LINUX AND TECH EXPERTS OUT THERE: You will need to please address goku33's questions on amule stability, Windows VirtualMachines, and UPnP.
I can answer a few of your questions. Most of them I have to leave for Linux/Apple users and the tech experts.
goku33 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 11:19 pm
Also I wanted to ask if eMule/amule automatically display any kind of previews of search results?
If you mean a short video preview that you can play back, absolutely NOT! Search results are text only and include access to the ed2k hashes. (The eMule equivalent of .torrent file hashes.) You have to download at least some of the file before you have any of the contents. AFTER you have downloaded a significant portion of the video, you can sometimes Preview what you have downloaded so far. (Such as in a media player like VLC.) Of course this is dependent on how complete the time index is. You may have it 70% complete but only be able to play two minutes. Sometimes that will tell you whether you want to continue downloading, as certain media players can also give you codec information.
I’ve read that in some countries eMule is used for lots of illegal activities, so I wonder if you can accidentally download/share illegal content without explicitly clicking on „download“.
No, you can not accidentally download anything unless you are really really drunk and have a blackout. You must choose to download it.
Honestly, EVERY SINGLE TOOL USED ONLINE is used for illegal activities. And sometimes they are not. File sharing, social media, cryptocurrency -- anyone can use them for any purpose, including criminal ones. eMule has the same legal status as torrenting, although these days it is much lower profile. Make your own choices. If you are concerned about copyright lawyers looking for easy targets, then do not download the recent movies they are seeking to protect. Get the older forgotten movies instead, they are better anyway.
There is PLENTY of porn available on eMule, but I don't download it. Most of it is pretty obvious from the titles, although an "innocent" search term like "Dad" will also give results that are clearly porn and perhaps not what you were looking for. In rare cases, a file will be misnamed either accidentally or deliberately, because there are still trolls and rotten brats online. Your safest course is to choose files that have already been vetted by trusted sources, such as other FLM users. Of course sometimes we DO share search results BEFORE we have downloaded them ourselves. In those cases you have to decide for yourself if it is worth the "risk". The vast majority of the time for the eMule searches that I download, a file is exactly what it claims to be. My biggest risk is downloading something of lower video quality than I had hoped.
I have VPN/Mullvad. Which can do port forwarding.
Yes, absolutely use your VPN for eMule! Set up the port forwarding with specificly chosen ports
for eMule! This provides greater security, anonymity, and makes eMule work better.