Patent ID: 8245036

Claim:
A user computing device comprising: a processor; storage having a trusted member list of computing devices of a decentralized peer-to-peer network; a transceiver that communicates with the computing devices of the trusted member list via a communication mechanism; a peer-to-peer network program which communicates through the transceiver with the computing devices running a copy of the peer-to-peer network program, the peer-to-peer network program sends computer files, queries and instructions to and receives computer files, queries and instructions from the other computer devices; a crypto API that encrypts and decrypts files, the processor sending a first search request created by the peer-to-peer network program for a first desired computer file from the transceiver to the computing devices via the communication mechanism, and the transceiver receiving the first desired computer file from a first user computing device of the computing devices via the communication mechanism; the processor sending a second search request created by the peer-to-peer network program for a second desired computer file from the transceiver to the computing devices via that communication mechanism, and the transceiver receiving the second desired computer file from a second user computing device of the computing devices via the communication mechanism; and a findme file created by the peer-to-peer network program which contains IP addresses of the computing devices, and network names of the computing devices, and wherein the peer-to-peer network program, through the transceiver, uses the findme file in the computing devices to establish the trusted member list.