Winny Tutorial!
Ok, so this is how it works. Basically winny is a file sharing program with one main difference, the data transfer is strictly encrypted. This means that no one knows what you're sending unless they can decrypt it (basically the author of the program and that's it :P). So then... what it will do is read from a list of nodes (Noderef.txt). When winny first begins, it connects to these nodes using encrypted ip addresses listed in a file. It will decrypt the ip address, connect to it, and see what it wants to do. What you normally get is 2 links that will show up in green as shown here:
These are called "Search Links". They will search the other nodes (computers) to try and find files you are looking for. Once you have that established, you will got 2 other types of nodes. The "upstream" and "downstream" nodes. Upstream nodes are indicated in yellow. They are when users are downloading something from you. Downstream nodes are indicated in blue. This is when someone is sending you a file.
Before we begin, first we need to set winny up! So extract winny to a nice location on your hardrive (c:\winny, or whever you prefer). You can find winny at: This location!.I will show you version 1.14, as it is currently the most stable and easy to use. The current unstable version is 4.2 but you can still get alot more files from 1.14 (more people stay with it because.. it's stable :P). So then.. in order to set Winny up, you need to adjust some values. The easiest way to do this is modify winny.ini. If you are Japanese, the easiest way to do it is from within the program (but alot of people aren't so XD). SO, in this file you only need to change the following most likely:
As stated before, you only need to change those values. Once you're done, you need that noderef.txt file I was telling you about. You can find that here: Noderef.txt. Put that in the same directory where winny was installed to. Otherwise winny won't work! So then.. now that that's done, simply start up your program (winny.exe)! Now that it's started up, let's go look at the various tabs! First off, we'll take a look at the server tab:
Ok, Now let's break it down by letter!
- A) These are the different link types. links = connections just in case you didn't know. The purple kanji says "Search link", the blue kanji says "Transfer Link". Next to it is what type of "stream" it is. For search links, you have a downstream or servers are sending YOU the search data or upstream where servers are getting search data from you. Downstream is in green, upstream is in yellow. I say it this way despite the fact the meanings are reverse. Winny thinks upstream is someone upping to you (downloading) and downstream is someone downing from you (uploads). I use the reverse as it's easier for people that work with ftp's and irc.
- B) Speed is measured in kbs. This speed can be decieving! Most people will show their real speed but some alter it to show a fake speed. I do this, but it still sucks my upload speed up :P.
- C) Connection type is what type of connection. There's DDNS (Haven't figured that one out yet), NAT for firewalled people, and raw for plain old connections with no bells and whistles.
- D) Connection time is how long you've been connected to the person.
- E) Idle time is how long they've been online. (I just realized this as I wrote this tutorial.. but reverse D and E ^^;)
- F) Version is what version of winny they are using
- G) Hold on, I'll explain priority in the next one
- H) Description of what the node has. Priority gets it's information from this. If the description has keywords of the file you are looking for, it will highlight it blue and give it a high priority. That's basically all I've been able to get out of priority :O.
- I) Add node is if somehow someone gives you their winny node address (their ip address encrypted). You can use this to add it. However, most people just use the noderef.txt file. You don't have to worry about this too much.
- J) If this is depressed, you're online, if it isn't, you're not. Pretty simple :P
- K) My favorite button! Destroys all connections. The only time I really use this is if I feel I'm getting TOO MUCH bandwith drained from me.
Ok, I skipped the next 2 tabs as they don't really have too much significance to just downloading. I may put together a server tutorial some other time! So, now we're going to the fourth tab, which is the best tab of them all... the search tab! (no wait.. the download tab is best.. or the file transfer tab.. anyways.. :P).
Ok, We'll take this guy by numbers too :D.
- A) The filename.. nough said :P
- B) The trip, it's a fancy way of saying "username"
- C) Filesize in bytes.. nothing more
- D) File blocks.. here's where I explain XD. Basically, it visually shows how much of the file has been downloaded. If a file has been downloaded from 2 sources (multi-download), then you might see blocks (yellow filling) in random places.
- E) Date the file was added
- F) MD5 hash is what is used to uniquely identify files. This way you don't get a multipart download with the same filename but different sizes (that would be bad!)
- G) Keywords, what you're searching for. Unless the title is in english, the episode title is in english (Think ultra maniac and last exile), or you're searching for a song with an english title (Diveregence Eve Ed: PUMP UP!), english will NEVER WORK. Japanese only! Please refer to my timetable if you need assistance with the japanese or simply email/newsgroup post to me! When entering an episode number, it is important to rememer the format! Most go 01-99. Some however like YAWARA! take the format 001-999. Usually it's best to do it without an episode number (as shown in the example) so you can see the numbering format. Because of some issues with information within the file such as "divx 5.02", you might think you're downloading episode 02, but instead add episode 01 because it has 02 in it. to offset this, use the japanese episode kanji format as shown here:
宇宙のステルヴィア 第13話
[series name] 第[episode number]話
This will prevent any issues! It's still important to get the naming convention so you don't get episode 145 instead of 45 (I had this happen with YAWARA! once ^^;).
- H) Search button! To the right of it is how many search hits you have
- I) Pressing this button will force winny to search all your completed files. Use this if you can't remember if you have a file
- J) Pressing this button will force winny to search all your incomplete downloads
That's it for that. If you want to add the file to the download list, just double click it. However, most of the time you won't as we'll see in the next tab!
This is the all powerful tab of them all... the download list tab! What's great about it? Well, the fact that you can simply enter in some keywords and it will search for the file FOR YOU and download the file FOR YOU! Great for lazy people and those that want to make sure they get the file even if they're away from the computer! So let's take a look at the tab:
Paint by letters!
- A) Keywords, same as search tab!
- B) Trip, the "username"
- C) Min/Max size is the greatest of them all! Picky raw hunter? Someone that needs files to be at least this filesize? Give um hell! Here's where we see our min file size the found file has to be and the max filesize it cannot exceed. Love this program already huh :P.
- D) Filename appears when a result is found. It is red if the download is incomplete, blue if it is in progress, and yellow if there are multiple hits. The number to the left is the number of file results found.
- E) Adds a download. Which brings us to the next visual :P.
Also, we take this by numbers!
- A)Keywords. Same as the search tab. Also something I forgot to add and I just now noticed, in searches, spaces mean AND. meaning that if you enter in: 宇宙のステルヴィア 第13話, it means 宇宙のステルヴィア AND 第13話 (basically doing what you want it to, get stellvia 13 XD). Here we have it searching for narutaru episode 2.
- B)Trip = "username
- C)MD5 is only good if someone actually GIVES YOU the md5, otherwise, leave it blank. Same goes for Trip
- D)Max file size. Some people can get confused here. They'll look at the download tab and think "Oh, 100-500, that means here I enter 100 first and 500 second and it will show 100-500 in the download tab". W-R-O-N-G!! This is a common error, I've done it myself a couple times. Max file size comes FIRST.
- E)Min file size. The minumum size the file needs to be. Note, both values are measured in Megabytes (not bytes). Unless someone has an uncompressed RGB DVD rip of the episode, you'd never get anything if you entered in 10000000 in that dialog :P.
- F)This removes the file from the download list after it has been completed. You may want to uncheck this if you want to download all avaliable versions possible and then decide which one you want. I did this with the happy lesson advance audio sync problem. I just let it download a whole lot of them and I sorted them all out until I found one with synced audio. Very handy.
So that's how it goes with downloads! Now time to check the task tab out!:
This is the task tab. This basically shows how your downloads are going. So let's get started!:
- A) The filename!
- B) The download state. If the first kanji is the same as the first kanji of h), that means it's doing a multi-part download (which means the download will go faster). If it turns red, your download bit the dust! If it's just like it is right now, your download is fine!
- C) The first number is how many bytes you've downloaded, the second is how many bytes there are total in the file
- D) This is just a simple visual progress bar
- E) This shows how much time is left.
- F) This shows how fast the download is going in kbs. It also shows how fast the server "claims" to be. It might be true, it might now. Most of the time it's true though.
- G) Clear files clears all the complete (and sometimes incomplete) files from view. By default they stay there just show you know that you've sucessfully downloaded your files
- H) Whether or not you want multi-part downloads. Down means yes, up means no. Unless you have some weird need, just leave it like that.
That's it for my tutorial. I won't go into the last 2 tabs as they aren't that important. So that's it!