P2P Question

I came across this table of popular P2P software and what kind of Malware comes with - is this accurate? Is there a best? What is best safe practice in terms of scanning downloads. Can virus scanners and malware scanners scan deep into file/folder levels or do they tend to scan only the surface levels?

P2P Program Market Share Adware or Spyware Installed
Kazaa 10.48% Brilliant Digital, Gator, Joltid, TopSearch
WinMX 8.74% None
LimeWire 7.23% None
BitTorrent 3.49% None
Ares 2.73% NavExcel Toolbar
Bearshare 2.58% WhenU SaveNow, WhenU Weather
Shareaza 2.26% None
eMule 1.99% None
BitTornado 1.84% None
Morpheus 1.11% PIB Toolbar, Huntbar Toolbar, NEO Toolbar
iMesh 1.01% Ezula, Gator

 

I can say that the market shares are pretty close to correct, and I can confirm that Kazaa comes with GAIN (Gator Advertising Information Network), but beyond that, I can't comment.

Most AVs will, when scheduled, scan your whole hard drive. However, it is good practice to MANUALLY scan any file you download before opening it. This will hopefully catch malware before it has the chance to infect your system.

I would recommend steering clear of all server-based file-sharing apps like these. They make it very simple for someone with malicious intentions to share infected files, and that's not to mention anything that's bundled with the client!

There is an alternative called bittorrent. Instead of using your client to search servers for people who have the file you wish to download, you go to a torrent site like:

< removed due to content >

And search for a torrent file that cooresponds to the file you're after. This is just a small file used by a bittorrent client like Azureus, which will then find peers with that file, and begin downloading it from them.

I believe if you stick to torrent sites that you trust, you will have a much harder time getting infected with malware than over a server-based P2P, like the ones you have listed. Even so, you should STILL remember to scan any file you download BEFORE opening to mitigate the chance of infection.