Napster question?

[Johnny]

My son and daughter use Napster, and being and old paranoid ****, I worry about people getting into my puter while online. Just how does this thing work? Can anybody access my computer and download files from my harddrive when Napster is on and the puter is connected to the net? Or do they have to be on the friends list? Are my kids accessing other peoples files on their home puters, or are they accessing files on the Napster server? Thanks!

[Dominus]

You shouldn't worry about it. Napster has been reverse and re-engineered, and no one has found any serious problems with it. The only problem's that I can see with it is that it can be used to transfer files other than *.mp3, so _only_ keep mp3s in its share directory, nothing else.

If you want to be able to really see how napster works, then try downloading the source code to Gnapster, the linux napster emulator. That should give you a good explantion of the napster protocol, even though it might be a bit of overkill.

[shadow]

They are accessing other's computers thru the Napster server, and also will be sharing your computer's drive to other Napster users.
Any such sharing, chat programs, etc. are a higher sucurity risk. I use a firewall program but have to open it up somewhat to use these types of services, that's the chance I take. Napster allows people into one directory on your computer that you specify as where your MP3 files are stored, I can't say how easy it would be for someone to get into the rest of your files thru Napster. But really if you have no firewall your entire computer is part of the internet and open to scans when you are online. Check out this site for more info.
ShieldsUp (https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2)

Pat


[This message has been edited by shadow (edited 04-13-2000).]

[seti]

It connects users hard drive to hard drive. The servers just introduce them, so to speak. So yes...if napster is on, people can access your hard drive to download mp3's....but mp3's only, and only the mp3's you want to share really. I don't think people can exploit Napster and use napster directly to cause any harm. Though the same can be said for nearly any program that connects people over the internet. There's a lot more to worry about if your kids are useing icq.

Get yourself a free firewall here (http://www.zonelabs.com) and gain some peice of mind.

[Johnny]

Thanks All!
I have installed ZoneAlarm, but so far have not tried using it when Napster is on. I thought that you had to disable it to use Napster? Thanks again!

[hd581]

There are other measures you can take to reduce risk. Set your reported connection speed to 14.4 and less people will d/l from you. (it doesn't matter what your ping is, if they see that big red dot they go away).

Also, you can set the u/l directory to some fake directory and it will never share any files.

Or you can just reduce the number of allowed u/l's to zero.

[seti]

I go for the 14.4 people, lol, selfish people!! 33.6 is less obvious. Seriously though hd581, didn't your mother teach you to share?

Johnny...I run napster and ZA together without problems. Napster works when only one person has a firewall, though two people behind firewalls can't share.

[neo_otyugh]

isn't napster just a a custom mix of IRC adn Fserv without triggers you type in...?

[OuTpaTienT]

I too use Napster with Zone Alarm. Works fine most of the time. Once in a while it refuses to download and gives me the message "both users are firewalled".

The only security flaw with Napster that I know of is that while uploading/downloading from another machine you can obtain their IP address. If you open a DOS window and use the utility NETSTAT.EXE it'll give you the IP's of connected machines.

But that's really nothing to worry about. Even if a hack targets your IP, as long as you're configured properly there's no chance of anyone getting in. Plus if you're using a firewall, then don't even waste the mental process thinking about...you're safe.

[shadow]

I use ZA when using Napster and I can download fine but I suspect it blocks the incoming requests so I rarely get an upload.
I get alot of popups, for instance on a search I get a hit for every file that shows up in the search window so if I get 100 hits on my search, I get about 100 hits from ZA in the popup. Downloading works fine of you can put up with ZA's popups.
Pat

[Gomer]

If you want to stop ZA from showing 100 hits, disable the "ping" feature of Napster. Problem solved.

[OuTpaTienT]

True, it's the ping from Napster causing that. But it's also that ping that tells you which of the 14.4/33.6/56k modem users are really on cable/dsl/t1/t3 lines.

Just yesterday I d/l Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon through Napster because this guy had it as a single MP3 file (41+MB). He was showing to be on a 14.4 modem, but I started the d/l anyway...it was finished within 4 minutes or so...that's one hell of a suped up 14.4 modem!

[mbarn]

Never had a problem.

[neo_otyugh]

i have a few probs using napster and zonealarm....it blocks uploads almost totally and makes downloads a little more difficult. i download a lot more often with ZA turned off, if it is on it tends to say waiting for reply or something for ages and then die.

[Johnny]

Johnpaul,
I must connect to my ISP first before launching Napster. It always hads problems connecting itself. Now with the connection made for it, no more problems.

[Wiz]

If you dont want people to d/l from you, then dont share any folders, another problem solved =].

[AMDClocker]

well heres my 2 cents ...ive used napster for about 6 months ..."very handy tool"
and about 3 weeks ago i started ZA "also very handy tool"well they work great together and have noting bad to say about either. i have a dsl line and am always on and worried till i got ZA and in the first 2 weeks i got hit by 6 different hacker attacks .....none real serious ...but the last one was sure determined he hit me repeatedly for about 3 hours !!!!!i finnaly called my tech support ..."this is cool" they hacked him back! flooded him off for 12 hours!!!! Then found his ip and had him dropped in 2 days ....they also had my ip changed in like 10 minutes!"dsl has an assined ip " now if your worried about someone getting your ip then turn off the puter cus they can find it with or with out napster 'so for what its worth thats my 2 cents


::Hitler never played RISK as a kid!

[johnpaul]

I, too, have used Napster for a few months, but only recently downloaded Zone Alarm. However, when I try to connect to Napster, I am unable. I have tried to reconnect from the File Menu, but it's still no go.

Zone Alarm asked me if I wanted to allow Napster to operate and I said yes, so I don't understand. Are you other folks still able to connect to Napster?

JP

[johnpaul]

I don't know what's wrong, but I haven't been able to connect with Napster's server for over a week now. I just tried connecting both with and without Zone Alarm, but nothing seems to work. I always connect to my ISP first, of course.

JP

[codybear]

I just dont share anything....my share folder is locked from the rest of the system and empty