Page Last Updated on 09/30/2005 18:00 GMT.

The Problem

WinMX was served a Cease and Desist Order on Sept 19,2005. On the Sept 20th around 16:00 GMT they pulled their peer caches (what you use to connect to the network) and WinMX became a lame duck, dead in the water..... or so our enemies thought.

At this point, an effort by the users began to fight back. There is still a ways to go, but as of now Sept 24, 2005 people are now able to connect to the network as they were before the problem started.

In the long run I believe the results of the actions taken will in the long run make WinMX a better program, it will just take a little time to do so. I have ultimate faith in the WinMX community, it has come together better than anyone would have anticipated. Rather than fall apart, it has risen to the challenge. And for that I can only thank the userbase and their loyalty to the program.

How to fix your WinMX

Get the PIEpatch here

Automatic Installer, just donwload and run. It does the rest.

If you have Piepatch 2.3 or earlier installed

It will ask if you to remove the previous version installed

Choose Yes.

It will then load the previous versions uninstaller. Click UnInstall

There will be two more questions regarding retoring backups, and saving backups. SImply a matter of personal preference. Choose Whichever you prefer. Nothing you can make a serious problem with either way.

After it is complete, you will need to run the PIEpatch again. Now that the older version is uninstalled, It will now allow you to install the New Version.

The Update reflects new options in peer caches.

Good Work all involved.

This installer does not delete the dll from winmxworld.com. I hope we can find common ground and meet against a mutual enemy.

If you still have trouble after installing the patch - flushdns

The problem could be that you have cached the DNS, if you don't know what that means, don't worry about it, it is easier to correct than it is to explain.

Make sure winmx is not trying to connect (Turn it off) and do the following:

1. Start Menu, choose Run.
2. Type in: ipconfig /flushdns and hit enter.
3. Now Start WinMX again, and hopefully you will connect.

Be patient, it may take a little time, things will get better, we are only 4 days after the event and already we can connect to the network again, with a little more time this will become even better.

Use the DNS Flush option as a last resort, Most users will need to reboot their computers after doing so.

If flushdns didn't help you

* Select Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
* Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
* Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
* Select: Manual
* Stop the service by clicking 'Stop Service' (Note: the service doesn't need to run on non-enterprise level PC's)
* Click Apply
* Close and restart WinMX...

If you were one of the faithless ones who uninstalled WinMX but want it back now

Oldversions has Version 3.31 for Download here
or
WinMX World Archive has WinMx 3.53 and a lot more available for download

On the Sharing Files issue (Updated 09/27/2005)

People have been concerned about the No Sharing advise given while trying to recover network stability.

On 09/27/2005 during a brief conversation between Sabre, Gemini777 and myself we have concluded that a more direct approach to the issue would be in every ones self interest.

WinMX has always been about p2p.While there is still significant load on the network, the time has become to consider sharing files again.

What we would ask is that you Follow a few simple guidelines.

1. Please, Please Please do not run QuickMX.

2. Turn off AFS This Page covers how to set it, Just turn it off.

3. Try to keep searching down.

4. I encourage you to browse people and queue directly rather than from a search whenever possible.

Doing so for the next few days will reduce strain on the network while allowing people to share files at the same time.

Special Thanks are in order to Sabre, Ranma, and Pip for all their hard work on this! And for KM.

I have tried to simplify the procedure to make it as dummy proof as possible. If there is a problem feel free to post or view this forum thread for further details.

For those who just want the hosts file without the installer Get it here. This is a zipped file of the host file you will need to replace. It can be useful for those who use a program (some ad blockers etc) that actually do use the hosts file. This would allow you to copy and paste the contents of one into the other.

For the purpose of giving credit to people responsible in this effort I have listed a few websites below.

TSC The Source Code
Las Vegas Hackers Club
MX PIE