Search your own library strangeness in Winmx...
 

TG mentioned a while ago that it's a good idea to check out what other users actually see in your shared folders. I always thought she was right about that and I make it a point to do it semi-regularly.

At one time, it was quite easy to do this by adding your name to your own hotlist (using any opennap server you happen to be logged into) but I've found that this method isn't working as predictably as it used to.

I then realized that you can do the same thing by utilizing the winmx chatrooms. Go in any chat, find your name on the list and go for it.

Haven't had problems until very recently.

The other day I searched my library and found tons of strange stuff on my drive I didn't know was there (or so I thought). Strange = animal sex (10 mgs worth), rap crap (which I can't stand), Debbie Does Dallas and other porn etc. All total, about 25-30 megs in a dozen .avi, .mpg and .mp3 files. Also a folder on my D drive: D:\b\ was added.

Immediately thought I'd caught a virus or trojan somewhere along the line (or so I thought).

Well, after an intense seek and destroy mission w/McaFee and The Cleaner (thanks sixxy) I am happy to report my system has no malware doing any wierdo alien invader shit on my computer.

What is happening is directly associated with WinMX chat servers.

The problem is fully repeatable (try it and see what "you" may be storing unknowingly).

Good buddy of mine (you know who you are) tells me the problem could be a corruption in the chatserver OR someone's idea of good, clean hacking fun.

In either case, just thought I'd warn you about it before you get the bejeezus scared out of you like I did (nothing worse than having your friends afraid of dling/accepting something potentially contagious from you).

Have a good one my buddies :tu:

GR


:BP:

Which room was it? I just checked mine and it's fine.

Make sure you're set up to see .avi's, mpegs, etc.

Try Winmx *******Help and Advice*******, ###HELP CHAT##, there's a couple more that it happened in also.

I don't have an M or L drive on my com. E drive is CD burner.

:sus:

and another
 

from File Sharing Room:

Nope, are you sure that's actually you you're browsing.

I'm absolutely positive ssj.

It's wierd. I'm none of this is on my comp and like I said earlier, vscan and cleaner says clean.

Snarkie got it to do it too with his library :er:.

Okay - I'm freakin' again.



:shk:

The most plausible explanation is that goldie has a split personality. The evil goldenrod REALLY has those files. :eek: :shk: :er: :no: ;)

:CG: heehee., it's stored on CD not on my drive :CG::tu:

Seriously, Napho - any ideas what this crap is?

:er:

There's a program called Disk Investigator that shows stuff that's been on your hard drive that you might not realize was there. It's a longshot though.

What is Disk Investigator? - Disk Investigator helps you to discover all that is hidden on your computer hard disk. It can also help you to recover lost data. Display the true drive contents by bypassing the operating system and directly reading the raw drive sectors. View and search raw directories, files, clusters, and system sectors. Verify the effectiveness of file and disk wiping programs. Undelete previously deleted files.



http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/dskinv.html

Thanx Naph, dl and installed it.

But I've no idea what I'm looking at here ;(.

Ah nothing like a spot of good old fashioned animal pr0n.

Surely the point is those files can't possibly be on the machine because as goldenrod said she don't have an M or L drive, and I'm sure she'd noticed if she'd put her pr0n movies cd into drive E

:p

Yep-yep, durn tootin' :CG: :BP:

..and the mystery continues....

Edited to add that the stuff that's supposedly in my L directory is in a language I don't even understand.........so I wouldn't even be interested in dling it in the first place.

And for the record, the stuff I have dl'd bears no resemblance whatsoever to any of these files.

thank god. i was worried my alcohol infused brain had lost the plot for a moment.

dammit im not actually helping am i?

Need a favor
 

Napsterites is still down isn't it?

Can someone see if they can find me on the pommie server. Username's goldenrod, of course.

Look for any of these mp3s:

CBSRMT (OTR shows)
Disco Tex and the Sexolettes - Get Dancin'
Rippingtons - Ocean Song
Fishbelly Black - Black Coffie

PULEEZ see if you can find me and search my files and let me know what you see. I'm going to do a quick reboot but will be connected in a few minutes.

I really need to get to the bottom of this.

GR

Maybe your library.dat file is corrupt. You can go to the WinMX folder and delete it then set up your shared files again.

btw That program I mentioned is good if others use your computer and download stuff without your knowledge. :)

Okay- I'll try that and see if things "disappear". :tu:

Always good to have something like that around - I do have two teenage youngin's ;)

ok goldy, i just browsed your folders and except for the usual assortment of cbsrmt amd barry white tunes, i didn't find any files of an unusual nature. not one spicy file. :( i must say that pommie seems to have it's share of pron these days including such morsels from your screenshot as dyanna lauren and la paziente insaziabile and other, even more earthy fare. i was able to find said items on several drives, however none of them were yours. :N:

- js.

It's a known bug with version 3.22

It happens only when you are secondary connected

It's called "the phantom files bugs"

Dont worry, you dont really have those files.

thanks for the info SJ56! :tu:

- js.

W H A T ! ! ! !
 

You sure Js? Absolutely sure I mean? Pommie rejects all known video format files from its lists, since the sudden outbreak of Italian abuse. Could be you were getting some from the linked server Eclectica, I will have to check it out, maybe my filtering does not work on linked servers?

So much to learn... Grrrrrrr

Hi Goldy, I just browsed all your files, and guess what...



























You naughty girl.....







:m:


























Nothing at all .....:W:







Snark...

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 

Thank-you SO much!!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.........................

SJ - much needed explanation :tu:
JS - Thanks heaps and heaps for the confirmation! :tu:
Snarkie - Good news, eh? No more paniced pings from the USA :D :tu:

Nothing like the feeling of seeing a mystery SOLVED!



:V: :BP:

It's been about for a while this bug, and it's still a bit of a mystery what reason is behind it, but here's my best guess.

It only happens to users that run secondary type connections afaik. Secondary users connect into a Primary 'superpeer' type user at WinMX start up, WinMX uploads the list of files from the secondary user to the Primary, the Primary holds the lists of all attached users, and processes network requests for files, which accounts for the high flow of data you see when you run a Primary connection (WPN data).

I did a test with a friend once and it seemed the phantom files in my own browse related to filesizes, like, I was sharing a 10,123,123 byte mp3 file of PinkFloyd.mp3, yet in it's place was a 10,123,123 byte file of 'sum_other.mp3'. The friend selected to download what he thought was the sum_other.mp3 from me, and the download started. At my side it appeared as if he was downloading the PinkFloyd.mp3, yet on his end it displayed it as some sum_other.mp3 instead, an mp3 I didn't have. He downloaded a bit and played it, and as expected it was the pink floyd track, and not what he thought it was. Very weird.

At a guess what's happening is the central Primary that stores the file lists of all secondary connected into it somehow muddles up the lists according to filesizes, maybe if attached users have 2 different files with the same bytesize it gets confused as to who owns which? Man I have no idea here, seems strange to me that a large majority of the phantom files that show up are porn based, maybe porn is just way more popular then I realize! :-)

The problem seems to occur more as the shared files amount increases, if you share 2500 files files then often you'll see many phantom files listed, I remember counting something like 161 avi/mpg files once that wasn't mine, I didn't bother to count up the extra mp3s.

Anyway, still a mystery what causes it, could do with being sorted though as some preety nasty files show up sometimes, I know this has freaked a few people out already, having to explain 'they're not mine honest'. I guess it's just some Primary bug that will be sorted soon enough.

db

to make it more confusing, in goldenrods' case for instance the phantom files were listed only when she browsed her own drive and not when i did (no wisecracks tg). spoofers? i don't know, it's a tough call. i might have a hard time recommending winmx to people knowing that scans would artificially show them to be massive distributors of pornography, particularly if it's some of the more socially unacceptable extreme styles known to reside on the net. but keeping people off these systems just might be the point. there may be more to this than we think. if i were winmx i'd be taking this a lot more seriously than they seem to be. on the other hand if the files only appear when you browse your own folders using chat or by placing yourself in your own hotlist, things most people don't normally do, it's not that big a deal, more just a curiosity perhaps.

- js.

yep. and i mean absolutely. sorry sr.:o

- js.