Blocking limewire?

[GeorgeC]

Hey there. My sister is an idiot and keeps getting virus music files from limewire, and re-format after re-format from the computer being totally buggered, she still insists on downloading limewire after I tell her not to and gets the same old viruses again, then asks me to fix it. I have access to the router settings from the standard 192.168.1.1 address, and I'm trying to find out a way to block any data coming through limewire. Does anyone know how to go about this? I'm getting really fed up of repeating myself to her, and fixing her computer.

Also, her music taste sucks. It's that crap where it sounds like theirs 3 singers arguing (singing) for the mic at the same time, with some beat that doesn't belong in the song, and the same lyrics about turning up the volume dj, turn it up dj, i wanna party all night, i love you baby, blah blah standard issue shit music lyrics.

SO YEAH! Blocking limewire!

[flesk]

I don't use Limewire myself, but I would imagine searches go through some servers, so if you fire up Limewire and see what pops in your session log, you could block those addresses. If she can't perform any searches, she probably won't download anything either.

Or if Limewire uses a port no other application uses, you could block communication with that port on her machine from the router.

[Pinchpenny]

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

Also, her music taste sucks.

Plus it's illegal. Have you tried telling her this in order to stop her doing it? I know a lot of people somehow think it their right to illegally download music, but perhaps scare her off it by saying your ISP may cut off your internet.

On top of bamse's suggestion, you could also try installing some parental control system and block the program that way.

[GeorgeC]

Originally Posted by Pinchpenny

Plus it's illegal. Have you tried telling her this in order to stop her doing it? I know a lot of people somehow think it their right to illegally download music, but perhaps scare her off it by saying your ISP may cut off your internet.

On top of bamse's suggestion, you could also try installing some parental control system and block the program that way.

She knows full well it's illegal, I've tried that trick but it doesn't work
And the parental control program would be tricky as recently she's become a right lazy slob and won't bother getting a job, so she sits on messenger/itunes/facebook/youtube all day and fills the house with awful music.

Grr!

[GuruGuru214]

Why is she even still using Limewire? The company disabled the program after a court ruling, it shouldn't even work at all anymore.

[GeorgeC]

Originally Posted by GuruGuru214

Why is she even still using Limewire? The company disabled the program after a court ruling, it shouldn't even work at all anymore.

She's using the version the developers released after it got disabled by a court procedure, which the law doesn't seem to know, or have done anything about. I probably suspect she's using bearshare too. If she gets a virus again I am *NOT* going to fix it, this is the third time.

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by Pinchpenny

Plus it's illegal. Have you tried telling her this in order to stop her doing it? I know a lot of people somehow think it their right to illegally download music

My younger brother has never bought a CD in his entire life. To him it's quaint.

[Giant Tope]

I thought limewire was completely cut off. Even after the one after the court trial.

[GuruGuru214]

Supposedly any version older than 5.5 can't be disabled, but those aren't working either as far as I know.

[KuroShiro]

The Gnutella network, which LimeWire runs off of, is still up and is accessed by other programs so there's plenty of ways to get on to it.

As far as blocking it goes, that is pretty tough. If you know how you can try to block the port that limewire is using to listen for connections (it's usually random, you'd have to check). That, or if the computer is on W7 or Vista use UAC to take away admin privileges and it won't be able to download to most directories anymore.

[Comrade Pants]

Buying music is dead. Tell her to go to Demonoid or you're never fixing it again. Chances are strong that you'll never get her to actually buy any music, anyway.

[WarpSpeed]

Seems your choices are:

1. Stop fixing her computer, after this last time with a final warning. Tell her when she gets more viruses, she will need to go to a professional to get it cleaned up. This can cost more than buying music legally. She has no job or money? I guess she gets to keep the viruses, then.

2. Set her up so she's not an Administrator, and don't tell her the Administrator password. This limits what the bad programs can do, especially if you keep Windows patches up to date.

3. Install Linux instead. Hey, it shouldn't matter much if all she does is play on the Internet, right? Most nasty programs that are designed to be downloaded by clueless people don't know what to do with Linux.

[ShaggE]

Worst-case scenario, you could also point her to downloads that are more reliable and HTTP based. It's the equivalent of saying "well, if you're going to shoot up anyway, you might as well take these sterile needles for safety", but it's something at least.

[Overmann]

If she doesn't know to much about computers, you could bock it with windows firewall (or Zone Alarm free)

[Banned User]

If you know the limewire address . like www.livewire.com you can edit your host file in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and add a bogus IP and that address. Which would cause it to go to that IP instead of the the actual site.

I think Limewire is currently under a cease and desist order as their site proclaims http://www.limewire.com/?title=User_Cant_Connect

Or if you know what ports limewire uses you can block those on the firewall. Anything over 5000 is random and is impossible to block unless you have a stateful firewall that recognizes limewire traffic.

[Psychotron7x2]

Maybe add some security to her computer. I would highly recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. It will at least inform her that what she is downloading is a virus and will remove it for her. Maybe she will get the idea after that.

Failing that, you could show her how to download things using torrents. Many torrent downloading programs don't have spyware and windows will be able to scan the files for viruses before she opens them. Then she will realize that Limewire is garbage and no one has been using it since 2005 because it is loaded with malicious crap.

However, if it was me I would let her screw it up again and tell her what to do to fix it, rather than fix it yourself, otherwise she will never learn.

[Chyron8472]

Can't you just block any ports that LimeWire uses?

Also, what virus scanner are you using? You should use Avast. I used AVG at one point in the past, and still somehow managed to get a virus (not thru LimeWire, I don't use LimeWire.)

Originally Posted by Banned User

If you know the limewire address you can edit your host file in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and add a bogus IP and that address. Which would cause it to go to that IP instead of the the actual site.

Yes, like 127.0.0.1

[waroftheworlds01]

I get my music off of amazon.com. MP3 downloads.

just throwing that out there. Although itunes sounds like another good way. You have to pay of course, but hey, its legal and not much risk of virus from them.

Edit: Oh, when you go to take the virus off her computer, delete limewire as well. That way she won't be able to download it again since they're all shutdown. I'm surprised her's still working.

[Chyron8472]

Hey, I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vtqIxBywic

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by waroftheworlds01

I get my music off of amazon.com. MP3 downloads.

This.