This post can be seen as a quick ‘howto’ covering the subject of protection in the P2P world in general, and BitTorrent specificly.
First of all, I recommend everyone to install PeerGuardian. Especially if you’re living in the USA, this is a must. PeerGuardian is some kind of firewall designed to protect the privacy of P2P users. It will block all traffic coming from suspicious IP addresses.
Secondly, be very carefull when downloading .exe files (sometimes packed in .rar files). If you’re unsure, upload the .exe file to this online malware scan website before opening it. If a torrent contains a virus (or spyware), use the “Report a problem” link so we can remove the torrent as soon as possible.
And last but not least, if you’re downloading games or movies, make sure they’re listed at NFOrce and/or VCD Quality. If you can’t find them there, big chance it’s not what you’re searching for.
swedupe rocks too, nforce is far from being complete when it comes to tv shows for ex.
I totally agree. Install PG2 and have it update automatically. This is the least and the easiest way to protect yourself. cheers xxx
Another good resource is the SafePeer plugin for Azureus. Even with PeerGuardian installed and running, it is still possible for the “bad” peers to get your IP address. I use both.
good tips
thanks for the headsup but peerguardian seems to DRASTICALLY reduce my browsing speed, and some websites cant be visited, any ideas?
One little comment– the BitLord torrent client you guys recommend– it contains some malware/spyware/whatever you want to call it. I understand this may be an advertising agreement, but whatever pays the bills
Thanks for the website!
thanks for the info and I love the site. Keep it up!
Oh could we see more humourous mails you guys get please?
Hey guys,
thanks for the hint
take care
(nette site trouwes)
Another good idea is to research what you are going to be downloading
Say, you waht the latest album, by Artist/Group, X.
Google for “X” (group name in quotations), and looks for any links that would point to a record label website, and the like.
Often times, on the artists website they will say exactly who they are affiliated with (what label).
So, you could then goto ARIN.net, and do some wildcard searches for that label name.
Now, once you have your lists of IPs, put them into Pg format using description:r.a.n.ge-r.a.n.ge
and then import them into Pg2
very good advice r00ted
lordrohith..you can click the allow http on pg2 and you should be able to visit any site at all..usually pg will block alot of http from going thru, and you can either allow for a small amount of time or just keep it on allow http and never worry about it. I prefer a small reduction in my downloading speed over losing the ability to download this stuff at all.
oh come on .. everyone knows the best ip blocker is protowall, its much less resource hungry and because its a device driver its as fast as you will ever get on windows. get it from http://www.bluetack.co.uk
ugh dammit that was an irc quote…
it stripped the nick…
Gambit20011: “sounds like the claims of penis enlargement”
is how it should have read
oh thanks endlessecho
I thought my ZoneAlarm was blocking everything-but I’m gonna get PeerGuardian too.Mininova’s the best!
I have never used peer guardian and so far so good, been quite a while too, more-less the beginning of Suprnova. Just commenting to say what a great place Mininova has come to be.
i’d like to know how to sign up
If you love on a university campus PG2 is a MUST.
if you really want to stay safe on the net check into smooth wall it uses a pc with two network cards filtering your data keeping out hackers to.
How real is the protection offered by SafePeer, Peerguardian or similar programs? I have serious doubts. These merely block a published list of IP addresses. It wouldn’t be difficult at all to get a new IP address. The whole blocking thing seems pretty dubious to me.
On the other hand, with Bittorrent, in order for the MPAA or RIAA to actually get your IP address, they must download (and share) their own file. If they are sharing their own file, isn’t that the same thing as entrapment?
I was comment 17, correction.. USE PEER GUARDIAN. I have been caught, this is all.
everyone seems to be getting caught,it’s just a matter of time,tol they get to your social security number
Peerguardian and PG2 and protowall, and everything else of the sort is TOTALLY useless. it provides placebo protection. companies (especially HBO, jesus guys i just want to watch roman people fucking) outsource most of their pirating crackdown procedures. all of this companies use dynamic and changing IPs, meaning no published list is of any good. What you need is a USB key firewall, like the yoggie Pico. PG may stop a company from gaining info once they already have your IP, BUT THEY ALREADY HAVE IT, they don’t need anything else…
Word of warning… PG2 Vista release is NOT ready for prime time. Most of the time it does NOT actually block anything. Check the running list of blocked IPs. If there’s nothing there… shut it down.
miguel, IP’s are useless without the co-operation of the internet companies who provide you your service. It’s against all kinds of privacy laws for Internet Companies to release your private info based on just an IP address. Now mind you, I live in Canada who is in the middle of a possible DMCA crackdown of our own. But even with the crackdown, if Internet companies release personal info requested from an IP address, their claims hold no water as it’s direct violation of privacy acts.
So, is the consensus to simply get PG2 or some equivalent and hope for the best??
I use multiple high anonymity proxy proxys.
The logical method of doing this is simple, have a group of established, trusted members, all able to contribute by the following:……… initially block ALL internet traffic then begin by investigating each IP individually and if acceptable add it to the list. May seem slow but in the end you’d have mostly accurate data regarding what was safe or not. Cherrio!