A plan to revive old Morpheus 1.3.3 and avoid KaZaA's "Upgrade Morpheus" trick

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by JackSpratts
keep in mind all versions of morpheus forward of august 2001 were designed to lock out gifts' opensource project. as such these versions destroyed the network as it then existed. jaan said they could survive in some form but mine finally shut down completely about seven days after the new release. it never connected again in any meaningfull way. in other words, morpheus v1.30 was already vulnerable to sublimation. i can't imagine later versions being any less susceptible.

- js.

I'm hoping KaZaA won't notice the problem (of many v1.4 clients) until it's too late. I'm also hoping v1.4s aren't as easy to block - fact is they haven't been blocked YET. Anyways if we can get enough people using v1.4, and by the same time convince other users at least not to download future versions of KaZaA which can already be used to kill v1.4s. Can it work? I don't know. This requires publicity in all major p2p websites. I'll try to spread my idea and see if I can get enough support to make this possible.

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by twinspan
Hi Spikologia, interesting idea.

I found kmd14_en.exe on FastTrack straightaway - but THREE different versions:

• Kazaa Media Desktop Installer - Kazaa - 3,224kb
• Kazaa Media Desktop Installer - Sharman Networks Ltd. - 3,193kb
• kmd14_en - Kazaa - 3,264kb

The first is by far the most popular, the last was only one hit.

Which version did you test?

PS Did you test for BDE etc too?

I have tested the first, 3,244kb one from good old FastTrack. Haven't tried the last one, but found it too. I didn't see the second one by Sharman! But don't use it! I never heard of a Sharman-branded v1.4, but we'd better use the original FastTrack one.

I've checked for BDE - it's there, unfortunately (and Cydoor too, of course. There are also some other apps you can choose NOT to install). Of course this will all be cleaned in the spyware-free version I'm working on.

[indiana_jones]

@snowman: you can control which supernode a 1.3.3 morpheus accesses at startup. since it cannot connect to musiccity, it uses the supernodes stored in the registry (Connectioninfo).

what you just need is a valid ip of an online 1.3.3 supernode.
you can enter this ip as the only ip into the registry.
(question is: who runs the supernode and gives us his ip?)

the only thing is how to protect this 1.3.3 supernode of being infected by 1.5.1 supernodes.

@installation:
most of the crap comes while running the installer.
the installer is not really needed - what you only need is just the client (i.e morpheus 1.3.3.exe and the registry settings) also for this new clients. (+cd_clint.dll)

for new clients we could try to share a reasonable simple zip which contains the grokster1.5.1 exe, some grok.reg and a cd_clint.dll, which just resumes in some simply copy paste installation. only the folders have to be created, the registry imported and the files copied to correct place.

[pod]

I don't think anyone here is confused about what you are talking about. You propose that since 1.4 seems to be 'safe', it can be used to revive the 1.3.3 network; 1.4 also doesn't seem to upgrade older clients, and so can act as a 'bridge' for 1.3.3 clients.

There are at least two potential ways to implement what you propose, all fraught with issues.

The most straightforward way is to introduce the 'safe' 1.4 nodes and get them promoted to supernodes withing the bigger network. Then have older clients connect to the 1.4 nodes and hope they'll remain safe.

Problem here is that while 1.4 SNs may not get upgraded by new nodes, by joining the network 1.4 SNs will be seeded with many non-1.4 node IPs, which will be cheerfully forwarded to 1.3.3 clients. Since clients connect to multiple supernodes (during one or more sessions), there is a high risk of them contacting a new SN, which will force an upgrade.

Reinfection is an issue, but an even bigger risk is, as you said, that for some reason 1.4 is sill allowed on the network. Why? Maybe it's because the 1.4 clients isn't very widespread. Maybe some licencee is still using it. Whatever the reason, even if 1.4 nodes cannot be auto-upgraded, they can easily be disallowed from connecting in the first place. It's only a mtter of time before FT does this; it doesn't buy you any time, and isn't good for shareres. You're just contributing to a dead-end network. Spend your time and bandwidth supporting a better one instead.

So the other option is to have a stand-alone network, either because you're locked out, or by choice. If you're locked out and form your own one, there is nothing stopping FT from trying to connect to it and re-infect the older clients within it, should they wish to cause you trouble. Somehow you have to prevent new nodes from connecting to your network if you go this route. But how? Nodes always allow NEWER clients to connect, you can't stop them. Run it on a different port? Sure, but how do you distribute this information (and seed node lists) to enough people to make a worthwhile network? If a small network is what you want, just run an OpenNAP server, it's easier to find and connect to with virtually any existing P2P client.

The sticking point is that, yes, technically the FT network can run split up by version numbers, assuming it is left alone. Which hasn't been the case. As soon as an 'outdated' node touches a higher version supernode, it will be upgraded and moved to the new network. If there was no automatic upgrading (which you don't know for a fact is the case with 1.4), then same version clients would stick together. BUT, FT/Kazaa is bent on moving everyone to the new network, for obvious reasons, and any attempt at a separate network of any significance will be disbanded by auto upgrades. And if your idea IS to run a small network, there are better ways to do it, and we already have an OpenNAP server for NU you can connect to.

[thegame412]

I downloaded the kazaa 1.4 version from fastrack. It told me about an upgrade and I said no and it connected. I belive that if people would just use this version, the old morpheus will work again. People we would have to convince people to use this program. BTW, does anyone know if kazaa v 1.3.3 still works? Will will download it too to give it a shot. For all you people how know how to do web sites, put the file on your web site and tell people about it so they can download it. Remember, the original refo search? Why not do what was done with that program. If you were to do this, you would have to find some way to block out the pc's ip address so you can't be traced.

[thegame412]

Here is a link to download kazaa media desktop v1.4. <a href="http://www.geocities.com/junistar69">Kazaa</a> or http://www.geocities.com/junistar69/Kazaa.zip

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by thegame412
I downloaded the kazaa 1.4 version from fastrack. It told me about an upgrade and I said no and it connected. I belive that if people would just use this version, the old morpheus will work again. People we would have to convince people to use this program. BTW, does anyone know if kazaa v 1.3.3 still works? Will will download it too to give it a shot. For all you people how know how to do web sites, put the file on your web site and tell people about it so they can download it. Remember, the original refo search? Why not do what was done with that program. If you were to do this, you would have to find some way to block out the pc's ip address so you can't be traced.

All FastTrack v.1.3.3 clients are locked out of FastTrack now, including KaZaA v1.3.3. v1.4 however, does work, of course

Notice an upgrade WAS suggested to the v1.4 node, but wasn't required. As long as the "notify before installing automatic updates" option is selected (and it is selected by default) at the Options > User dialog, the user should have a choice not to update, i think.

Thanks for your support, thegame412, but the v1.4 idea isn't yet ready for wide distribution. We'd better think together of all the possibilities, and decide for the best way to follow this plan, if at all. Also we shouldn't distribute the official KaZaA v1.4 - it has Cydoor and BDE, we don't want that. My spyware-free version will be ready when we decide what to do. Thanks again!

[Spikologia]

Thanks for all your replies and support, guys.

I have decided to rethink my idea, in order to achive a more complete plan. I will also try to show how I think this could work, considering all your replies. This is just a thought, please tell me what you think.
Also - what do you thikn, is this idea good enough for me to start posting links to this thread on other forums, so more people could give their thoughts of it?

So here it is. Our main goal should be taking FastTrack back to the times when most of its dirty tricks weren't implemented yet. This inculdes BDE and it's automatic reinstallation by KaZaA (there are rumors that KaZaA Lite tries to reinstall BDE too, though this is not confirmed. Anyways, in the next version of KaZaA, it could be pretty simple for Sharman to make sure that hacked versions like KaZaA Lite would reinstall BDE too), and the dirty ways to get rid of older, cleaner clients. We do it step-by-step - first we'll distribute a hacked version of KaZaA v1.4 without spyware (I'm starting working on this now) and promote it. The promotion should also make sure that people understand that to make this efficient, they should do their best to keep their computer on (together with the hacked v1.4 online) for as much time as possible, favorably all the time, so that even if FastTrack tries to take them down, they won't ave a chance to catch them upon login, as they're already logged (a few machines disconnecting from time to time is ok, as long as there are enough v1.4 supernodes still available). Also the promotion should advise people who insist on using v1.5, v1.5.1 or v1.6 not to download any future version newer than v1.6 (like v1.6.1 or v1.7) as they might include a mechanism to drop v1.4 off the network, just like they dropped v1.3.3s.
In case KaZaA DOES manage to drop some of the clients, using their "auto upgrade" strategy (if we promote the idea well, they shouldn't be able to this as efficiently as they did with Morpheus, and hopefully we would still have a considrable amount of v1.4s still connected to the wide FastTrack network), we quickly alert users on a dedicated websites to send in their ConnectionInfo if they have a v1.4 still running, so we can produce a fast regfix with an updated list of working supernodes. This time we will be ready for KaZaA's "attack" and will be ready to handle it. Sure, we can't be sure it would work, but I think it's worth to try. More older clients on the network means a BETTER experience for us, the users, and much less power in KaZaA's hands.

The next step is optional. We'll do it if everything goes well and KaZaA fails to remove v1.4s from the network. However, if KaZaA does have some sort of success in reomving them, we'll reconsider this step. When we beleive there are enough v1.4s on FastTrack (hopefully we could use polls on major p2p sites to find that out), we can launch a Morpheus v1.3.3 promotion. Since v1.4 connects perfectly to the wide FastTrack network as I've shown before, and probably doens't block v1.3.3 clients (this isn't proven, but likely, since v1.3.3 wasn't blocked when v1.4 came out, and probably wasn't planned to be as v1.4 was only available on KaZaA and not on Morpheus or Grokster), we can use it as a gateway between older Morpheus v1.3.3 clients and the wide FastTrack network used by current versions of KaZaA, Grokster, and iMesh. This will not only make Morpheus clients usable again, it should also let them connect to the whole FastTrack network, and not just an independent one of old clients (which can be easily infected and taken down because of the small number of users).
And why would we want people to use 1.3.3? Because it surely has less of KaZaA's tricks, and could possibly allow users to feel more safe with their p2p expereince, especially if they can use the official, not-cracked, Morpheus 1.3.3, which has no spyware to start with, as we all know. As I said this step isn't required, and we might be satisfied enough if the FastTRack network is full of v1.4 clients which KaZaA has less control of.

BTW, I've been thinking on a name for the project, website, and hacked v1.4 client This isn't very important at this point, but how about "reConnect", or maybe "reKonnect" (the K for KaZaA, of course).

Please post your thoughts!

[colinmacc]

You've obviously spent alot of time thinking about this, but to be honest, what's the point?

You're never going to convert the "ignorant million" who have blindly downloaded Kazaa without even thinking about what else they've signed up to, or who is in control of their machines. Most of them are kids who don't know any better.

I just don't think it's worth the effort. While we can still use Kazaa Lite, or any other spyware-free versions of Grokster or IMesh, you might as well carry on doing this. So long as you stay vigilant about what's happening to your system you'll be OK. There was nothing particularly special about Morpheus 1.3.3, I wasn't even particularly fond of the graphics to be honest.


Ride the wave and enjoy it, don't struggle against the tide for no reason.

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by colinmacc
You've obviously spent alot of time thinking about this, but to be honest, what's the point?

You're never going to convert the "ignorant million" who have blindly downloaded Kazaa without even thinking about what else they've signed up to, or who is in control of their machines. Most of them are kids who don't know any better.

I just don't think it's worth the effort. While we can still use Kazaa Lite, or any other spyware-free versions of Grokster or IMesh, you might as well carry on doing this. So long as you stay vigilant about what's happening to your system you'll be OK. There was nothing particularly special about Morpheus 1.3.3, I wasn't even particularly fond of the graphics to be honest.


Ride the wave and enjoy it, don't struggle against the tide for no reason.

I must say I didn't really spent that much time for this - I found 1.4 and its behaviours by mistake in another project I was involved in, and now I thought this could be useful for something.
I agree I might have not made my point very clear, I hope I do it right this time:

Sharman Networks are for sure pissed of the situation caused by KaZaA Lite - naturally they can make no money this way. I'm 100% sure that if Cydoor wants to continue its existence, they're working right now as we speak to get a newer version of Cydoor which will make it much harder or even virtually impossible to produce Dummy Cydoor DLLs like the one KaZaA Lite is based upon. KaZaA will then release a new version which works with the new Cydoor, and eliminate all older releases by requring them to upgrade. Since a Dummy DLL can't be created for that new Cydoor, a new KaZaA Lite version can't be created, and all KaZaA Lite versions would be eliminated.

Or, Sharman could do a worse thing - they could drop the Cydoor model completely and partner with BDE to replace KaZaA with a subscibtion-based service, and of course eliminate all older versions including KaZaA Lite.

The only way to make sure FastTrack don't do what they did in the past with Morpheus, only this times without giving us any alternatives, is to act BEFORE they do.

We can only feel safe and stop worrying about this when we have a real alternative (hopefully giFT\OpenFT would be a very fine alternative once released).

[thegame412]

I remembered a few days ago trying kazaa 1.3.3. Today I decided to try grokster 1..3. and though it did say a newer version was available , it still connected to the fastrack network. BTW, I'/m on grokster 1.3.3 right now. What does this mean in terms of trying to revive old morpheus 1.3.3. Is this good news or bad news.

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by thegame412
I remembered a few days ago trying kazaa 1.3.3. Today I decided to try grokster 1..3. and though it did say a newer version was available , it still connected to the fastrack network. BTW, I'/m on grokster 1.3.3 right now. What does this mean in terms of trying to revive old morpheus 1.3.3. Is this good news or bad news.

I can pretty much confirm that 1.3.x KaZaA (including KaZaA 1.3.4) an Morpheus cliets no longer work. Haven't tried Grokster as I assumed it would be the same - are you sure it doesn't connect to a small independent network (how many users are online with Grokster 1.3.3)? I can't find Grokster 1.3.3 on FastTrack - if you have the installation file, please upload it to a URL so I can check it out.
Anyways, it seems to me that people aren't interested in tis finding. Then again, as KaZaA now tries to get rid of KaZaA Lite, this might be useful. We'll see.

[Spikologia]

Well I found Grokster 1.3.3 somewhere and it doesn't work - you might have gotten into an independent "iMorpheus"-like v1.3.3 network which collapsed soon after. This cannot be used to revive anything

Anyways I agree with some of the posts here - there is no real use and bringing Morpheus 1.3.3 back, although I truly beleive this is possible with KaZaA 1.4.
However, KaZaA Lite isn't our solution. Sharman Networks already declared war on KaZaA Lite, and working together with Cydoor they could probably easily eliminate KaZaA Lite (by making sure next versions of KaZaA can't be hacked, and then dropping all older versions).
KaZaA 1.4 might help with this, as it seems it wasn't eliminated from the network, while KaZaA 1.3.4, a NEWER release (even though the version number is smaller, 1.3.4 is newer than 1.4) IS blocked from the network. The big question is - why isn't KaZaA 1.4 isn't blocked - is it because it is still used by some lisencee (like iMesh maybe), maybe because they just forgot it existed, maybe they didn't think it's enough widespread to block, or maybe some difficuly arised when they tried to block it. If the latter is correct, KaZaA 1.4 is the answer to all our FastTrack-related problems. If not, it can still be used to make sure we have a spyware-free alternative, but newer versions MIGHT be better for this.

[thegame412]

Spikologia, did you just get the message with grokster 1.3.3 that it was to old to connect to the network or did it just ask you to upgrade. If it just asked you to upgrade, just click no and it will eventually connect. If it did tell you that it was too old to connect to the network, then maye it will be blocked out soon. Right now, i'm use grokster 1.3.3 and there are currently 1435903 users online sharing 259715k. Also, my username is someone@??? not someone#grokster. I'm pretty sure that this is because I'm using version 1.3.3. I really liked it when morpheus was around. The downloads were much faster. Now there are slow. Even people with broadband say there downloads are slow too.

[butterfly_kisses]

Spikologia I just wanted to say that I am very interested in your findings and also in this project. If there is any assistence which you need or require please ask me on my forums located here
http://www.kazaa.mirrorz.com

I run the new forums for the Kazalite program and would be glad to help you with anything that I can.

Regards,
Harbynger
(one of many names I use)

btw TankGirl you are also invited to drop by for a visit and yes of course the rest of you are welcome as well.

: )

[JackSpratts]

welcome to nu Harbynger, stop in again

- js.

[TankGirl]

Hi Harbynger and welcome aboard! You have a nice site with a lot of informed discussion going on, congratulations for the good work! It is always encouraging to see p2p users organizing themselves into these well-informed subcommunities that have a life and continuity of their own whatever the venture capital guys decide to do with their commercial applications.

This has been a great thread and I have followed the smart contributions of Spikologia ( ) and others with great interest. KazaaLite in itself is a wonderful countermove against Kazaa's disgusting spyware policy. I feel no sympathy for Kazaa/Sharman and would love to see the entire network taken out of their hands under community control.

However, as colinmacc pointed out, the prospects and potential gains of such a project are questionable. At best one could hope to form a spyware-resistant subnet inside a larger network that Kazaa controls and profits from. Doing this with a hacked client whose inner workings are not thoroughly known is not an attractive idea. To make the client even reasonably safe and robust all automatic software upgrade functions plus all hardwired connectivity to Kazaa-controlled servers should be neutered from it. This would still just provide the protection for the subnet itself; it would remain in the hands of Kazaa whether to allow the client to connect to the main network under its rule.

Assuming that the above safety problems could be handled and that Kazaa would not quickly kick the client out (which is a lot to assume) we would still be left with a modest client with no bug fixes, no development, no future. And that is a real bummer. The p2p engine has been the only good part in the FastTrack clients (providing good file transfer and connectivity mechanisms) but otherwise the clients have been bloated, buggy and resource-hungry, in other words typical beta software under development. The client would dearly need better bandwidth/queue controls, a decent chat window and working hotlists, not to mention the obvious scalability issues (limited search visibility). In the present situation I would not hold my breath to see any client development done by Kazaa (besides bundling even more spyware that is) - and with a hacked client there would be no hope of development at all.

Much the same has happened with FastTrack that happened with Napster: when the network become #1 brand and the center of gravity for file sharing the client development was effectively stopped and whatever communication there had been between the companies and the users came to a halt. The focus is on money, control, legal issues etc. - not the best of environments to do long-term software devopment and to work on customer satisfaction.

- tg

[butterfly_kisses]

Hello, Jack Spratts and TG (Tankgirl) I appreciate the warm welcome from both of you I must admit your board is excellent and does indeed FAR EXCEED mine. lol, (i)putting my jealousy(/i) aside (that your board looks better than mine)
I wanted to say that I feel very fortunate to have found your site especially the peer2peer forums...everybody has their favourite area so I guess this would be mine.
It's very nice to see thoughtful and intelligent people posting as you both do and so many others who visit and join these boards.
A little about me: I was introduced to the world of filesharing (post Naptster) It was through KaZaA that I first learned what it is and what it was capable of . Filesharing is not crime in my way of thinking it is merely a tool much like an automobile ...right now for me Fasttrack is simply a major highway and Grokster/KaZaLite/KaZaA are simply different "models" for the vehicle that i use to get to my destination (what i want e.g., "files" whatever those files maybe "shareware" freeware, etc.)
It took me a while to fully grasp the concept of sharing and after I caught onto it I loved the concept and I loved the ease of use and simplicity of the original KaZaA (1.32)

However (i say Greed...because really if it was you or me who invented either Napster of KaZaA wouldn't we want to make money off of our idea too? I know that I would and I hope that doesn't make me a bad person)

Nevertheless it was the original PhP based KaZaA messageboards that really cemented me on the concept of filesharing clients...The messageboard felt like a "community" and it for a long time it was like home to me...one that I dearly missed when it was taken away...hence KaZaLite forums were born! Me and a friend of mine who goes by the name "Mitnick" founded these forums and co-moderate them.

I don't want to be too wordy at this time other than to say I'm glad I found your site and I do hope some of you will visit as I will keep an eye open here as well for new and exciting discussions..

My favourites of course will be those centered around KaZaA and how to make it better. Your suggestions Tank Girl were very good I shall consider them...i hate to give away too much because it will be quite some time before my client is ready for a betatest but I'm working on yes yet another FastTrack based program similiar to KaZaLite but which will contain my own unique style/twist and flavor with it so to speak.

I could probaly use people whom are familiar with networking and packet structure, API programming, visual basic, some cracking/hacking knowledge would be good.

My old vision for this client was to have it contain all the codecs necessary to view movies like SMR patch, Intel codecs, Angelpotion, DivX5 and one other codinstal.exe (can't remember the more familiar name)

I was gonna keep the same interface as the current KaZaA client only getting rid of the bde and if i can removing the or unintegrating the cydoor so that even a hacked dll would not be necessary...in light of this discussion there appears to be much more work needed...i also wanted to do away with the windows media player being incoporated into the program (that needs to go it rarely functions anway)

I apologise for my long speech...usually if its long it doesn't get read and who is to say if its worth reading anyway.

Take care all.

Until, the next time

-Harbynger : )

[Spikologia]

Thanks for all your comments, guys.
Thinking on things pointed out by TankGirl and colinmacc I have decided to do some more research, instead of jumping into this project which indeed isn't enough formed at all.

thegame412's comment of Grokster 1.3.3 being able to connect to FastTrack made me realize something - although I couldn't get Grokster 1.3.3 to connect on my computer, it might be able to. Upon first launch, Grokster 1.3.3 tries to connect to the network. It then offers to upgrade to 1.5.1 (Morpheus didn't really offer an upgrade, it just told the users to upgrade without giving any upgrade to download). If you choose "Yes", "GroksterUpdate151.exe" is added to the Download list on the Traffic window. On my pc, Grokster can't connect, and only shows "5 users online". However, in order for an upgrade to happen, Grokster MUST connect, and thegame412 claims it really did, on his computer.
thegame412 - could you please post your Grokster registry settings so I can check 'em out? To do that, go to Start menu, and click "Run...". Type "regedit" (without the qoutes) and hit ENTER. Open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Grokster "folder" (it's called a "key", actually, but has an icon of a folder) and make sure that you've clicked the Grokster "folder"\"key". Then choose File > Export, choose a name for the file, save it, and post it here. Thanks! Please tell me if you're having any troubles with that.

Also, I've found that KaZaA 1.3.4, released soon after (yes, after) KaZaA 1.4 does connect to FastTrack, although I previously thought it didn't. I don't think that this is because something changed, I probably just did my tests wrong last time.

I'll do some more research and see if this can help us.

And Harbynger - thanks for you invitation. I'll drop by soon

[indiana_jones]

you may try a recent list of supernodes for grokster
import the the reg file.
you may first have a look at it with a texteditor - it only conatins the "connectioninfo"