If you can see the internet through this then so do others..
It's probably safe particularly if it is a big package
I have personally never used eMute so I have do direct experience with it but using it the way you describe should be reasonably safe.
If you are really Paranoid use the CD in a Reader not a burner to boot the system from.
Because I'm cheap and lazy the system that I use like that only has the bare minimum in it but then again it's not used much and it was made from spare parts lying around at the time.
Just remember to scan the storage device before using it anywhere else.
I connect the computer in question directly to the ISP's Interfacing device and have no other computers or LAN connection present when I do things like this. I expect problems and so far have been presently surprised. But I may add So Far. 
Col
I'm surprised eMule has anything you want ...
I spent an afternoon wandering through the eMule hallways and found it rather confusing - but HEY!, maybe that's just me! :^0
I've utilised p2p in the form of Limewire and occasionally run through uTorrent. All of these instances are through my Acer laptop.
Maybe that's what destroyed my hard drive. 
Still, better (?) to lose a 60GB laptop hard drive than a 500GB tower hard drive eh?
I tend to shut the network down when the Acer is wirelessly connected to any p2p source, and religiously scan any completed downloads before using/transferring them.
With suitable precautions, in all seriousness, I don't think you're at any more risk than usual. :)
After all, when I was growing up my Granny used to tell me I could catch nasty things from dirty toilet-seats, but nowadays we all know that the typical computer keyboard is more highly contaminated than most toilet seats - I'm still trying to find the guy who sat on MY keyboard!!
<Afterthought>
eMule: How risky is it?
While the eMule code looks legit, since I'm paranoid and don't trust it, I plan to run it on a PC running Mandriva Linux on a LiveCD (no hard drive).
LiveCD Linux distros are hard to hack, and anything bad gets erased by rebooting the PC. Storage is to a usb jump drive, and no data other than the files downloaded will be on this PC.
While I know that p2p on a normal PC is a great big fat ugly security risk...but on a hardened Linux PC with no data, is there a risk?
If I have to open firewall ports to make eMule work, then it will go into a saz/dmz such that other PCs on the LAN won't be vulnerable.
This conversation is currently closed to new comments.