Since
the advent of the napster program, file sharing software has been expanded
and improved to allow not only the sharing of music files, but now ANY
kind of file on a home computer.
You’ll
need a bit of imagination, lots of patience and a computer at home,
or somewhere that it can be connected to the net for long periods to
utilise file sharing software. This is a quick how to get started guide
which should be enough for most people to see the possibilities , but
I can imagine the situation in which an activist might want to get hold
of some software for desk top publishing etc etc
The
file sharing software that I’ve used is the hotline software, but there
are many others, such as grokster, imesh....
www.hotlineSW.com
You’ll
want to download the hotline client program. It also comes with a how
too guide. There is also a hotline server program for those who want
to turn their home computer into a server which others can down load
files from or up too.
Once
you’ve got the software up and running, you’ll then need to use a tracker
site to find the files you are looking for on the many servers which
exist throughout the world. Use MS Explorer or Netscape Navigator for
this.
I
suggest www.tracker-tracker.com
Simply
do a search for the files/programs you want and you will be given a
list of servers. You need to then copy then server’s address number
eg 198.36.181.87:5567.
Go
back in to Hotline, select connect from the Hotline menu and paste in
the address for the server. Hopefully you will be connected to the server
and be given a contract to agree to.
Then
you can search the files/chat/download etc etc. Most servers require
you to register as a member , which can be an inconvenience, but is
usually quick to do.
Down
loading large files can take several hours, but it’s well worth it and
getting on to some servers can take a few tries as they may be offline
at certain times.
Have
fun!!