The following documented is mirrored from http://resnet.utexas.edu/trouble/fileshare.html. You may also find useful information at http://www.ncsu.edu/resnet/help/p2p/

Limit Peer-to-Peer applications

Turn off Peer-to-peer networking applications (such as Lime Wire, iMesh, Morpheus, KaZaA) when not in use. These applications by default share certain directories and run as resident services. When you close the main window an icon remains on the taskbar and the program is still sharing files. This can lead to a large volume of traffic without the knowledge or consent of the user. The best way to avoid this problem is to disable sharing altogether. The Gnutella clients also act as network nodes even when sharing is disabled. This means that the application monitors and routes requests and searches which can generate a large amount of traffic. The best way to avoid unexpected traffic from these applications is to turn the application off completely.

Here are the results of bandwidth consumption tests we have run on some of the more popular Peer-to-Peer networks:

Gnutella
Affects: Gnutella, LimeWire, BearShare, Gnotella, Gnucleus, and possibly others

Music City
Affects: Morpheus, KaZaA

WinMX
Affects: WinMX

In iMesh select "share" and uncheck any shared folders. Right click on the iMesh icon in the taskbar and select exit.

Morpheus

Tools -> Options User Uncheck "Launch Morpheus automatically" Traffic Check "Disable sharing of files with other Morpheus members" Advanced Check "Do not function as SuperNode" If Morpheus minimizes to the system tray when closing: Right-click on the Morpheus icon and select "Close Morpheus"

KaZaA

Tools -> Options User Uncheck "Launch KaZaA automatically" Traffic Check "Disable sharing of files with other KaZaA members" Advanced Check "Do not function as SuperNode" If KaZaA minimizes to the system tray when closing: Right-click on the KaZaA icon and select "Close KaZaA"

Limewire

Tools -> Options Sharing Clear the "Extensions:" field Uploads Set "Maximum Uploads:" to 0 (zero) Set "Upload Bandwidth" to 0% First time closing the program, check "No, close the program and abort file transfers" and "Always do this without asking again" If Limewire icon is in System Tray Right-click on it and select "Exit LimeWire"

Gnotella

Click the [SETUP] button on top Shared Files Remove all entries under "Shared Files" Set "Maximum number of search results sent" to 0 (zero) Remove all entries under "Extensions" Uncheck the "Web Interface"

Gnucleus

Edit -> Preferences Local Uncheck "Send Gnucleus to tray when minimized" Uncheck "Send Gnucleus to tray when closed" Share Remove all entries under "Shared Directories" Uncheck "Sub-Directories" Check "Set a max of ? replies to a query" Set max replies to "0"

BearShare

Setup -> Sharing Sharing Remove all directories from "Share the files in these..." Uncheck "Watch shared directories for changes Check "Only share these extensions:" Remove all extensions from list Check "Limit the number of results to ? files per search" Set number of results to 0 Uploads Uncheck "Activate the built in person web server" Uncheck "Make shared files available to web-based search engines" If the BearShare icon is in the system tray: Right-click on the Bearshare icon and select "Exit"

AudioGalaxy Satellite

There does not appear to be a way to disable file sharing in this program. It automatically shares the default download folder and will not let you disable that. Move files out of the download folder right after they are downloaded. When closing the program Exit by selecting "File -> Exit File Agent" If the AudioGalaxy icon appears in the taskbar after closing 1) Left-click on the icon to restore the application 2) Select "File -> Exit File Agent" !!! NOTE !!! Simply closing AudioGalaxy (ie. by clicking on the [X] button) will not disable the application.

WinMX

1) Click on the "Shared Files" button. Remove all entries under "File Path" 2) Click on the "Settings" button and select "Share Settings". Remove everything under "File Types To Share" If the WinMX icon appears in the system tray after closing the program: Right-click on the icon and select "Exit"

You may also want to right click on any sharing related icons in the taskbar and select exit to make sure they are not sharing. Even just reducing the number of concurrent or simultaneous uploads can help a great deal. By default iMesh will allow 20 concurrent uploads. If you assume that a 3.5MB file is uploaded 20 times every 5 minutes your limit would be reached in less than an hour. Try not to enable file-sharing applications at startup. Open these programs when you want to share files and close them when you are done. Consider installing a personal firewall program such as zone alarm. These programs can give you better control over and a better understanding about where your traffic is coming from.

Secure your shares

Under Windows and Mac OS it is possible to share folders or even entire disks out to the local area network. Anyone within your broadcast domain (usually one floor in a dorm) will be able to find and access this share. Be careful. It is easy to allow read and write access to shares without a password, and this will also allow anybody to copy files to your computer or permanently erase important files. Try setting a password so that you have control over who can access these files, or at least set the shares to read only.

Turn off your machine

This is an easy way to control traffic. When you are not using your computer shut it off, you will save energy too.