School me on Pirate's Bay torrent site and torrents in general

[NickB79]

I haven't used file-sharing since college in 2002, using Kazaa and Napster. I've read that Pirate's Bay is a good site, but don't really know much about it. Anyone here use it, and if so, are there virus issues with downloads? thanks.

[PeaceNikki]

1. Virus risks are everywhere

Less with torrents than with the P2P apps like Kaaza and the like.

Here are some FAQ's on torrents:
http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/

[Dave_Fl_50]

2. Gives you access to tons of porno

[Lethe]

3. nudge nudge wink wink say no more....a nudge is as good as a wink to a blind bat

hehehe

i've been using torrents for years and have never had a virus on anything i downloaded....but i always check

[mondo joe]

4. The briefest schooling -

you'll need a bit torrent client (google can help you with that).

There are a few notorious bit torrent sites - pirate bay, mininova, isohunt.

Some say you're bound to get a virus, others say not.

Some internet providers monitor how much you're downloading and may decide you're doing some illegal and cut you off.

[DS1]

5. I've yet to have a problem with viruses in torrents

typically they are reported to the person running the tracker and deleted from the list if they are loaded with malware.

[hobbit709]

6. I've had a couple of viruses from Bit Torrent downloads.

My AVG caught them before the files were unzipped. I run a scan after every download just as a matter of course.

[bbernardini]

7. Depends on what you want to download...

The vast majority of my BitTorrent use (and I use it A LOT) is to download live unreleased recordings. (You know, soundboard or audience recordings.)