How do you avoid viruses when using file sharing programs?

Yes the tow methods you wrote are correct. Few tips of mine. 1) While downloading I suggest that yours Antivirus shield must be activated that is runtime scanning. It block the virus before spreading. 2) Download from the sites which prefers registration which helps to post some abuses or infected archives. 3) Avoid to download some accelerators patches. 4) Download only branded products and check their version information. Thats all are my few tips. Thanks and Have a nice day.

a good anti virus program is a starting point, also if you get to use the file sharing programs often you can tell which files are fake and which are real although sometimes and often not the case if your a new user. my advice would be to use a trusted file sharing program such as torrents i have found them to be the most trusted ones of all and i have used them for a long time and never had any viruses through them. using programs such as kazza and limewire your sure to find viruses easily on them.

First I try to find links to the things I wanna download in a forum or something where I know everything that is posted there is virus-free and then, if using the search of p2p programs I try to download only those who have a release group because if they haven't it may be fake and it sucks waiting for a download and then get something really different from what we wanted when started downloading. Also, by doing this I get less chances of catching a virus. Then, everything I download that I'm in doubt if it's secure or not I scan it with my updated antivirus software before executing it. By doing this I think you're 99% safe in p2p world.

Ah..... nice tips all ^^ This is mine 1. Always do full sistem scan every week (minimum) 2. Always update Ur anti virus 3. Dont lazy to re scan USB or CD that come from other PC

I think you are right. We must do downloading from only trustworthy sites. Moreover, we must not accept files from the unknown users. Before dowloading we must have a good anti virus too.

thank you all for the tips , i did all the things here what you are all mentioning and yes format my sys , now i foound this reason why im geting all these probs . once again im thanking you all gor this usefull info .

If I am downloading a program or game from a file sharing program, I will look at all the sizes of the files and most of the time, there will be a lot that are the same size and these are the ones with viruses. Also, if I do end up downloading a bad one, when I try to open it, my virus scan program will automatically delete it.