[butterfly_kisses]

Thanks, Merijn

that is some really excellent work you've done with the
safe repackings and version comparisons of the different kazaa versions.

thank-you for taking the time.

God i just love Dutch people...[they are so creative and innovative and well let's just leave it at that for now ]

Originally posted by Merijn
Hi folks, I just spend an entire Sunday downloading, installing, uninstalling, reinstalling and repackaging all existing versions of Kazaa since v1.3.3.

This means I downloaded versions 1.3.3, 1.4, 1.3.4, 1.5, 1.5.1, 1.6.0, 1.6.1, 1.7.0, and 1.7.1, installed each one, tracked the difference with InCtrl5, and created my own installer using Nullsoft's SuperPIMP installer (aka NISD). This custom installer installs only kazaa.exe, and some registry settings, leaving the system exactly as if you had installed Kazaa normally and then removed all the crap.

All 9 installers are about 1 MB (NISD features file compression ) and I will upload them to a yet-to-be-created-account www.geocities.com/cleankazaa (or some other one, Geocities appears to be down from here so I can't check if that account is taken) and post here when ready. A proof-of-concept screenshot that Kazaa 1.4 (and newer probably, not sure about 1.3.4) still works will also be posted tomorrow.

This should speed up the research on the differences between the Kazaa versions. I am currently running Kazaa 1.4 (was 1.7.0) and it connected fine after two tries. To get older versions to run:

* Uninstall new Kazaa version, make sure HKLM\Software\Kazaa and HKCU\Software\Kazaa are gone
* Install old Kazaa version using my repacks or KazaaLite, whatever. The option 'Notify me before installing updates should be ON, which it is by default.
* Start Kazaa, it will connect REALLY slowly.
* It will ask to update, click No. You're now connected to no network (1 user online, sharing 0 files (0,0 GB))
* Disconnect
* Reconnect
* Wait
* Click No when it asks to upgrade again.
* You should be on the main network now.

I guess Kazaa has to fetch the network_config data from the main network first and can only then connect to it.)

Expect the post of a page with the repacks and these instructions by tomorrow. I'm off to watch TV

[edit]
Ah, I forgot.. now that I've seen all versions, I can make a small summary of the version changes:
v1.3.3: earliest version I could find by filename. Supposedly no longer allowed on the FastTrack network.
v1.4: Introduces 'UseCount' and 'Date' (date of install) Registry settings
v1.3.4: B3D Projector is suddenly optional (!). 'AutoConnected' Registry setting introduced.
v1.5: First (and only?) version to ban v1.3.3 and older versions of FastTrack clients. B3D Projector is mandatory again
v1.5.1: Introduces Adult filter
v1.6.0: First version released by Sharman Networks instead of original Kazaa company. Also introduces ugly WinXP lookalike UI. Blech. Also introduces 'NoUploadLimitWhenIdle' Registry setting, translated as 'Optimize upload bandwidth when idle' in Kazaa UI.
v1.6.1: Fixed some security issues.
v1.7.0: Introduces Altnet paid content.
v1.7.1: Increases search results to 200, IIRC.