Shareaza is a free peer-to-peer file sharing software program developed and maintained by Michael Stokes and now supported by an open community under a GNU General Public License.
There are various tweaks available to increase Shareaza’s performance, some requiring patience while others taking effect immediately.
It is free
Are You Searching For An Alternative To the eDonkey Client? Shareaza may be the solution! Featuring beautiful design and seamless access to BitTorrent, Gnutella and eDonkey networks – quickly and intuitively sharing files without extra plugins required like with eDonkey; all while remaining completely free with no ads or spyware!
Shareaza can be downloaded for free from Sourceforge in just minutes. Once installed, simply launch and start using this lightweight program that won’t consume much memory on your machine. When running for the first time, a small window will appear in the center of your screen prompting you to choose a directory where Shareaza should reside; additionally you’ll be asked whether or not a desktop shortcut should be created; finally allowing you to configure some personal preferences within Shareaza itself.
Once you’ve customized your settings, click “Install”. The program will launch and take some time to install and initialize itself before offering you a selection of hubs based on country or prearranged hubs based on personal preference. Once connected, you can chat with other users or share music between friends.
Shareaza provides one of its main draws by enabling you to preview incomplete audio and video files before downloading. Furthermore, Shareaza’s filter searches let you narrow in on specific texts such as song or album names; however a too general search may yield unexpected results that you won’t need anyway.
Change the tracker of a current download can be an incredibly useful feature if your internet connection is slow; however, be mindful that changing trackers might interfere with or derail the download if the new tracker doesn’t contain your file.
Note that it’s important to remember that the file size you download may differ from that of its source file; most likely it will be larger and/or have different extension causing issues with some media players.
It is easy to use
Shareaza offers an intuitive user experience. It connects to various networks and searches the internet for files you are interested in before renaming and saving it into your Library for viewing, playing, organizing or deleting purposes. Furthermore, Shareaza includes an advanced search function as well as media player for previewing music before downloading it; unfortunately it does not support Gnutella networks nor DRM-protected tracks.
This program comes complete with an extremely thorough user manual and community forum where you can pose any queries you have, in addition to several templates to assist in organizing files in a library and search function that allows for keyword filtering of results as well as size/bitrate sorting/filer/clean up duplicates automagically with its “More…’ button offering even more filter options.
This setting specifies how many connections will be permitted when using the default network configuration (one or two). For computers with slower internet connections, it is advisable to keep this value low to prevent overload and speed up downloads.
Shareaza defaults to 20000 milliseconds as its timeout value; this helps relieve strain on devices with limited connection capacity such as routers.
Default value of this parameter is zero (off). When this setting is activated, Shareaza will not collect information about users connected with it from file-sharing networks, providing added privacy or protecting sensitive connections. This can be particularly useful if your connection requires additional protection or you want to ensure anonymity for certain transactions.
It is stable
Shareaza is a multi-network file sharing program compatible with all major networks, including BitTorrent, eDonkey2000, and Gnutella2. Designed as an open source application that’s both stable and easy to use, Shareaza features advanced features such as media player integration and chat rooms – plus it includes a media library with search functionality – while maintaining an intuitive user interface that’s simple for anyone to use.
Shareaza stands out from other P2P programs in that it can access multiple networks quickly and seamlessly straight out of the box, including eDonkey2000, Gnutella and BitTorrent simultaneously without requiring plug-ins or any additional plug-ins for searching purposes. In addition, Shareaza is free and contains no spyware or any other forms of malware.
Shareaza offers support for multiple languages and operating systems, with an active user community who use it regularly and highly customizable features that make the program highly useful – but users should be wary of some security concerns associated with its use.
Sometimes users may experience issues with Shareaza after frequent updates or installing debug builds over an older installation of Shareaza. When this occurs, uninstall Shareaza entirely and delete both program and data folders before performing a fresh install to address any potential issues that might be occurring. This should solve the issue.
Recently, Shareaza released its latest version with numerous bug fixes and improvements, such as improvements to the library, user interface (UI), stability and speed. Notable changes include faster performance while using less system resources than before; in addition, image and audio metadata is now displayed directly within search results, making it easier to locate music and video files.
Search algorithm has also been refined, in order to locate more matching records and reduce false positives, with other changes including redesigned toolbar and better support for keyboard shortcuts as well as reorganization of settings menu. Finally, developer plans on adding plugin manager capability as well as providing users with the option of choosing their download folder directly.
It is secure
Shareaza offers several security features designed to shield users from viruses and malware, including automatic updates of itself and only connecting with trusted peers. Furthermore, Shareaza scans for and deletes spyware/adware from users’ computers for even further added protection than its competitors.
Shareaza provides basic security settings, but some adjustments could improve its protection for most users. Users can set how long downloads must remain active before Shareaza will drop them; this helps avoid overloading of networks while slowing other downloads down. Users may also wish to set how long G2 hosts should remain stored in the host cache and how many peers may be contacted when searching files.
Shareaza provides various security settings, including the ability to ignore local IP addresses and limit the maximum number of connections with other ed2k clients. These settings can help limit how often computers access your personal information; hackers won’t gain access to it as easily. Furthermore, Shareaza software can be configured to ignore private IP addresses – an especially helpful feature if you use wireless technology at home.
One important setting in Shareaza is how much memory it uses to store search results and incomplete downloads, with this setting configurable to limit their size. You may also opt to use NTFS sparse files which save space by compressing any areas of files which contain no data.
Users can configure Shareaza to block search terms that have been rated “dirty”, helping prevent the spread of malicious files on the network. Furthermore, Shareaza supports import of block lists from external applications like Protowall for additional network-blocking capabilities.
Shareaza is an excellent free peer-to-peer file sharing client, boasting an attractive user interface and performance. However, novice users may find it challenging navigating its complex folder structure.
