WinMX was one of the most downloaded p2p file sharing programs on the internet at the beginning of the decade. It ran on Windows operating systems from Windows 98 through Windows 2000. Free WinMX was the name of the game back when it first started in 2001. Now Win MX is officially offline, although some third party programs still use its powerful interface.

It was a lawsuit from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in regards to copyright issues stemming from the downloaded music and video files and more. Plus with the dummy files that were increasingly posted by opponents to the p2p technology, WinMX downloads were on the decrease anyway. As a result, free trials of WinMX lost popularity.

WinMX free downloads started as an Open NAP client which had a way for connecting multiple servers at the same time. Eventually, the connection protocol became proprietary. This first version was a WinMX 2 version. This version became phased out for the WinMx 3 free download. What was cool about this downloadable WinMX is that is was a powerful file sharing tool and had a built-in web browser, a media player and even an organizer to keep track of your files.

You can still find free WinMX downloads on such websites as Older Versions because some people, through third party clients, still use the application. However, because the official WinMx website is no longer functioning and many users have gone on to other p2p applications, don’t expect much WinMx help. There is some question of whether or not if WinMX is still legal or not. The official site and company is no longer so anyone who uses the software and does so with the intent of downloading copyrighted material could get into trouble.

As mentioned before you can still download old versions of WinMX. There is the WinMX 2.6 that you can download free now. There is some versions of p2p free WinMX Limewire applications too if you know where to look. A problem that you may run into should you choose to download this old software is that if there were any WinMX patches for them, chances are that you would not be able to get them now.

So while WinMX was a powerful p2p application tool and still is in some respect, why bother? There are plenty of free p2p applications these days that comply with copyright rules and are safe to use. You would best expend your efforts on one of these instead.