Contrary to the advice given on other sites, & the impression given during setup if you only scan the dialogue. Just because you're
able to make a Primary connection, it doesn't mean you
must, or even in some circumstances
should.
While the network
does need a certain proportion of Primary users to work properly, it actually works
less well if everyone runs primary.
Firstly I would encourage anyone who can to set up & run primary long enough to prove they have their port setup correct & working, I thought I'd list some valid reasons why you might run Secondary thereafter. Secondary users are
NOT leeches, they help support the network & community by sharing files & using chat. It's worth noting that you can download
FASTER from secondaries as they don't use bandwidth supporting searches etc., being a secondary isn't a bad thing.
Therefore, I thought I would take this chance to post valid reasons for choosing to run secondary on a day to day basis:
1) You keep WinMX on only for short periods & restart it or your computer often in this situation, your searches will be less effective, & the shutdowns & resets disconnect any secondaries you happen to be hosting, which is disruptive to those users.
2) You find you have to reduce "Search Thread Duty Cycle" in settings from the default, for decent PC performance on primary running a reduced primary reduces network efficiency & does no favours either to you, the secondaries you host, & for any searches you process, if you need a primary to host, fair enough, though in that situation it would be worth considering a third party chatserver.
3) Your ISP imposes restrictive bandwidth limits Australians in particular need note here, as the biggest ISP imposes a 10GB / month limit on the normal dsl account and reduces your speed dramatically after it has been reached, running primary will use this limit by itself (without searches or downloads) in a matter of days (around a week) and you'll find yourself with a connection that sucks generally the rest of the month.. This can apply anywhere, depending on ISP.
4) Heavy CPU usage and/or slow PC (also network intensive software use e.g. online games) Primaries process searches at idle priority, using "spare" CPU cycles, if your PC is heavily loaded, or slow (or both), there won't be many for it to use, keep an eye on your spm= value over a period of time, if it's routinely much less than a 5 digit number, consider switching as it is processing searches very inefficiently.
5) "Slow" broadband (yes cable/dsl packages under 512K exist) and / or traffic shaping ISP in this situation you have (or are alllowed) only limited resources, don't waste them trying to support a Primary connection badly, run secondary & enjoy the increased upload & download speeds.
6) You connect using a modified hosts file (typically Pie patch) in this situation, even using PeerGuardian & the winmxworld blocklist you will be hosting flooders at times, owing to the long update interval, in this situation you should either upgrade to using the winmxgroup patch available
HERE or download & run
THIS FILE to change patch, or run as a
Secondary connection
AT ALL TIMESI hope this enables you to make an informed & rational choice of connection, the above reflects my current understanding, I'm sure if it contains errors those who know more will point them out, in which case I shall be happy to edit this post to correct them.
Happy WinMXing
*Minor edit to include extra important information BB*edit direct link to patch revised to point to winmxgroup homepage BB
