BearShare is a file sharing program, a Gnutella application, helping to search, download, organize and play different media files. The output of BearShare work is free of charge downloads from numerous and diverse sources. This dismisses users from tiresome scrolling dozens of pages given by search engines.

Gnutella is a distributed software project to create a true peer-to-peer file sharing network, without a central server. Installing and using Gnutella clients (BearShare is one of them), you become a part of the net, and get access to all the information provided by its users.

BearShare 5.2.0 is free software. As an almost every P2P client it is proud of being Spyware-Safe. Though, there is a deal. To use it for free, users have to keep Save! software on their PCs. Basing on the web sites you visit and web content you view, the program will provide supplies of related ads. The ads are labeled Save!

On program's first start, the Wizard leads us through the main stages of the program setting: types of connection, directories for download, filters, etc. The settings, as well as bandwidth capacity, searching, uploading, service settings, can be changed later from the Setup menu.

BearShare has a simple Windows-like interface. The default set of options and tools is optimal indeed, but still the toolbar and all panes are customizable.

The program search window consists of two main parts. Search results (here on the left) and the list of searches (here on the right). Found files can be sorted according to rank, size, type, time and other criteria.

To manage downloaded files, there exists the Library option. BearShare's Library is worth saying some words about. Its primary function is to view and organize files. We can view a file's properties and thumbnail; add files to playlists or generate links for them. Here we can also set which files to share – to make available for other users of the net.

Nets are full of surprises – never can we be sure in what we are downloading. To avoid at least some of them users have an opportunity to check files with the help of the Bitzi Ticket option. Bitzi is a website where people cooperate to identify, describe, rate and comment on files of all types. Here you can look through the comments or submit some yourselves. It's an obvious and useful advantage, though, not all files are accompanied by such information.

As for the virus protection, the problem is fully up to users to resolve. BearShare does not cooperate with any anti-virus programs. A way out is to perform anti-virus scans of all downloaded files after all.

The program provides a possibility to block seemingly or obviously unfriendly hosts. The Help section gives instructions how to do it. The way is a bit too manual: to find in the Db folder of your BearShare directory the file 'hostiles.txt'. Add some host addresses to the list of hosts that have already been blocked by BearShare.

BearShare 5.2.1 utilizes the IRCHighway chat network. And though the set of available buttons counts 3: Send Message, End Chat and Block Host, the opportunity itself adds to convenience.

At the same time it's Help section might be more helpful and handy. There provided no search option, so users have to guess what part of Help may contain the wanted information. And, to make it worse, Help opens in the program's main window. So...either BearShare or Help.

If you still haven't given up parental attempts to protect your teenage children from the harmful influence of nets, you may filter content (with the help of keywords), or set a program login password.

In general BearShare's performance produces a really good impression. Comparing with other programs of the kind, it's set of options and features is wide and satisfies the most predictable from P2P users' needs. It's an advanced tool to share and download what we searched, but failed to find with the help of web browsers: music, audio books, images, etc. A BBC radio presentation of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in my case.

BearShare keywords: kazaa, bearshare, freeware, kazaa, bareshare, mp3, music, file, download, napster, downloading, downloads, sharing, trading, share, search, p2p, peer-to-peer, peer to peer, gnutella