This tutorial is a visual guide to Basic set up of WinMX.



I will go through most of the buttons and their functions, I will also tell you a few do's and don'ts.

The version of WinMX I am using to demonstrate is 3.54 beta 3, most functions will be the same as v3.53.

As you look through this post please note that there will be a picture then underneath that are the descriptions for that screen.

To start off if you dont have WinMX installed on your machine go to this Page to get it.

WinMX is one of the best quality, safest, and stable Peer 2 Peer Networks that you can use.
At that site you can get their latest release Version 3.53 or you can download Version 3.54 beta.


So, now you have WinMX and you have installed it, so lets start from the start.
You will see several buttons at the top of all of your screens, they are:
Networks, Library or (Shared Files), Chat, Search, Hotlist, Transfers, Bandwidth, Ignored, Settings, and Help. I will go through these one by one.


Netwoks Screen:




This is your Networks Screen, its the first screen you will see each time you start up your WinMX. The important parts of this screen are your 1)Network Identity, 2)Secondary Connection, and 3)Primary Connection.

Here you will see a box labeled Connection Status when it goes to green you are connected and ready to search.
You will also see at the top of the screen information about your downloads, uploads, and whether your status is <Online> or <Connecting>.

1)Network Identity is your user name you choose. Keep in mind that using "User" and numbers is not recommended. People will also see your name when your downloading from them so its a good idea to not use anything offensive. You can always come back to this screen and change the name by clicking on Change button.

2)Making a Secondary Connection, connects you through other people on the network that are on a Primary connection. It is the only connection you can make to
WinMX if you are on a dial-up or slower connection the the internet. This is how you will be connected everytime you start WinMX unless you change it manually.

3)Making a Primary Connection sets you up to allow people with Secondary Connections on the network to be routed through you. This is one of the unique and great features of WinMX. It makes it a decentralized way of getting files with no one server to have to rely on. Its a Network made up of the people for the people.

This is also the screen you can make a connection to the OpenNap Networks. For more info on How to use this feature go to Here
OpenNap Instructions



Library or Shared Files:



Here you will see a button to Add Folders, Remove Folders, Refresh, Shared File Types, and Scan For Media.
*Note: The shots from the above link are of WinMX v3.53, there are a few slight diferences in the beta versions.
Aside from being called Library, you also have a choice of whether you want to share folders that are inside folders ie: Sub-Folders, and WinMX v3.54x will also let you choose Shared Files Types for each folder instead of a universal setting.
Everthing else in the above link works the same in both versions. NEVER USE "SCAN FOR MEDIA" this option shares any and every media file on your computer.

For a visual look at How To Share Files choose your WinMX Version here:
Sharing Files on WinMX 3.54
Sharing Files on WinMX 3.53/3.31

Refresh is for when you add shared files after WinMX has already scanned your library. By clicking on this it will rescan your shares so they are available for upload.


Chat:


When you click on the Chat a warning will come telling you that WinMX is not responsible for the content of any of the Chat rooms and that it is not regulated by them.
You have to choose to continue at that point.
Here I will mention this, there are bad and good people everywhere in the world. WinMX is a true Community and if you dont go into the world of the Chat rooms you are missing out on a lot of goodness, helpful folks, and good friends.

On the above picture you see I have marked some of the important buttons with colored dots. The screen will automatically load a Channel List for you. To put your list in abc order simply click the button above the names that says "Channels"

It will tell you the Channel name, amounts of users in it, and the topic of the room. You can simply go down the list and choose something that interests you.

Then move your mouse over it and click on it. This will highlight it, you can then join the room by either double clicking it with your mouse, by using the right click and choose join or by clicking on Join Selected Channel button.

Filter is a button that allows you to type in key words or a channel name and the results will only display matches to those words.
This feature is nice if your not getting a complete room list (around 1500-2000+ rooms) you can get a channel name from someone, copy it and paste it into the Filter bar, then Simply click the Join button.

Refresh List will give you a refreshed list, there are times when rooms may be offline or come online and refreshing should pick up on these.

*Note: If you are on a secondary connection sometimes getting a list can knock you Offline from WinMX v3.53 only. By using the WinMX Community Patch this should solve this, if your not using it already you can get them here:
WinMX Community Patch Downloads

Favorites is a great feature for finding those channels you really like. To Add a channel to your Favorties List simply right click the name in the channel list and choose "Add To Favorites". You can also remove channels by clicking on the Favorites button then scroll down to "Remove" and choose which ones.

Host is a feature that allows you to make your own chat room if you are on a primary connection to WinMX.

You simply put in the name you want and click the Host button.

Close will close the Chat window and take you back to the Networks screen.



Search:


Search is where you will go to look for files you want to download. Again I have marked some of the buttons with Red ink and will discuss each one.

Artist and / or Title is where you will type in the name or a key word of a file you are looking for.
The second line is where you can put in a HASH number if you have it.
For more information on using the Hashes to search for files go Here


MP3 Audio - Any Bitrate can be clicked on to choose the quality (bitrate, the higher the better) of mp3.
This is also a great way to look for different file types that you want to search for. In the drop box you can choose movies, applications, pictures and etc..


Any Connection allows you to search for sources of the file by connection type or you can choose to only search faster ones like DSL/Cable.
T1 and T3 connection types should be viewed with scrutiny as they are rare and people seem to like to boast.


The Blue dots are important in increasing your sources. Keeping in mind that the more sources (Users) you have, the faster you get the file.
Auto Find Sources should be set to 10min. Click on it and choose "Find Sources every 10 mins".
Auto Enter Que allows you to join a que of at least 100. Click on this and choose 100.
Being in Que means you are in line for the file, so you want to get in line even if there are several in front of you.

Search starts your search with the settings you have chosen. The results will be displayed in the screen below the buttons.
You can choose a file you want to download by double clicking it. As mentioned before its better if you can find one with multiple users.

Stop this button stops finding new search results. Handy if there are alot to look through.

Close will close that particular search. As you can see there is also a Open New Search button, this allows you to search for more than one file at a time.

Download will simply start a download if you have a file highlighted in the search results screen.

Manually Resume is for starting or deciding whether to add to an existing file, or starting a new one. Not used it really so you probably wont need it often.

The color codes that will be shown on the screen are as follows:
Yellow= indicates a match for one of your incomplete files and you can resume it.
Light Blue= is a matching file of one you are downloading so you can add them for more sources.
Dark Blue= is a file or user you are downloading from already.



Transfers:



The top half of the screen is for showing information about the files you are downloading and the controls for downloads.
The bottom half is for information on your uploads, (files your sharing that are being downloaded by other people).

Clear Complete will remove a completed file from the screen.
Load Incomplete will bring the files that aren't finished to the screen so that you can try to find sources.
Purge Users will clear the users from a selected download.
Queuing allows you to chose a different que entry spot for that file.
Options will open the settings box and take you to "File Tranfers", which I will go over in the Settings Sections
Open Incoming Files and Folders allows you to open the folder you have choosen to put your downloaded files into.
Cancel lets you cancel a download that you have highlighted. It will save the incomplete portion on your screen.
Clear lets you clear a highlighted file from the screen.
Retry will retry that file with the same user.
Find Sources Now will do a search for users that have the exact file, so you can either restart or increase your sources.


In the lower half of the Transfers screen is where your uploads will be managed.
The functions of the buttons is virtually the same as listed above in respect to people getting files from you.


Hotlist:


Hotlist is for putting users on a list that you would like to contact via PM or Private Message, you can choose a pesons name right click on it and choose chat, send message, ignore, browse, whois, or remove. Contrary to rumors, this is not a permanent list and when you close WinMX the names are lost.
To add someone to this list just right click their name and choose "Add To Hotlist" .



Ignore:



Ignore is where you can put users that you dont want to contact you for what ever reason. The people on this list will not be able to download, or send you messages.
This list will stay the next time you start WinMX.

Right Clicking A User Name.


Above are your options if you Right Click a user in your search screen.


These are the options from a user in your downloads screen.


These are the options from a user in your Hotlist.

All the options are fairly easy to understand.  You can browse, send messages, put on ignore, start downloads, and many other options on a specific user by using these menus.

That is a Basic overview of the different functions for WinMX.
I hope this helps anyone just starting out on WinMX to have a great experience.

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