The most common Internet application contributing to excessive usage on the Internet is file-sharing. This is also known as Peer-to-Peer or shareware. These are programs that allow other users on the Internet to access files located on your computer. Some of the more common file-sharing programs are BitTorrent, KaZaa, Gnutella and Morpheus.

These file-sharing programs do not make it easy for users to quit the application. Since the goal of these programs is to allow users to download files off other users computers, it would be difficult to get other peoples’ files if everyone were to quit the application. So, they "discourage" people from really quitting the program by making it appear as though you’ve closed the application, when in fact, it is still running.

If you are using Windows, notice that when you click on the  “X” button on the top-right corner, most programs do quit.  But, most file-sharing programs don't actually quit when you click on the “X” button, they just hide and keep running in the background. You can tell if a program is still running if you see the icon in the system tray next to clock in the bottom left hand corner of your computer screen.

Below are instructions on how to reduce your overall bandwidth usage, by learning more about peer-to-peer applications. While various programs will have slightly different steps, the steps for the example here (Morpheus) will serve as a good guideline in becoming aware of the ways to reduce your usage caused by different shareware applications. Explore the application you are using to find out how you can quit the program, disable automatic start up and disable file-sharing of your files.

Morpheus Example

1. Quitting the program

To quit the program, right click on the icon in the system tray, and select “Close”. Selecting “Hide” will only hide the program and it will continue running. Make sure it is not running anymore by checking to see if the icon is still in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

2. Prevent program from automatically running at computer start up

To disable the program from automatically running when you start your computer, go to the Tools menu and select Options...  Make sure Launch Automatically is unchecked and click OK.

3. Disable file-sharing when using the application

If you still want to use these programs, you can stop people from downloading files off your computer. Under the Traffic tab in the Options window, put a check next to Disable sharing of files.