/ Are P2P sites and downloads safe?

Are P2P sites and downloads safe?

As with every website on the Internet, risks are out there on P2P networking websites. In addition to the regular, garden-variety threats of worms and Trojans that might lurk and divert your attention and web browser to a third-party site that installs malware on your system, there are some added risks on P2P sites.

In order to use P2P sites and to download or upload media files, users have to install the software program on their computers. Often times, free P2P downloads are bundled with adware and spyware programs. These programs then run adware and spyware instructions in the background while you are using the site. Malware programs like these pose risks to you and your system ranging from annoying pop-up ads to system infiltration and the theft of your personal information and data. Even if the symptoms of a malware program are slight and not too interfering, in time they can increase and impair the processing speed and functionality of your computer. Running a good anti-virus program on your computer, complete with up to date definitions from the manufacturer help protect you against these risks.

Another risk involved in using P2P sites is that you might accidentally download a computer virus. For reasons known only to themselves some people enjoy writing and publishing damaging computer programs. Like vandals, virus writers seem to like wreaking havoc in the lives of strangers, stealing and damaging data and hardware and revealing the insecurities of their computer use.

Having a good security suite is the first defense, but users can also protect themselves by looking at files carefully before downloading them. You can look at the number of people who are uploading the file, known as seeds, and at the number of people downloading it, leaches. You don’t want to download anything that no one else seems interested in. Also, there are usually comments on the download posted below the link, reading these will let you know what people who have already downloaded the file have to say about it. If there are comments about it not working well or being something other than it is posted as, don’t download it.