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Kazaa Lite: spyware-free version
Pig Hogger writes "According to this VNUNET article, KAZAA-Lite, a new hacked version of spyware-ridden KAZAA file-sharing software is being circulated, sans spyware. The new, improved version has apparently been hacked by a russian programmer, as a matter of course."
Been using it for 2 weeks now.
Boy is life good without tons of popups.
And my firewall hasn't busted Kazaa Lite doing anything funky either.
Low popups, low funk, all good.
yummy.
There are some mirrors at http://www.kazaalite.tk/ when kazzalite.com crumples under the slashdot effect.
I'm at 50, so I'm not karma whoreing.
I have tried it and it seems to use less resources, probably because it doesn't run those wierd ads that use up extra computer resources, and popup windows.
Insert Witty Remark Here ===>____________________________
Kazaa Lite is 'spyware free' says creator
By James Middleton [19-04-2002]
Hacked version of file sharing software Kazaa users can now get hold of a hacked version of the peer-to-peer file sharing software which claims to be spyware free.
Earlier this month Kazaa users discovered that the client software includes what is effectively a Trojan program which connects to another network called Altnet and taps the user's processing power and storage space.
Brilliant Digital Media, the company behind the stealth peer-to-peer software, plans to activate the software on users' machines in the next few weeks and sell the resources to be used for distributed computing.
But recently released Kazaa Lite software is a hacked-up version of the Kazaa client without the third party software or banner adverts.
Created by a Russian programmer known only as 'Yuri', the illicit Kazaa Lite was developed as an alternative 'non-misleading' version of the software.
Kazaa Lite has also caught the attention of Sharman Networks, the developer of the original Kazaa software. Sharman said that it will vigorously defend its rights but has not said that it will take legal action against Kazaa Lite.
It would be difficult to block Kazaa Lite clients from accessing the Kazaa network simply because of the openness of the system which lets millions of users log on simultaneously.
KazaaLite.com has reported over 80,000 downloads since the program was released and no interoperability problems with the Kazaa network.
More info can be found at Kazaalite.com.
According to this this article Sharman Networks is planning on taking action against Kazaa Lite...i figure it wont be long till their network wont work properly with the program (much like Morpheous).
Oh well im sure those fun-loving Russians will fight back when it happens, should be fun to watch
For the DIY-crowd, ad-aware will clean up the mess Kazaa leaves behind without too much hassle. Grab it here. It's quite nice package, too. I have it running at every startup and it's not that rare to get a "visitor" regularly. In fact, it's so nice I've been thinking of investing the $15 for the plus-version.
Hey the guy's gotta pay his bandwidth bill somehow right? Why should he be forced into forking out his own Rubel's just so you can get free software AND no pop up's?
Here's a hint for you:
Disable Javascript
and/or Use a Popup killer[it's actually download.com]
Don't like the example I provided? Google is your freind Plenty of options there.
And just so i'm not accused of being offtopic (grin), ages back when I first learned about Kazaa/Morpheus, I completely distrusted the validity of the BDE B3D projector software.
It installed itself completely seperate from (and silently) the main program. Yet after removing it (seperately, with it's OWN Uninstaller) Kazaa/Morpheus whined that a "required" component was removed, and it refused to run.
**COUGH** Yea ok.... where's that Uninstaller hm? Time to gut the registry again and seek out rogue DLL's.
Required my butt... and Kazaalite proves it.
Now someone just needs to write a plug-in for it that will automatically pingflood any one client that tries to download 10 files off you at once! =)
(Yes, i'm fully aware that you can configure the max number of DL's, the above is meant to be funny!)
Additionally, if they do it they will certainly be flushed down the toilet along with Morpheus. Basically, Morpheus was de-centralized. The moment they put in central authentication servers to block open source/free software clients pig-backing on "their" network, they got sued promptly by the record labels. Guess why? Much easier target after such a brilliantly stupid move.
I tried it under wine, but it died without getting very far. Of course, my wine is spectacularly old; you may have better luck with a more recent build.
I want my Cowboyneal
"Lite" in this case means removing all the scumware from Kazaa, not removing IE (because it uses IE for content, and while you may think IE is "bad", it's not typically considered scumware). Thus, it still requires IE, and if that keeps the normal Kazaa from working under WINE, this version will be no different.
I wouldn't know. I use Mozilla with no pop-ups.
Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.
Yes it is.
It extends Internet Explorer, where the spyware is keeping track of all of the sites you visit and sends your trail to a centralized host. There, your surfing habits are analyzed and sold to online marketers.
You might want to look here, instead, then.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Be careful of saying things like "the only way Kazaa could block it is...". There is always another way. In fact, I thought of one while reading your post:
Imagine that one of the pieces of spyware is designed to send out an "I'm alive!" message to a central server, to let it know that it has an activated client. This isn't too hard to imagine, I don't think. Suppose Kazaa blocked access to its network to any host that did not send an "I'm alive!" message. There you go, it's blocked.
Now, the Russian folks could combat this with two different techniques: modify the Kazaa client itself to send out the "I'm alive!" message, but this will likely cause CRC/integrity checks to fail.
The other possibility is to create a new process that sends the "I'm alive!" messages to the spyware servers. Problem with this is, it isn't much better than the spyware it replaced, in terms of system and network resources.