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LimeWire Free and Pro P2P Download Clients

By Bradley Mitchell, About.com

LimeWire Client Overview: The standard Limewire file sharing client connects to the Gnutella P2P network. The free Limewire client does not contain any bundled spyware programs. Limewire Pro, the paid version, eliminates the advertising contained in the free client. Limewire is known for its speed and ease of use.
LimeWire System Requirements:
  • 64 MB or greater RAM
  • Live Internet connection
  • Microsoft Windows 95 or newer Windows operating system, or Mac OSX Linux, or Unix operating system.
P2P Networks Supported:
Default LimeWire Client Network Ports:
  • Default TCP and UDP port 6346 to connect to the Gnutella network
LimeWire Network Protocols:
  • Limewire natively supported the Gnutella P2P network protocol. It does not support Gnutella2.
  • Query Routing Protocol (QRP) for Ultrapeer support
Administrative Network Settings:
  • A Speed menu contains Internet connection bandwidth settings and the "Ultrapeer" option.
  • Downloads specifies the maximum number of simultaneous downloads allowed.
  • Uploads supports setting Upload Bandwidth (percentage of bandwidth allocated to Limewire file uploads). It also limits the number of simulataneous uploads and limits the number of uploads from any single user.
  • Connections contains an option to automatically connect to Gnutella as soon as the Limewire client is started.
Other LimeWire Network Features:
  • Advanced - Port allows the default Limewire port to be changed.
  • Advanced - Firewalls allows the client to work from behind a firewall by specifying the current IP addresses and port number to use.
  • The Ultrapeer option provides a client with special functionality to support other Limewire clients. Ultrapeers help the Gnutella network run more efficiently and support more clients. Only high-performance computers with high-speed network connections should be configured to run as Ultrapeers.
LimeWire Download Locations:
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