If you are a user of file sharing software, please take a few minutes to become informed about how you can minimize your impact on network congestion while you exchange files.

1. Turn off outgoing file sharing in your software. This step alone has the potential to completely resolve UMM's network congestion. Outgoing file transfers -- uploads from UMM users to other users on the Internet -- greatly exceed incoming transfers. In other words, UMM users are giving away much more music than they're receiving. Because the University of Minnesota has an exceptionally fast network, files found on UMM computers are highly desirable to other Internet users. You may not even be aware that your software is making outgoing file transfers. To learn about the specific options for various file-sharing applications to limit, restrict, or prevent file transfers from your computer, please take a look at the detailed information from the Office of Information Technology at Duke University. We are grateful to Duke University for permission to link to these useful materials.
2. Move files out of the "shared" folder after you've finished receiving them. This way they're not available to be shared from your computer.
3. Turn off your computer when you're not using it. Nobody can retrieve files from a computer that's turned off. Also, do not use automatic startup for your file sharing software.
4. Be aware of your serious exposure to malicious software when you use these utilities. A file that you download from an unknown user on the Internet may not be what it appears to be. Many exchanged files carry viruses or programming to open back doors on your computer, allowing it to be taken over for "zombie" attacks. Be cautious about shared files, and at a minimum, run Norton AntiVirus (available free to all University students).
5. Be courteous about peak times. At UMM, peak times for network usage in the residence halls are 4:00 to midnight. If you turn off your file sharing software during these times, you'll make the network faster for everybody.
6. Be aware of your legal liability. The University has received hundreds of legal "cease and desist" messages from studios, record companies, and others, requiring us to shut down access to individual student computers that were discovered serving copyrighted music or movie files. Your computer can be identified by its network port, and you may be held criminally liable for unlawful distribution of protected materials.