Download eMule 0.49b

Two and a half months after the release of version 0.49a, the developers behind the file exchange program eMule released an update in the form of version 0.49b last Thursday. eMule allows file sharing over the eDonkey and Kad networks. The program was created in 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000 and distinguishes itself from that program by, among other things, the use of compression to save bandwidth and a rating system for people who upload a lot. Below you can find what has changed since version 0.49a:

Changelog for eMule version 0.49b:

• Fixed some rare possible crashes
• Added deleting of single entries from AutoComplete drop down lists by pressing the DEL key.
• Added a new search method option “Automatic” which lets eMule choose which search method to use. eMule will select either Servers (Local) or Kad, based on which network we are connected to and some other indicators if connected to both networks.
• Removed a general exception handler for the Beta version. This means eMule crashes instead of ignoring unexpected errors, which however is needed so we actually can find such bugs (if any exist) in the crashdumps.
• Implemented a special nodes.dat version, which is more suited for mass distribution without causing significant additional traffic for the included nodes. This hopefully allows us to add a nodes.dat to the installer, so that new user can connect to Kad without having to connect to servers or downloading a nodes.dat themself
• Implemented an alternate method to estimate the total user count in the Kad network, which is not based on our local routing table. Its experimental and only shown in the network dialog (double click the world icon in the status bar)
• Adjusted the display of the user count by not showing numbers for a network we are not connected to
• Fixed a minor bug with kad obfuscation when contacting answering unbofuscated hello-requests
• Made sure that only one challenge to verify a contact is sent at a time to the same IP
• Added MiniUPnPLib as additional UPnP implementation, the current Windows service based implementation is used as fallback. This will hopefully make eMule’s UPnP compatible to most available routers. [miniupnplib by Thomas Bernard, Test & Suggestion: leuk_he]
• A specific UPnP implementation can be disabled by adding “DisableMiniUPNPLibImpl=1” or “DisableWinServImpl=1” into the “UPnP” section of the preferences.ini
• When reading a nodes.dat without any verified contacts (possible an old file version), eMule will assume all contacts to be verified to avoid slowing down the connecting process
• Project files for VS2005 and VS2008 have been added, however the official eMule is still developed and compiled on VS2003
• Several changes were made to Kad in order to defy routing attacks researched by University of Minnesota guys [Peng Wang, James Tyra, Eric Chan-Tin, Tyson Malchow, Denis Foo Kune, Nicholas Hopper, Yongdae Kim]in particular:
• Kad contacts will only be able to update themself in others routing tables if they provide the proper key (supported by 0.49a+ nodes) in order to make it impossible to hijack them
• Kad now uses a three-way-handshake (or for older version a similar check) for new contacts, making sure they do not use a spoofed IP
• Unverified contacts are not used for routing tasks and a marked with a special icon in the GUI
• Fixed: Shared Files window splitter did not properly save/restore position.
• Did first small step in dropping Kad1 support by not probing unknown Kad contacts for Kad1 anymore to save overhead. Kad1 clients will nevertheless still be work for now.
• Fixed a bug which let Kad sometimes assume a Kad2 contact to be Kad1 after probing for both versions
• Fixed: Memory leak in context menus.
• Added: Vista styles for context menus.
• Fixed: Pressing ESC in Shared Files window filter destroyed the entire window.
• Added additional sanitize checks to make sure eMule never writes downloaded data into an already completed part
• Optimized the Kad packet tracking code to only tack packets which we check later, to save resources
• Fixed 100% CPU usage bug with tooltips in Statistics Graphs.
• Added: Tooltip in Statistics Graphs show the Y-value.
• Kad no longer tries to add UDP firewalled (and therefore mostly unreachable) nodes into its routing table, reducing overhead and increasing reliability [Idea: Netfinity]
• Kad tries to determine the overall ration of firewalled clients in the Kad network and shows them in the statistics tree. This will only work if you are not firewalled yourself and know enough 0.49b+ nodes
• When calculating the total user count, Kad now uses (if available) the real number of firewalled clients for the calculation instead of a fixed value. This will take more effect when 0.49+ nodes become common
• The “Handle eD2k-Links” button now also works properly with Vista’s UAC enabled
• Added: Unshare context menu entries for directories within the virtual “Shared Directories” folder.
• Added: Vista themes for all owner drawn tab controls.
• Added: Vista themes for category selector controls.
• Fixed main toolbar redrawing problems under Vista.
• Reworked connecting code, fixing some minor and some major bugs, including a possible loop in unreachable DirectCallback sources
• Added new close icons for closeable tab controls.
• Kad now ignores multiple IDs pointing to one IP in routing request answers
• Fixed: Tab controls were not sized correctly on certain text contents.
• Fixed: Category tabs in Transfers window did not show correct default text color.
• Fixed: Category properties dialog did not always show the correct (default) category color.
• Added: Hot tracking effects for Vista themes for all (owner drawn) tab controls.
• Fixed: Tooltips did not show correctly with Vista Aero theme.

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