Poisoned runs into trouble all too often. As recently as last December it would crash at launch, something that was fixed with an update. A new problem surfaced this year-only the Gnutella client works. On certain configurations, FastTrack and Ares show 0 users and files.

As for downloading and uploading, my experience is abysmal, and apparenlty I am not the exception. Uploading never works. Not a single file of mine has ever been uploaded.

Assuming Poisoned works at all to begin with, downloading is frought with several problems. If a found file has only one "user", it stands very little chance of even been downloaded. The more users a file is associated with, the higher your chances of ever downloading that file.

But the worst nightmare is SPAM, fake files. No matter what you search for, 2-6 fake files with multiple users associated with them, bearing similar titles to what you were seeking, will almost always show up. These fakes are JPEG or WMV files (even though what you searched for may have been an MP3 file) that are small in size, and when downloaded, turn out to be SPAM advertising a certain (always the same one) web site.

Recently, a worse form of SPAM has reared its ugly head on Poisoned. More fake files show up in queries bearing irrelevant, unspeakably obscene titles. Downloaded, these JPEG files all turn out to be notices offering patronizing advice about your life while urging you to visit a certain get rich-quick-scheme site.

Certain files, usually large ones, also exhibit a strange behavior. They never start downloading, and show up as "paused" instead. No matter how many times you try to restart them, they switch to "paused" status again after 2-3 seconds and will continue to do so until the cows come home.