soon, I'll be able to get a 500 GB hard drive and I'm going to do some research and I'll be trying out various file-sharing programs to discover the best one. When I'm finished, I'll create a page about what I discovered, and post a link to it here for you, so check back then. :-)
But for now, I can tell you that you should stay away from the Morpheus and Limewire file-sharing programs. They both were a pain in the butt to get all the crap out of my computer that they put into it.
Anyway, I'll keep this page up in case things get better and the fact that it has some good tips in it that aren't just for using the WinMX program.
Hello! :-) If you're looking for WinMX help or need some WinMX tips, you've come to the right place! This page will help you learn how to use WinMX well, and save you time and give you the best search results.
I've created this page for new users to the WinMX program. While I personally don't get on WinMX very often myself because of time constraints, I do have lots of friends who do. This page is for them, and others who need some starting up tips. Consider it to be free WinMX help. :-) When I do get on WinMX, I don't use Cyberwolfman for a name or will admit that I'm him if asked. It saves me a ton of messages. Besides, I usually only run WinMX when I'm asleep. If you meet someone who claims they are me on WinMX, they're lying to you.
I'm not going to bother with trying to teach the really advanced stuff on here. I just want to teach the first time users the basics so they can get started, then go into a bit more detail.
Remember to give the location of this page out to other users, and if you have a Web page or site of your own, I encourage you to link to it as well.
If you want to help out your fellow WinMX users, put the location of this page into your auto-responder if you go AFK. It'll help the new users who don't know how to use WinMX that well, yet, and will save you from answering the same questions over and over.
This Web site is not ad-supported and relies on small donations from people like you to keep it going.
If you want to, you can donate a dollar, (but please, only if you have one to spare) by clicking here, and using the information on that page to send it either through the mail or through PayPal.
If you can't afford a single dollar to help support one of the few remaining honest people in the world who tries to help you without doing it to try to make themselves rich by bombarding you with popup ads and numerous other ads, it's okay. These pages will remain here for as long as I can afford to keep things going. :-)
If you want to help in another way, and maybe help others who need information, or something interesting to look at, then by all means, tell others about us. See that page for a way to do it without having to spend any money.
Quick links to the sections on this page:
How to search for files. Tells you how to search for files including tips on getting back only the results you want.
WinMX search results. File sizes, how to use the info, and mp3 bitrates.
Sharing. Tells you why you should share files.
Should you share files you are downloading.
How to identify a leech, someone who takes but never gives.
What to do with leeches. There are many ways of dealing with leeches. Some of them are nice, others are... not so nice.
Transfers window (AEQ and searching for alternates to speed up downloads). May help you to download the file you want before the next millennium! LOL
Fast WinMX Tips
Starting Off:
Think of a unique user name you can use and type it in. If you're behind a firewall, or you have a slow connection and / or computer, try for a secondary connection. If you're unsure, go for the secondary connection type. Some systems may even crash if they try for a primary connection.
Bandwidth Limiting:
You can set this to keep WinMX from using all of your bandwidth. But first, you need to find out how much bandwidth you have. It's important to realize that just because you have paid for a certain kind of connection, it is very doubtful that you're going to get the top speed advertised. There are a lot of factors to consider. One is the speed of your computer. If it's an older computer, that will have an effect on your bandwidth. The same is true for net congestion. This is most noticeable during peak hours of use on the Internet, or when a lot of servers are being hit with this or that virus or worm or there's some major DDoS attack going on. For those with a dial-up connection, you know more or less what your speed is by the modem and type of connection you have from your ISP (Internet Service Provider). For others who have things like ISDN, DSL, cable, a T1 or T3 line, you should look on your bill to find out exactly what it is. Again, this is a speed that hardly anybody ever gets, so don't count on it.Now, we get to the WinMX bandwidth limiter / bandwidth throttle. Here's something you need to know: The bandwidth you're told you have is usually given in bits, not bytes. As it takes eight bits to make a single byte, you'll have to divide the bandwidth you think you have by eight, because the WinMX program asks you to set your bandwidth in the number of bytes for both uploads and downloads.
DSL users: Your DSL may be ADSL. The A stands for asymmetric, which means uneven or disproportionate. If you don't believe me, look it up for yourself. I'll wait. ;-) Basically, that means you have a much higher download speed than an upload speed. If you are using ADSL, you'll have to know what speed is for which before you set the bandwidth. It may be on your bill. If not, you'll have to call your ISP to find out.
Now that you've divided the number of bits by eight to find out the bytes, you should maybe set it for only 8/10s or less of what the total is, because you don't want it taking up all your bandwidth, because it'll slow other things down, including your downloads, because your computer has to send acknowledgment packets to the computer that sent you the data, so it'll know to send more. This is part of the ancient TCP/IP protocol that came out back in 1974, thanks to Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. Also, if you do a lot of other things on-line like surfing the Web or using 3D chat programs, and you get upset over slow page loadings (like some of us did when we were using a 14.4 modem), you'll want to give WinMX less bandwidth, so other things like pages will load faster. You should experiment a little, by setting it for maybe 50% to 75% of your bandwidth, then adjusting it as needed.
How to Search for Files:
Hit the Search button, and it'll show you the Search screen. There, you type in what you're looking for in the top field. If you want to make sure you don't get something that's usually confused with what you're looking for, put in a word for what you don't want in the lower field, with a - in front of it, right up against it with no space between it and the word. If you want to make sure what you're looking for has at least one word of what you want in the file name, put a ~ in front of the word in the lower field. Again, right up against it, with no space. Then you just hit the Search button, sit back, and wait. Depending upon what kind of a connection you have, how busy things are, or how obscure or popular the thing is you're looking for, you could see results as fast as a few seconds, or it could take up to 10 minutes to get back good results. Sometimes, though, you don't get any. This usually happens when you look for something that very few people have an interest in, or it may not exist, or you may have spelled it wrong. If you search for a common word, or something popular, you're going to get back a lot of results. If that's the case, you can make it easier on yourself by hitting the connection button below the file types you look for and choose to search for only (for an example) someone who has what you're looking for but they're on a cable or faster connection. After you get the results, you look at the list. The stuff inside a + are compacted because they're basically all the same file, but on multiple places. This is good if that's what you're looking for, because the more people you have to download from, the faster it is, especially if it shows in the far right side of the search results that they have some available spots open. Downloading from multiple people at once is called a multi-point download. If you want to make it easier to realize what you're getting, try clicking on the one that has the description you like the best to select it, then hit the Download button. This could also be helpful in identifying what you have in the downloads section of your Transfers window. You can add others that are light blue or yellow to it if you find matching files.
WinMX Search Results:
You have to pay attention to what the file sizes are in your search results. If you're trying to find an mp3 file, it's likely going to be around 1 to 7 megs in size, maybe a bit longer if it's of long duration. If you're trying to find a movie, those around an hour and a half are generally over 600 megs. If you see a movie with a far smaller file size that isn't broken up into parts, it's probably not what you're looking for, especially if it's under 100 megs in size. MP3 bitrates: 128 is about average. If you want higher bitrates for better sounding files, it'll cost you. They're larger files. Lower bitrates than 128 produce faster downloading files, but they don't sound as good. Which is why most people stick with 128.
Sharing:
This is very important! If you don't share files, you get branded a 'leech'. To those who don't know yet, and are asking "what is a leech?" A leech in the WinMX program is someone who likes to download files from everybody but never lets anybody upload from them. Many people don't like those who take all the time and never give. They'll even cancel your file transfer if they catch you. Some will go so far as to consider those who only allow one upload slot to be similar to leeches. If you have large files like home videos that you took and have as .avi files on your computer and smaller files like maybe computer tips that you said into a microphone and saved as .mp3 files, you could have six upload slots available, and what usually happens is people line up for the big files. That's when you can watch the list of people downloading from you on the Transfers screen, see if anyone's queuing up behind them for the smaller files, and you can then right click on them and select Start Download. This means that they won't have to wait hours or days to get in, and it's unlikely that those downloading the bigger files will notice or complain even if they did as long as you only let in one small file downloader at a time. Also, you should set your program so that each person can only download one file from you at a time, so they don't take up all your slots.
How to share files:
First, create a folder and call it something you can recognize that you're sharing with the other WinMX users like "Sharing with WinMX" or whatever.Second, find some files you want to share, like home movies, or mp3s you made yourself if you're a music artist or just have something to say. (Jello Biafra did a lot of 'spoken word' stuff, so you wouldn't be alone in making audio files stating your opinion.) You can even share pictures if you like. Those who don't have a digital camera needn't be worried that they can't share. If you have a scanner (or can use someone else's) you can scan the pictures and save them as .jpg files (usually the best picture file format for good quality and low file size). If you don't have access to a scanner, another alternative is to have your pictures put on floppy disk when you get them developed. Many film developers will do this for you for a little more money when you get your roll of film developed there. Then when you get them back, you can just copy them from the floppy disk to the folder you're sharing.
Third, copy those files into the folder you're sharing with others.
Fourth step: Go back into the WinMX program, click on the Shared Files button near the top, then hit the Share Folder button and find the folder you're wanting to share, then click OK. Then hit the Refresh button. You also need to hit the Refresh button every time you put new files in that folder to share so they can be seen.
Should you share the files you are downloading:
There's a couple of opinions on this. One is that you shouldn't until you download the files and check them out by scanning them for viruses and seeing if they're really what they say they are. Remember to update your anti-virus program once every week as well so it'll recognize the new stuff. Then you put them into the folder you're sharing with others.The second opinion, followed by a few, is that you should share the partial files you are downloading as well. But then everyone will know what you're trying to get. If you're trying to keep your interest in certain types of music a secret, you may not want to share the folder you download stuff into with others.
It's a personal choice, really, but now you have more information to make a decision with.
How to identify a leech, someone who takes but never gives:
If you see someone in your uploads list (the lower part of your Transfers window), you can right-click on them, select Whois, and that'll give you basic info on them like their connection type and all that. The info you want is named Files shared and Transfer status. If the number in Files shared is 0, they're not sharing anything and are considered a leech. Same applies if they have 0 available in the Transfer status part. If they put up files just to sneak past those who are looking for leeches and don't think they'll look at the whole list and close off all of their upload spots, you may as well consider them leeches, too.
What to do with leeches:
This is one of those personal decision things, but I'll give you some ideas. If you're a nice and helpful kind of person (which few humans seem to be), you can tell them that they're going to be branded as a leech if they don't share files with others. If you want them to know how, you can give them the location of this page in your message. It'll save you a lot of explaining.If people who don't share but take aren't the kind you want to be taking from you because others who do share are waiting in the queue (line / waiting list) after them, after waiting 10-20 minutes you can check their Whois again to see if they're not sharing and if you find out they're not, you can either click on them and select cancel and if they keep coming back, change their bandwidth priority so that if they do start loading from you, it'll be very slow. You can do that by right-clicking on them and choosing the words Bandwidth Priority then choosing the slower speeds. Some go down all the way to 10%. Hopefully if you do, you'll tell them why you did it and try to convince them that others may do the same to people who don't share, making them lowest priority.
If you're a cold hearted human, or the kind of person who just doesn't want to deal with them, or you don't think they're capable of learning, you can just right-click on their names and choose the word Cancel. Hopefully, you'll at least give out the location to this page, or tell them that you are canceling on them because you don't like leeches who take files but don't share them. If they come back continuously and ignore your advice, and you don't want to have to keep doing the Whois and Cancel thing, you can change their bandwidth as mentioned before.
Some of my friends (you know who you are) in the WinMX program are using a program that gets rid of leeches and they've been trying to encourage me to do the same. This is faster, I suppose, but seems a bit impersonal to me, and I'd rather try to help people than kick them out of a line with no advice or anything.
For those who want to try doing it the cold and automatic way, you can get the free MX Monitor program by clicking here.
Transfers Window (AEQ and searching for alternates to speed up downloads):
You've probably been wondering: What is AEQ? AEQ stands for Auto Enter Queue. Knowing how to use this will help you get files if you've been having problems downloading them. If you've got a file marked in red on the upper part of your transfers window, you can do a few things about that. One is to right click on it, and then choose Auto Enter Queue and pick 100 from the list. Also, you can right click on the file and choose Search For Alternates, which will then take that info about the file and do another search for it. The HASH thing with a bunch of odd looking letters and numbers after it is a unique identifier so that you're not looking for a file with the same name, but for a file that is exactly the same as what you're trying to download, with the same file size as the complete file and everything, even if the name was changed. You can then just click on the ones you want and hit the Download button, and it should add it to the list of people you can get it from. If it's something popular, or that few people have, you'll likely get put into a queue. The numbers tell you how far back you are in line. Some lines move fast, others take several hours or days to start downloading (if you can start downloading before they log off). If there's more than one place to get it from, you'll see more than one number, up to three, telling you where you're at in the queue for the lowest numbers. If you want to help out other people, encourage them to search for alternates, too, especially if they're trying to download large files from you. It'll help them out (and help you get them loaded faster and off of your uploads window so that others can download from you) if they do. Give them the location of this page if you don't have time to explain it all to everyone who needs to know.
If you want to be helpful, I encourage you to pass this page's location out to every new person you meet in the WinMX program, and to those who have used the program, but are still a little clueless about it. :-)
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The donation page also has links where you can help feed starving people just by clicking. I don't make any money from that, but I thought that if more people did it, it may make the world a better place. :-)
Or:
Check out This Is It, my 3D world, where you can fly, chat, play trivia, see live vidfeeds (click here to see a still picture of about half the VidFeed Pavilion) from all over the world, listen to streaming music (no waiting for big downloads), and lots of other things. Best of all, you can do it all for free! :-)
Click on the picture below to see it full-sized, or go to the information page for This Is It, where there are more full-sized pictures, as well as information on the world itself.
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