29th September, 2005
Update.
As many people are probably already aware many of the WinMX population didn't take too kindly to their network being shut down. A great number of users immediately started working together to create a solution to the problem... and various solutions were found in a very short period of time. Rather than name names here I'd just like to thank all of those involved in making that happen as, as a collective, it was a pretty remarkable thing to see. :)
How to get back online.
There have been various fixes released during the last week but all of them appear to work in much the similar way. Personally I'd recommend for users to try the replacement "WS2_32.DLL" file method offered by http://www.winmxgroup.com/ (possibly only supports Windows XP at present) as this contains some additional features that should help to alleviate some of the damage being caused by certain organisations exploiting the WinMX Peer Network for their own deeds with, it seems, complete disregard for all of its users. This is very important if you operate a Primary type connection on WinMX.
An alternative method is a modification of the Windows "hosts" file that redirects WinMX software requests to connect to 'winmx.com' towards alternative addresses operating new cache servers. A direct link to a recommended replacement hosts file can be found at http://205.238.40.1/hosts/.
If any of the above seems confusing I'd suggest taking a look at any of the following websites for more detailed information about applying the various fixes: http://www.winmxworld.com/, http://www.vladd44.com/.
As a note it should be stressed that at this moment in time things are changing fast & furious. Many of the fixes available out there are continuing to be developed & released on an almost daily basis, so it'd be worth while keeping an eye out for new developments as and when they arrive to be sure that you're running WinMX in the best way.
hth.
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21st September, 2005
As of Wednesday, 21st of September, 2005, it appears that the WinMX Peer Network is effectively offline. Information currently available suggests that the "cache servers", that the WinMX client requires in order for users to be able to connect to the WinMX Peer Network, are unavailable. In addition it appears that the official http://www.winmx.com/ website is also offline.
I'm unable to offer much more information as to what might be happening here, but, can offer the following as a source of possible information:
http://www.slyck.com/ offers some preliminary information and user-forums regarding the issue.
A large number of WinMX chat rooms are still operating, and available for users to join, even though the main WinMX file-sharing network is offline. You can still connect into these chat rooms so long as you have the room's Channelname information and then copy & paste that information into the WinMX "Chat" bar (the field in which you can type information; the "Filter" bar), then click "Join". The infamous Vladd44 is currently listing a great many rooms here.
OpenNap servers will still continue to operate as normal using an upto-date list of servers. The NapMX application is at least one method by which to add running OpenNap servers to WinMX. There's a guide for doing that here.
Long live WinMX. ..|. to the corps.