WinMX Encounters Error & Closes



This is a fairly common problem with no real clear answers in most cases.  It's not uncommon for this to happen to a user a few times throughout their WinMX lives, if it's an ongoing problem for you its wise to investigate this further.  That said here are a few common reasons and some things to try to avoid it.


Fake Files Causing Crashes
One of the more common reasons is the partial download or the attempted download of a fake file.  Let me just say that when I say 'fake file' I speak of truly fake files, meaning in most cases they are simply lists of files or partial files with corrupted data and warnings put out by the cartels (RIAA or MPAA) to disrupt the p2p networks.  It's easy to get a hold of one of these files if you're not using the WinMX Community Patch that filter these from the search results for you, or if you had existing incomplete files prior to download of the WinMX Community Patch.

When one of these files is in your transfers screen it often will 'Auto Find Sources' upon startup and then depending on your 'AFS' settings find them every 10 or 15 minutes thereafter.  The shear amount of sources it finds (sometimes in the hundreds or thousands) is more information than WinMX can deal with causing errors and sudden shutdowns. It's also been known to download the warning or corrupted portions so quickly causing the same effect.  

If you suspect this may be your problem then remove your incomplete files from the Transfers screen by clicking the 'Clear Incompletes' button.  You may have to right click and choose Auto Find Sources 'Never' and Auto Enter Que 'Never' in order for them to clear correctly.  Then simply add them one by one and change the settings to find sources to test them.  When you find the guilty or fake file then delete it.


Third Party Programmes Causing Crashes
Another reason for sudden shutdowns of the WinMX Program can be from third party programs such as MXMonitor, Leechammer, or even BendMX.  If you have one of these installed it's best to run your WinMX without this third party program and test, if you keep having the problem then you know it's not the cause and can move on to another solution.  
If this removal fixes it then you may want to upgrade to the latest versions of said programs including your WinMX version and try them again.
Sometimes reinstalling of the third party program is helpful also.


Older Versions of WinMX More Susceptible To Crashes
The last recommendation for 'crashing' issues is the older versions of WinMX, some of these are better suited for example for your 9x machines (98se or ME versions of Windows) and some later versions may work better on the XP users machine.  For this reason and because the nature of the crashes can be hard to find, its often recommended that if you're having this issue and using an older version of WinMX that upgrading to WinMX v3.54 beta 4 may be helpful.  That said if you're using the WinMX v3.54 already and your Operating system is an older one it could be helpful to you to try an older version of WinMX and see if this makes a difference, like v3.53 for example.
WinMX 3.53


Spyware or The Like Causing Crashes
The last issue that we often talk about with frequent 'crashes of WinMX' is spy-ware, adware, and viruses.  It's always a good idea to keep your machine in top running order and running some scans for these can often find potential problems for WinMX as well.  For more information on those we recommend please visit here:
Virus Removal and Help


If you continue to have problems after trying the above please visit the forum and post your
information so we can look at the issues.
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