But some programs, unless instructed otherwise, leave their users especially vulnerable to prying eyes.
They search the entire hard drive not only for media files, but also programs and documents created by Microsoft Word and Excel as well as Quicken, which keeps track of financial transactions and account details.
"The LimeWire installation is a little dangerous for people who don't pay attention and we'll have to address this issue in future releases," said Greg Bilden, chief operating officer and chief technology officer at LimeWire LLC.
Bilden said the company must balance the need to make the program simple to use while protecting novice users. There are 3 million active LimeWire users worldwide.
For now, Bilden and other experts advise users to be very careful when they install any P2P software and designate which folders to share with the outside world. They also should periodically monitor files uploaded from their computer and keep in mind that some programs continue to run in the background even when they appear to be closed.
With the growing popularity of digital cameras, photographs make up the largest percentage of files shared unintentionally as a growing number of people load home pictures onto their hard drives.
"There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of photos out there," said Rich Vogel, who posts many of the images he finds on his "Found Photos" Web site (http://www.10eastern.com/foundphotos.html).
The site includes various everyday shots ranging from the mundane to embarrassing to just plain bizarre.
"I mainly look for pictures that will make you smile or display interesting photography," Vogel said. "But there is a voyeuristic aspect to this."
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