Frostwire is a hidden gem among Peer to Peer (P2P) applications. Built on the Limewire code but free of any advertising, Frostwire is one of the most accessible and reliable P2P applications you will find, and it doesn’t annoy you with pop ups or ads asking you to buy stuff.

The simple search bar, divided by category, makes it a breeze to browse for a file, whether it is a video, image, audio, or program. Frostwire has a “what’s new” button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged. We also enjoyed the direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and Frostwire will browse that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone else. It can come in handy when working on a project and exchanging documents. The only little snag we have with direct connect is that it doesn’t let you enter the username, much simpler than looking for your friend’s IP address.

Downloading with Frostwire is very intuitive. After you’ve searched and found the file you are looking for, double-click on it to start the downloading process. The speed of your download depends firstly on the quality of your connection (broadband is a minimum), if you’ve correctly opened your router’s ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. When you’re configuring the application, you can set content filters, to avoid downloading copyright protected material, adult content or Windows Media files.

The best way to check the quality of the audio or video you’re downloading is via Frostwire’s media player. Well integrated into the client it gives you an immediate preview or your file.

Frostwire is a pure version of Limewire, built as a not-for-profit project, and its developers claim it will never support DRM or any type of advertising. With the threatening cloud of lawsuits gobbling up P2P clients one at a time and forcing them to go legit, Frostwire’s future is in the balance. But the ad-free P2P client is still on its feet, and that very fact added to its reliability make it one of the most attractive of the remaining P2P clients.

Download FrostWire 4.17.0 in Softonic

Given the number of once-mighty file sharing clients and networks that have been forced to shut down following action by the RIAA, the developers of iMesh have decided to go legit. Well, sort of. It seems the remit of the P2P client is now to distribute content that is “100% legal,” deliver a thriving online music community, and offer users premium music downloads.

On the surface, the client and service looks highly polished. Complete with a colourful, GUI drawing more than a little inspiration from iTunes, it’s easy to find your way around. If you’ve never slapped your eyes on a P2P client before then you’ll almost certainly be impressed by the speed ease in which you can search for music and video, manage playlists and enjoy your downloads through a slick media player. You’ll also likely be impressed by the fact that you can join a community of users in making friends, exchanging messages and sharing media libraries. There’s also an online music download centre where you can pay to download tracks from some of your favourite artists.

Although these features may look great to the uninitiated user, more seasoned download freaks will quickly realize that iMesh is now suffering from a severe identity crisis. Is it a musical media player and premium download store like iTunes? Is it a place to hang out with fellow audiophile music fans like MySpace? Is it a client for getting hold of free music and video like Limewire and eMule? Actually, it’s all three, but the trouble is it doesn’t come close to any of the aforementioned apps in terms of performance.

If you want the benefit of having all of these services under one interface then it’s fine. The fact is though, that iTunes offers a far more comprehensive selection of pay-for music and MySpace has an infinitely larger user base. As for downloading tracks for free with iMesh, the boundaries are blurred even further. While it claims to offer nothing but legal files, it’s still possible to obtain copyrighted material using the clients albeit just a handful of results from a search – so renegade file hunters wouldn’t dream of giving up their eMules of Limewires and switching to iMesh.

There’s no disputing the fact that iMesh is a neatly-packaged app which has a noble stab at embracing the world of legal media downloads. It’s simple to operate and has some great features for connecting to an enthusiastic community of users. However, it’s hard to see this community staying loyal to iMesh as the bigger purveyors of legal and illegal music services continue to offer access to a much greater selection of content.

Download iMesh 7.2 in Softonic

Limewire, one of the world’s most popular peer-to-peer filesharing applications, has received a lawsuit from the RIAA, who are demanding $115 million in damages, claiming the application promotes the infringement of copyright. Similar applications like Grokster and Kazaa have been forced to go legal and there is speculation as to just how long Limewire will resist until they have to buckle and pay up. The existence of the popular P2P application is not under threat, but if you haven’t given it a try yet, here’s just what makes it a standout program.

In terms of file sharing, Limewire is the cream of the crop, offering the essential peer-to- peer tools in what is probably the friendliest interface of applications in its class. Beginners will appreciate the search bar, which allows you to select the type of file you’re looking for, video, image, audio, program or file. Limewire has a “what’s new” button to check out what popular files users have recently exchanged. We also enjoyed the direct connect option. If you know the IP address of one of your friends, type it in the box and Limewire will browse that user’s files. This is a quick way of sharing files with someone else and can come in handy when working on a project and exchanging documents. The only little snag we have with direct connect is that it doesn’t let you enter the username, much simpler than looking for your friend’s IP address.

Downloading with Limewire is very intuitive. After you’ve searched and found the file you are looking for, double-click on it to start the downloading process. The speed of your download depends firstly on the quality of your connection (broadband is a minimum), if you’ve correctly opened your router’s ports and whether you’re downloading a popular file or not. We would like to point out the effort that Limewire takes to make itself accessible to beginners. Not only does a tip pop up every time you launch the application, the help option also leads you to Limewire’s support centre, FAQs and a forum to get in contact with other users.

The lawsuit carried out by the RIAA is all the more surprising because of the measures Limewire takes to keep you in the realms of legality. If you decide to download Limewire from its website, you will first have to agree you will not use it for copyright infringement. When you’re configuring the application, you can set content filters, to avoid downloading files that copyright owners do not want you to share. To avoid embarrassing situations, make sure you tick the “block adult content” box, which will filter out any pornographic files from your searches.

The best way of checking the quality of the audio or video you’re downloading is via Limewire’s mini player. It’s fairly basic and to par with the players you find in similar filesharing applications, but we appreciated the way it was integrated in the application.

If there’s one thing that we’re still expecting from the Limewire team, it’s that it finally decides to jump on the BitTorrent bandwagon. Torrents are the way forward when it comes to peer to peer file sharing because of the speed, the security and freshness of downloads. Large files like movies or complete seasons of TV series are much easier to download via BitTorrent. We were also annoyed by the “buy the PRO version” window that popped up every time we started Limewire.

For its wealth of possibilities and huge base of users, (more than 4 million simultaneously on the Gnutella network) we encourage you to give Limewire a test drive. Because of the controversial nature of the application, you should always make sure that you aren’t using Limewire for illegal activities like copyright infringement. However don’t be scared off by the legality issue. Limewire, like most P2P applications is one of the most exciting possibilities that the internet gives us. It would be a shame not to give it a try. You should also check out Frostwire, the not-for-profit project of the Limewire development team.

Download LimeWire Basic 4.18.3 in Softonic

Cabos may not be as famous as Limewire or eMule but it remains a very good peer to peer file sharing client.

In fact, users of Limewire will immediately find the similarities in Cabos' interface. Your network, downloads and uploads are easily accessible from the menu on the left. Elements in these sections will be displayed in a list in the center of the interface. The search box on the top left is the best way to look for content, and given that Cabos makes use of Gnutella, the third biggest peer to peer network, you're guaranteed to find what you're looking for. Thanks to iTunes integration, you can search for tracks or videos stored in Apple's media player directly from Cabos.

The peer to peer client may not have any advanced features and you may not always benefit from ultrafast connection speeds, however it remains a very simple to use P2P application. What worries us though is that the client has not been updated for a while, and could be in need of some improvements.

Cabos is an easy to use P2P client which makes use of the third biggest peer to peer network, Gnutella.

Download Cabos 0.7.9 in Softonic

Mp3 Rocket promises users free downloads including music, movies, games, TV shows & more.
It claims to offer over 12 million songs from its network with unlimited downloads allowed, no monthly fees or bandwidth limits.

Mp3 Rocket is based on the Limewire network and comes bundled with a CD burner tailored to the program so that you can easily make copies of your favourite multimedia files.

Download MP3 Rocket 5.03 in Softonic

Morpheus is one of those age old P2P applications and, with support for Gnutella, eDonkey, Bittorrent and many others, probably the most versatile you can find on the market. The new version aims to turn the P2P client into the ultimate multimedia application. Does it succeed?

Morpheus has gone through a complete facelift and the new version brings a newer interface. The window is divided into 4 tabs: search results, my files, podcasts and Morpheus online, giving you an idea of what it considers important. A pane on the left side allows you to create playlists or keep track of searches and videos – although strangely not music. Morpheus lets you also sync all your downloaded files to import them automatically to iTunes. Oddly enough, the chat tool is now hidden at the top of the interface, next to help and preferences.

Morpheus wants to appear as a multifaceted app, not just a simple P2P program. It includes an embedded browser, Morpheus Online, from which you can check-out the internet or find new files to share while you’re downloading. This is particularly useful when you’re looking for new podcasts. By clicking on the podcast page button in the podcasts tab, you will be taken to Morpheus’ own podcast library. While it’s not as star studded as the iTunes library, it’s full of varied and original content. The podcast tab is wisely divided into podcast and episodes, so you can browse through what you’ve downloaded. However we were quite confused by the whole podcast downloading procedure. The progress bar is hidden in the file window of the My Files tab. Why didn’t Morpheus leave this in the podcast section?

Morpheus has also beefed-up its security. You can now select your antivirus application to automatically scan downloaded files. The program also includes solid parental control so you can enter hazardous terms into the block list to avoid your kids searching for violent or pornographic material. You can also add a password to make sure you control who has access to Morpheus. The application also introduces UDP technology to improve the performance of downloads and allow secure file sharing between 2 firewall protected PCs.

This new version comes with many interesting enhancements, but not enough to get us overexcited. Add to that the many drawbacks we found in the application. The interface for example is way too clunky, and it’s safe to say that lies in the two large ads at the top and the bottom of the program (which disappear if you buy the Pro version). The “My Files” tab has an additional file window at the bottom, which adds to the confusion in the interface. The one click burning function is something we were eager to try out but was nowhere to be seen.

However hard Morpheus tries at integrating cool features like web browsing or podcasting, we figure the application should only be used for what it’s good at i.e.P2P downloading. The program gives access to all the P2P networks, even Bittorrent, and the new version introduces safer and quicker transfer thanks to UDP technology. The other extra features in the application like the library structure or web browser felt a bit awkward, and therefore failed at turning the program into a true multimedia application. Let’s hope Morpheus gets it right in the future.

Download Morpheus Basic 5.5.1 in Softonic

Even though eMule is by far our most popular P2P app, BearShare is still going strong and continues to follow closely behind it on Softonic. Like LimeWire, this P2P sharing app is based on the Gnutella network but unlike LimeWire, it comes with adware so be warned. You will be subjected at various intervals to advertising pop-ups and it seems even if you tell it not to install the ad bundle, it still gets turns up on your PC somehow.

Bearshare's basic interface is functional but very plain. It's got a very similar feel to eMule and it's not difficult to use with a simple search box and file type field, although beginners might be thrown off by the amount of technical information relating to servers, which are best ignored.

So most importantly, what results does it throw up and what's the speed like?. In a nutshell, not half as many or as fast as eMule. We found that the connection speed was quite long and the speeds on the whole slower than you would generally get on eMule. The search times are also rather long sometimes taking up to 10 or 15 seconds to bring up a result. It is also limited to MP3, MPEG, AVI, ASF, MOV, JPEG, GIF and OGG files which is somewhat limited compared to eMule.

BearShare has some pretty basic functions although it does contains a few original tools such as the adult content filter to block or keep adult or X X-rated material from ever touching your hard-drive. This still doesn't stop fake files getting through but offers you a decent level of protection. The bandwidth throttle is also particularly useful and offers options for enhanced connection management and improved downloading.

One of the better features is an option which allows you to connect directly to other friends’ PC's connected to BearShare which and enables you to get considerably faster downloads. Of course, all the other standard functions in a P2P app are there - including automatic resume feature, chat, and media player with full-screen preview mode.

If you're looking for a wide choice of downloadable files, you're definitely better off trying eMule or even LimeWire but if you are a beginner to P2P file sharing, BearShare is a fairly simple and user friendly initiation into the world.

Download BearShare 6.2 in Softonic

When it comes to P2P file sharing, eMule usually wins hands down but UseNeXT is an interesting, slightly more sophisticated offering which has a lot to offer.

For starters, depending on your connection, it can be remarkably quick. You can download at speeds of up to 25 Mbps with DSL/Cable and it¡s pretty constant rather than the fluctuations you often get with such services. The network also prides itself on security over it's rivals such as Limewire and eMule - with ISPs continually cracking down on users, UseNeXT promises users far more anonymity than most.

The Usenet archives are supposedly some of the biggest in the world - more than 300 Terabytes of data available at all times and they claim that around 2,000 Gigabytes of new files are added daily. The problem in the past was that UseNeXT used to be a very complicated affair that only tech geeks can handle. However, nowadays, it's been simplified to such an extent that eMule, Limewire and other P2P users will feel more than comfortable with it.

While it can't possibly hope to compete with the reach and depth of the major P2P networks, UseNeXT offers an impressive selection with some super fast downloads.

Download UseNeXT 4.61 in Softonic

Clickster is an easy to use application which searches and downloads MP3 files from the Internet and not, from other P2P users. Providing a real and comprehensive alternative to P2P networks like Limewire and Bearshare, Clickster offers far higher download speeds.

With over 25 million MP3 tracks (and growing) already sourced and available for download, we're confident that you will find the music you really want to listen to. With Clickster there are no dead/ broken links and it confidently out-performs all other online services or software of a similar nature.

Clickster effortlessly displays the full url of each track. This information could be useful to users looking to add the track to a playlist for embedding into their webpage.

Download Clickster 1.62 in Softonic

LimeWire Acceleration Patch is a high-end module for LimeWire file sharing application, developed to resolve problems like: slow downloads and disconnections, traffic congestion, improving download speed and reliability, doing so by several methods to achieve 200% to 400% faster downloads, according to our tests, user and website reviews. Various features of the program are detailed bellow.

Features:

• Interface is pleasant and very easy to use
• Automatically clears downloaded and wrong files
• Operable by system tray icon for quicker and easier use
• Automatically resumes paused downloads
• Automatically searches for more sources at user-specified intervals
• Saves configurations from last run and auto loads on start-up

Download LimeWire Acceleration Patch 4.9.4 in Softonic

If you've ever suspected you've got problems with LimeWire or not satisfied with your download speeds, then this could be your solution. LimeWire Ultra Accelerator helps increase download speed and is designed to smooth the functioning of the P2P application. In a nutshell, it helps eliminate disconnections, traffic congestion and slow downloads.

It automatically provides a setting that clears corrupted files, restarts slow files and actively searches for more sources when you start LimeWire. In this way, you should achieve greater download speeds for each file. The program sits discreetly in the system tray for ease of use and access and automatically resumes paused downloads. It also saves configurations from the last time it ran and loads them on start up.

In reality, you may only notice a marginal difference in your download speed but this seems to be one program that does more good than harm to Limewire.

Download LimeWire Ultra Accelerator 4.3.0.0 in Softonic

BearShare has been a favorite among many P2P fans for some time now, and we were intruigedintrigued to find out how the developer has attempted to diversify and launch a client designed specifically for downloading movies . Like many, we were initially puzzled by the need for such an app, when the original program allows you to download movies anyway.

Putting these prejudices aside, if you're someone who is just looking to download movies, TV shows and clips then BearFlix could be seen as an ideal choice. The clear, tabbed interface incorporates many of the elements of its father application, which is one of the easiest P2P clients to navigate around, making this a great program for those who are new to the world of file sharing.

As you'd expect, there are several changes to the GUI that lend themselves to video downloading videos, including a nifty filtering function that allows you to hone your search to a specific movie file type, though thisn’t exactly a revolutionary feature. There's also a traffic progress monitor at the top of the main window indicating the amount of bandwidth currently being commandeered by the app. However, possibly the biggest change is in the inclusion of a built-in video player, allowing you to preview videos and play them once they've been downloaded. Given that this is such an integral part ofis what supposedly what makes BearFlix different stand out from other P2P, we were somewhat underwhelmed by this feature. P layback is often a little slow and juddery, and the range of player controls is very basic. Considering it's supposed to be dedicated to video, some multimedia conversion or compression tools wouldn't have gone amiss either.

That said, there are still many positives to be taken from BearFlix. The advanced parental controls feature puts you in control of what content your kids can get hold of, searching is very quick, and best of all the network returns a substantial number of matching results when compared to the likes of Limewire and Ares. Whether a video-only P2P client catches will catch on remains to be seen , but if you're looking for rare TV shows or older movies, BearFlix is a fast, simple and reliable solution. If it's newer releases you're after though, you're probably better off with a Bittorrent client, as availablityavailability and download times are superior. Remember though, kids, stick to the copyright-free material if you want to stay on the right side of the law.

Download BearFlix Basic 1.2.1.2 in Softonic

Trying to find the right P2P network and client can be like walking through a minefield. However, thanks to CruX, you can make things a little less torturous on yourself. The app can be used to quickly connect to popular networks such as Gnutella, Gnutella 2 and eDonkey 2000, as well as boasting support for FTP and BitTorrent connections.

Unless you're connected behind a firewall you should find the program pretty easy to set up. The configuration wizard is very well thought out and within five minutes you'll have the program fired up and sucking downloads like there's no tomorrow. Thanks to the program's support for multiple networks and the fact that it can run without draining too many CPU resources, CruX is a worthy oppontent to the likes of Limewire and eMule.

Download CruxP2P 3.2.8.0 in Softonic

If you’re not impressed by P2P heavyweights such as eMule and Limewire, you might find Warez worth a try. Warez is a P2P file-sharing network based on the Ares network and offers a service similar to that of Kazaa. In fact, up to version 1.6, Warez was an exact clone of Ares Galaxy but since then has branched out to offer some interesting features of its own. As a result, Warez claims to be the third largest decentralized P2P filesharing network in the world with over 1.5 million users.

The first thing to be aware of is that although the developers claim Warez contains no spyware or adware, many users have reported problems on Softonic of pop-up ads and browser hijacks. The installation itself takes less than a minute and once done, you’re taken through a small configuration wizard similar to that in eMule. The interface is also in classic P2P style – a search bar on the left, with search type below it. If you are searching for music, one nice feature is the three windows across the top which “divide-as-you-search”. So if you search for Judas Priest, the name of the band appears in one pane, the names of all their albums in another and finally the names of all their tracks in the last one.

It's obvious that Warez is very much designed to integrate with the web more than most P2P apps. Along the toolbar at the top is a web button which takes you directly to the Warez site where you can expand your search beyond its P2P network. There’s also a torrent button which, via an easy to use wizard, allows you to post your own torrents on the Warez website. Of course, you can also download torrents using Warez. In addition, there’s also a nice media player (although it does not allow previews of partially-downloaded files) and a convenient CD ripper button to put your favourite files on disc. Of course, the chat facility comes as standard.

However, these cosmetic improvements are hardly a giant leap in the P2P world. Warez claims that its major advantage is an “advanced queuing system” and “multi-sourced swarmed downloads”. It claims particular speed advantages over Kazaa and Gnutella networks. In tests, we didn’t notice any significant difference in either download or search times between Warez and these applications although much depends on your own personal configuration and broadband network.

User opinion is clearly divided on Warez. One disgruntled Softonic user reports it has, “port hopping technology designed to get around your network security” and that “you are a fool to install this software.” Another meanwhile says, “I like that there is no spyware…an easy to use interface.” Be careful that if you do notice spyware, it may be down to other programs you downloaded rather than Warez.

In summary, a very good looking P2P and web integrated program.

Download Warez 3.2.0 in Softonic

In most cases, privacy and security are crucial to maintaining a business afloat. Making sure you have the right application on your PC can avoid you the risk of information theft. East-Tec Eraser caters to users by offering all the necessary tools to fully erase files and information from your computer.

The application is fitted with 3 essential file cleaning features, directly accessible from the quick start menu: protecting your privacy, erasing deleted files, or erasing specific files. Choosing the first option will thoroughly check your PC and remove all existing registry entries and cookies. A detailed progress bar makes the process speed and time spent on the task visible. You can also decide to configure automation options such as if your PC should shut down or restart after it has been wiped clean.

If you choose to erase deleted files you can wipe your unused space and existing files and also scramble all file properties as an extra security precaution. East Tec offers up to 13 different file wiping methods, like German VSITR or AFSSI-5020, some of which are specific to normal drives and other methods which also work with compressed drives. The program also informs you of which methods stop software and hardware recovery tools. You will be able to set priority settings such as a password or permission settings.

Other important features appear as tabs at the top of the East Tec Eraser interface. You can recycle bin files, completely erase emails, wipe your entire drive or schedule regular cleaning procedures in a few clicks; however the application lacks a recovery feature to recuperate files you might have accidentally trashed.

East Tec Eraser is a very specific type of program that should satisfy any user who is worried about his privacy. If you want to make sure that confidential or unwanted information is fully erased from your PC, then East Tec Eraser is a professional and effective solution that should do the trick.

Download East-Tec Eraser 2007 8.5 in Softonic

Want the most music and video? Do you use eDonkey, eMule, Bit Torrent, Bit Comet, Morpheus, Limewire, Kazaa, Grokster, iMesh, or similar P2P software? Why limit yourself to one network? You no longer have to choose.

Now you can have them ALL, with just one program. Discover more search results, start more downloads, and enjoy faster file transfers. TrustyFiles 3.0 is Ultimate P2P – the top high performance multi-network file sharing software with the most advanced features.

Download TrustyFiles 3.1.0.21 in Softonic

The LimeWire Accelerator allows you to download MP3s, Movies and Games faster by automatically speeding up the download process using its connection optimization features. The application helps solve problems such as slow downloading and disconnections and improve download power.

The program works with all versions of LimeWire (such as LimeWire 4.8, 4.9 and 4.10) and all connections such as a 56k dialup modem or a broadband connection. LimeWire Accelerator also works with Kazaa, Morpheus, iMesh, Grokster, Ares, BearShare and various other file sharing programs.

Download Limewire Accelerator 4.10 in Softonic

With NeoNapster you can download all MP3s, games, software, movies, pictures, and more ultra-fast from the Gnutella network.

Features include:

• Easy to use interface with no ads, banners, or popups
• Connect to the Gnutella network
• Compatible with LimeWire and BearShare fast networks
• Cutting-edge standard supports multiple
• Refineable searching
• Ultrapeer connections
• IRC integrated Chat
• SHA-1 file hashing

Download NeoNapster 4.0 in Softonic

MLdonkey is a multi-platform multi-networks peer-to-peer client. Originally, it was the first open-source client to access the eDonkey network. The protocol was reverse-engineered using an efficient protocol sniffer, Pandora.

Apart from eDonkey , it also supports several large networks, such as Overnet , Bittorrent , Gnutella (Bearshare, Limewire,etc), Gnutella2 (Shareaza), Fasttrack (Kazaa, Imesh, Grobster), Soulseek (beta), Direct-Connect (alpha), and Opennap (alpha). Networks can be enabled/disabled, searches are performed in parallel on all enabled networks, but each file is only downloaded from one network (wait for next release !), but from multiple clients concurrently.

MLdonkey runs as a daemon on the computer. It can be controlled using several interfaces: the simplest one is telnet (telnet 127.0.0.1 4000), a more interesting one is a WEB server (http://127.0.0.1:4080/), and a binary protocol allows access using more elaborate Graphical Interfaces (see the GUIs available on your system at the bottom of the page). MLdonkey comes by default with a GTK interface. All these interfaces can be used locally, or remotely (after disabling security restrictions). MLdonkey is written in Objective-Caml , a powerful language that runs on most Operating Systems.

Download Mldonkey 2.8.2 in Softonic

Based on GnucDNA, Kiwi Alpha uses the same peer-to-peer technology now used by Morpheus, one of the leading file sharing programs today. The app supports the well known Gnutella and the newer G2 networks. With Kiwi Alpha you can easily download any media type such as audio, video, images, documents and software.

There's no player or chat functionality because these features usually tend to use a lot of system resources on your computer. The developer has instead concentrated on searching and downloading, while also providing an easy-to-use play list.

Features include:

• Super lightweight
• Completely free
• Built-in play list
• No lame browsers
• User-friendly
• More search results than Kazaa

With Kiwi Alpha you can download from:

• Morpheus
• LimeWire
• BearShare
• Grokster
• Gnucleus
• Swapper
• Shareaza

Download Kiwi Alpha 3.1.4 in Softonic