Leeches, What is this? What Can You Do About Them

Unlike some other p2p systems when we use the word Leeches its not the same thing.  Leeches are considered to be users that have been downloading files (for a generous amount of time) but still dont share them or any files.  There is also a 'hack' as we call it for WinMX that allows you to set uploads to 0, called '0 of 0' which many consider users of this to be Leeches as well, because it blocks free sharing of files.  Uploaders using this never have any open slots.

This subject will bring much debate with users I find, but at the risk of starting one about this page, I think I'll share mine as well.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard this word used inappropriately in my opinion.  For example in todays market of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) its very common for users to have bandwidth throttled to horrible extremes and then for that person (through no fault of their own) be labeled Leeches and given hard time via pm from other users.

There are many reasons that you also may come across very generous p2p loving users that have had a Hardware issue lost all files, or are on a spare PC with less Hard drive space.  Maybe they are new to WinMX and are unsure about how to share and if its ok to.  I find with many users in que for files messaging them politely asking if there is a reason they are not sharing has brought many more around then sending nasty PMs and ignoring everyone.

Now that's off my chest, just keep these things in mind and be kind to your fellow WinMX user.

Upload Managers

There are a couple of programs that work with WinMX and these are designed to manage your uploads and are both free.  They are slightly different in how they work and so if your going to use one its best to know a few things.

MXMonitor
This was the first Upload Manager program and is still widely popular in use today.  It works with either WinMX v3.31 to the latest v3.54b4, this one can be set to auto start smaller files, certain file types, auto start users that your downloading from, and even auto start your friends while your away from your PC.
Drawbacks to this one are that it can not detect the '0 of 0 hack', and it can cause memory leaks after long periods and will cause both it and WinMX to need to be restarted after several days.
MxMonitor Download and Set Up Guide
Bubba's Trading Tips

Leechammer
This is the latter made of the two Upload Managers and is also quite popular.  It also works with WinMX v3.31 to v3.54b4.  This one can't do any auto starting but it is able to detect the '0 of 0' hack and protect your que from those users.
Drawbacks to this one are mostly for Chat users, both managers need to 'steal' the focus to check whois on users joining your que.  Leechammer never wants to give it back, and often leaves you having to reopen the chat window or reselect the text bar to type, which can get very annoying for frequent chat users.  This can also have some memory leakage but not as badly as reported with MXMonitor.
Leechammer Set Up Guide

Both of these programs will allow you to set limits to the amount of shared files a person has to have before they can get into que for yours.  Again please be kind and realistic when setting these limits.


If you need more information than provided here please visit the forum for help.
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