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Archive 1

False Positive

According to the 'false-positive' alert from both Microsoft's Anti-Spyware and Computer Associates Pest Patrol, 'BearShare Software Bundler' installs spyware, adware and the like even if you only install the free 'Lite' version. This legitimate vendor released 'Lite' version doesn't contain any spyware, adware, bundleware and the like but has slightly reduced functionality.

No mention of the spyware bearshare installs in this article, wtf? Cews 16:17, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Truly these anti-spyware products are reporting false positives based on far, far older versions, as the products currently bundled with the "Sponsored" version of BearShare are adware, not spyware. Both the Pro and Lite versions do not bundle any addon-ware, spy or ad! The basis of these claims of spyware are from dated sources, as are the false positive reports from the distant past and have not been updated in the recognition databases.

whenu is spyware. It is displayed also on the spyware page. specially with bearshare. whenu sends browsing information of the user to a server. This counts as spyware in my opinion.
Concur, it now comes with Zango by 180solutions.
…and now it doesn't. The new BearShare 6 is a different package entirely, based heavily on iMesh. You are offered a google toolbar which you can turn down. I think they dropped Zango from the 5.2 versions after they noticed how people reacted to it, as well as the spectacle of Zango/180solutions' high-profile problems with the FTC and a class action suit.
The WhenU adware bundled with earlier versions was not as much of a problem because it was relatively benign and Free Peers deliberately declined to lock it into the program. People could uninstall that adware with no loss of BearShare functionality. It was during the years of the removeable WhenU bundle that the false positive began to appear and annoy users by damaging their BearShare software and downloads even if the WhenU package had been removed or was never installed.
The false positives came from a poorly written signature in the original version of PestPatrol (before they were bought by Microsoft) and some other antispyware packages that used PestPatrol's signatures. The signature matched on completely innocent files like the GPLed Webaliser utility, "webstats" which was included simply so people could see a nicely formatted report on what was uploaded from them. This did not give the community of BearShare users a positive impression of this particular line of antispyware products, especially as the false positive was apparently never corrected.--Aaron Walkhouse 22:54, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

The article is arbitrary

Wikipedia is not for publicity and shouldn´t be written by the developers.....

"With the power of the BearShare network you can listen to and download songs that are 100% legal. Our service is endorsed by the key players in the Music Industry. BearShare 6 allows you to explore and experience the power of the BearShare network where you can access millions of songs and a great music community instantaneously."

Our service?? That paragraph doesn't sound like an encyclopedic entry but more like a copy-paste off their website. As opposed to deleting it, since it's the largest paragraph in the article it should be rewritten with less of an advertising emphasis. I would but I don't know much about BearShare. CharredCoal 05:09, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Marketing department != developers. I would think developers should at least be "allowed" to correct false statements. Heck, as long as the article is objective, who cares who wrote it? A lot of users are far more subjective and fanboyish than any developer (who requires a half-sane brain for his work) could ever be. --82.141.48.127 20:19, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

6.x does not use Gnutella?

Then what they are doing on Gnutella? Are all of those fakes? Some may be but I doubt all of those are fakes. --82.141.48.127 20:14, 19 December 2006 (UTC)


The 6.x versions still present on gnutella are apparently the 1.x versions of BearFlix, the crippled version of BearShare. So far they appear to be harmless to the network. Aaron Walkhouse 11:47, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

outdated info

BearShare v6 has NOT been tested by the links that are in this article. Updated info. --98.197.123.63 16:40, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

VIRUS

I was just wondering, is bearshare a virus? My sister tells me it is but i dont think its true. thanks

Its description as a "virus" is certainly inaccurate, but these kinds of applications often include other kinds of malware, such as spyware — I would be careful. The article currently states "many users have claimed that the software downloads malicious spyware and adware onto their computer systems," although this is uncited. I have not used the application myself so I wouldn't know.
(PS: Please note that Wikipedia talk pages are intended for discussion for improving the article, not for questions/opinions on the topic) -- intgr #%@! 19:24, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
cited. It contains things people would call adware, malware, or a virus, yes. 69.177.200.165 (talk) 13:01, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

History?

The history section is a little meaningless, don't you think? No information on original releases, or who/which company developed the software etc. Also it seems versions 1 - 5 have been completely ignored, and any software revisions that came with them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.151.104.138 (talk) 14:44, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Bearshare 6.5.2.0 by Free Peers?

Some recent edits to the article changed the links to http://www.free-peers.com/, a site that looks just like the pre-v6 site and offers Bearshare v6.5.2.0. I reverted the edits intill someone provides reliable references that Free Peers is working on BearShare again and that it isn't a phishing site. ZinnKid (talk) 17:10, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Good catch. This is, indeed, a bogus site unrelated to the current owners. Aaron Walkhouse (talk) 03:19, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

I got around to testing it and it appears to be a "cracked" version of BearShare Pro 5.2.4.1 that has had it's version number and other cosmetics changed. It comes with used FreePeers.ini and library.db files which is configured for you to be automatically UltraPeer capable and sets all your hard drives to be shared. The web site is just a poorly modified copy of http://www.bearflix.com/ (there's still some references to BearFlix) that offers a "Gold" version of BearShare. It is obvious that this site and the program it offers is not safe. ZinnKid (talk) 21:35, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

I have just confirmed that this is the culprit of a serious problem on the network. The (improperly) included freepeers.ini file contains the non-unique GUID 69D4F5C2D934FBEC6FC6CB06BDD32D29. I have been blocking all instances of the faulty software via the Fullsize Hostiles List and the Gnutella Templist, and this does provide some relief from this faulty software's DDOS-like behaviour. Any persons using this software should delete that number from their freepeers.ini while BearShare is not running, and their IP addresses will eventually cycle out of the two blocklists over the next few months or so. Those who wish quicker mercy may find me at Technutopia.  ;] Aaron Walkhouse (talk) 17:15, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Bundled adware

The article specifically mentions the bundled adware and a Google search reveals the same, so the recently removed category is entirely appropriate and should stay. Socrates2008 (Talk) 11:40, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Older Bearshare versions used to contain malware as the article already says (the versions distributed by Free Peers). This is no longer the case since BearShare sold up and went 'legal' as they have cleaned up their installer. Your Google search also returns results that are most commonly from 2005-2006 and describe these old versions. The same holds true for Kazaa as well now, they've migrated to a legal business model and no longer bundle the apps. Check out http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/bearshare.com/downloads/ AskMeHowIAm (talk) 16:29, 20 February 2010 (UTC)
A more appropriate category would be 'Software that used to bundle malware'.
We should certainly include information on the malware/spyware issue, and I see the article doesn't currently contain any. I know of someone who recently had her hard drive infected by a worm and had it cleaned. She had to reinstall everything and downloaded BearShare again, and the worm is back. Now maybe BearShare isn't the problem and the tech guy didn't get the worm, but there are certainly lots of online discussions suggesting BearShare has malware/spyware issues, so we should include something about this. 86.174.89.234 (talk) 13:48, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
The article does state the old "Free" version was bundled with adware (I believe it was WhenU, need to find a good reference though). Current versions are rated clean by McAfee. -- ZinnKid (talk | contribs) 17:59, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Site Warning

MyWOT reports this site to be bad and has a lot of bad comments too at: https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/bearshare.com Thanks, George Georgeh109 (My Talk Page) 22:15, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

Legality?

How legal IS bearshare anyway?

As legal as the Internet itself. Only "problem" is that it can be used illegaly.
So if you downlaod a song from their "free list"(with the green disc next to it), is it still legal? Can you be fined, jailed etc? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.236.132.42 (talk) 11:34, 23 April 2007 (UTC).
It is posted on their faqs page. Yes it is legal. The Bearshare 6 service is 100% legal. (Shadowfire77 04:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC))

Who says it's legal? It is not on the current RIAA list of legal music services, and the Bearshare site itself shows album covers of The Beatles and Lady Gaga in promoting its music catalog. The Beatles allowing free downloads? I think not.109.158.134.151 (talk) 16:51, 30 September 2013 (UTC) Added: Bearshare's FAQs claim that it is legal because it complies with the DMCA and has a system to identify infringing files. Of course this doesn't guarantee legality, and I'm sure that most of the tracks mentioned as available for download have not been licensed. At one time the RIAA does seem to have been satisfied that Bearshare (and the related iMesh) was a legal service, but they seem to have changed their minds.109.158.134.151 (talk) 21:32, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Active Versions

Quote: "… and has the unique ability to switch between leaf and ultrapeer mode on demand, a feature deemed necessary for effective testing. No other gnutella servent has enjoyed this capability."

This is false and was false both before this article existed and before the BearShare 5.1 beta ever existed. Gnucleus (version 2 last released 2004-06-22) has enjoyed the switchable ultrapeer mode since version one (check versions here https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucleus/files/Gnucleus/ ). This was long before the BearShare 5.1 beta even existed. Also the Phex program (last released in 2009) has had this same ability (not sure for how many years.) (Mysteriousness (talk) 17:49, 11 January 2016 (UTC)).

Discontinuation

Looking at the official website today, they no longer have the software available for download, and it's claimed the service itself has been taken offline. I've edited the article to turn everything to past tense, but I'm not sure what to do with the "Active Versions" section now. I edited it to "Popular Versions", if anyone has a better name, feel free to add it in. (Or if you decide to delete the section entirely; personally I think it's a bit redundant at this point but I would prefer a second opinion.) 108.222.205.176 (talk) 01:43, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

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