Dear Lifehacker,
My favorite private BitTorrent tracker, Demonoid, has apparently gone down for good. I was so dependent on it for its quality, security from viruses, and protection from prying eyes. Where can I torrent safely now that Demonoid is gone?
Sincerely,
Lost and Leeching
Dear Lost,
This is an interesting question, and the answer is going to go in directions you may not have expected. First, we need to clear up a few common misconceptions, about BitTorrent and about Demonoid specifically. We've already recommended more secure ways to share files online—like the much safer Usenet (set it up in three easy steps here) or the truly private BitTorrent trackers—so I won't get into that here. The main thing you need to know is that Demonoid, while a fine site, was likely not nearly as safe and anonymous as you probably thought.
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I was getting myself setup to download torrents without using a client by using BitLet. When I went back to get my Mass Storage Drivers Pack’s torrent link, my click was intercepted by my “Free Download Manager”, and I was very surprised to be reminded that this program also handles torrents. UTorrent and Bittorrent are both torrent clients which allow users to download. Having without having to add your IP address to a torrent swarm, use Usenet. How can I torrent movies and other media without getting caught? NordVPN provides shared IP to all its users which mean you can’t be distinguished and tracked by your IP address on the internet as all the IP addresses provided by NordVPN is same. Yes all torrents can get tracked anytime you know when it happens, but you have a less risk of that happening if you a biopass or something to reduce your chance of that happening.
Is Usenet Safer than BitTorrent?
Dear Lifehacker,I've been downloading torrents for a long time and people keep telling me…
Read moreA VPN, or virtual private network, is crucial to use while torrenting. In other words, without meaning to, you could engage in illegal activity that could. So it cannot be traced back to you, and you don't have to stress while trying to download. Owned by BitTorrent Inc.) The files that are being downloaded are called torrents. Dec 21, 2017 - And don't get a free one, they usually sell your data which defeats the purpose of he. How do you download torrents without being tracked?
ReadIn fact, many common BitTorrent 'safety' precautions aren't really doing you any good.
Demonoid Was Not a Private Tracker
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The Problem: Demonoid was often perceived as great because it was considered a private tracker. You could only download torrents on Demonoid if you had an account, and you couldn't just sign up for an account anytime you wanted. You either needed to get invited by another user, or wait for one of their limited 'open signup' periods.
However, Demonoid invites were incredibly easy to come by, and open signups were held often, meaning virtually anyone could join the community. They had few rules on who was allowed to participate, what kind of quality was allowed, and they'd even sometimes list torrents from other trackers. All of these things together gave a false sense of security, when in reality anyone could come on in and seed viruses, leech without seeding, or—in the cases of those pirating content—track what you were downloading (potentially resulting in a letter to your ISP).
The Solution: If you want faster, high quality downloads with strict community rules, check out our guide to private trackers for suggestions. Note that they'll be much harder to get into, so you'll have to be patient and ready to seed your torrents 24/7.
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Encryption and PeerBlock Do Not Protect You from Prying Eyes
The Problem: Many BitTorrent users, in an effort to hide their activity from media companies, the government, hackers, or other organizations, encrypt their traffic and use a program called PeerBlock to block known snoopers from connecting to you. Unfortunately, neither of these solutions can truly hide you. PeerBlock can't possibly know everyone that could try to snoop your traffic, and is only going to give you a false sense of security. Many users have gotten 'caught' torrenting while using PeerBlock. Similarly, while encryption used to protect you from ISP throttling, ISPs have found other means of snooping on your traffic.
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What Does My Internet Provider See When I'm Downloading Torrents?
How To Download Torrent Files Without Being Tracked
Dear Lifehacker,I've done lots of research about my Internet Service Provider's…
Read more ReadThe Solution: There's no harm in using encryption and PeerBlock, but they aren't enough to keep your traffic hidden. If you really want to keep other people out of your business, you'll need to use a proxy like BTGuard, a VPN like one of these, or other similar methods. And yes, you'll probably have to pay money for these services, so if you're looking for free solutions, you're mostly out of luck.
How to Completely Anonymize Your BitTorrent Traffic with a Proxy
BitTorrent isn’t the quiet haven it once was. These days, everyone’s looking to throttle your…
Read more ReadAdvertisement
Not All VPNs Are Created Equal
The Problem: Lastly, some people go to sign up for a proxy of VPN service—which is good—but sign up for one that doesn't take privacy seriously—which is bad. Many VPN services, like the very popular HideMyAss, keep logs of all your activity and will gladly offer it up to those that ask for it. This means your data is barely safer than if you had foregone the VPN in the first place.
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The Solution: If you want to use a proxy or VPN, do your research and find out how committed they are to privacy. Make sure they don't keep logs, and see what their policy is on sharing information with third parties. TorrentFreak has a great guide to finding a committed VPN provider (and we have our own picks), so I recommend starting there if you're looking to anonymize your traffic.
Why You Should Be Using a VPN (and How to Choose One)
You may know what a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is; you probably don’t use one. You really…
Read more ReadObviously, the best way to avoid getting in trouble is not to pirate, and the best way to get high quality content is to go to the original, physical source (if possible). But unfortunately, BitTorrent is under so much heat that even legitimate BitTorrent users need to take precautions to avoid throttling, viruses, and other problems, and the above suggestions should help you do that. While Demonoid was a better site than most public trackers, it was not the Holy Grail of BitTorrent trackers by any means, and you should take this time to make sure you're really being safe.
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Sincerely,
Lifehacker
Photo by Mmaxer (Shutterstock).
Can Torrents Be Tracked
In my college, Torrent downloads are blocked, so now I can’t download any large software. Please give a solution for how to download Torrent file. Is there any software available or not?
Pirate Bay
Go to the wrench menu > Settings > Under the Hood > Change proxy settings... > LAN Settings and deselect the 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' checkbox.
THIS MESSAGE COMING WHAT I CAN DO
our torrents are blocked by cyberoam..........
any way to by pass it and download torrents files n the contents in it???test
you can download any blocked file (including torrent files) by using:
It lets you rename/encode the file you download so it bypasses any blocks exist on a specific file type.
some more solutions:
Download Torrents Without A Client Via Torrent2Exe [Windows]
//www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-torrents-without-a-client-via-torrent2exe-windows/How To Direct Download Any Torrent Files Using Torrific
//www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-direct-download-torrent-files-torrific/There are http torrent sites, where you can download via your web browser:
Hope that helps...
Aha, you are in luck as we have a whole post dedicated to this particular problem. Read my colleague Jeffry's post on 5 Ways To Bypass Torrent Connection Blocking.
Go over the comments too for more hints.Of course, the best bypass technique is to do the download from your home instead of using the college bandwidth :) Any malware infection could infect the whole college network, so you have that responsibility as a student too.