Am I torrenting anonymously? Help!

poedameron

I am connected to the internet using PIA VPN client software, Windows 10 upgrade on HP Laptop. Here are my PIA settings:

Connection type: UPD
Remote Port: Auto
VPN Kill Switch: Enabled
DNS Leak Protection: Enabled
IPv6 Leak Protection: Enabled
Small Packets: Enabled

I have also configured my browsers so they won't allow WebRTC leaks. I've changed my settings in Windows so that I'm using DNS servers from OpenNIC Project.

I checked my IP, DNS, and WebRTC addresses on iPLeak.net, and everything looks good.

In the uTorrent settings I have disabled UPnP and NAT. I checked my torrent ip using 3 different magnet link ip checkers and they all show I have the same torrent ip as the one I'm using on PIA.

When I run netstat command and check active connections I see addresses under "Foreign Addresses" that match addresses in peer swarm in uTorrent.

Am I missing something or doing something wrong? Am I being paranoid? Help!

moshbeast

Sounds like you're setup good...couple other things..in utorrent, make sure you have forced encryption set as opposed to it being disabled which is the default setting, and make sure allow legacy connections is unchecked ...check the box for randomize port on startup in utorrent and if your not worried about your file sharing brethren, you can set your global upload rate to 1 as opposed to 0 so torrents won't seed or upload anything while your downloading ( 0 is infinite not nothing in utorrent...1 is pretty much 0 and most torrents won't seed at all and if they do its minuscule ) ..also remove all trackers from your torrents as you don't need them to download anything...I have PIAs encryption set at 256,256 and 4096.,,nobody ever gets any notices using PIA anyways, and as long as you keep checking your torrent IP periodically when downloading ( right click on my torrentIP and hit update tracker ) and you have the killswitch enabled ( check that too, disconnect from VPN and see if you have internet, hopefully you don't lol ), you should be OK....also one more thing..i have PIAs proxy set up in utorrent for this reason...if for some reason the VPN fails and the killswitch doesn't work, at least your IP is PIAs even if nothing is encrypted ...good luck!!!

poedameron

Thanks for the reply

My Protocol Encryption setting for Outgoing was set to Forced. Allow incoming connections was checked, so I unchecked it. 

I have enabled randomize port each start and I set global upload rate to 0.

I do have kill switch option set

The rest I'm not sure how to do. Not sure how to remove trackers or setting your PIA encryption. Also, I thought it wasn't a good idea to use a proxy and vpn at the same time. Also heard port forwarding is less secure

catcher749

You don't need to force protocol encryption, as the VPN is already encrypting your data. Also if you disable incoming legacy connections, you are significantly impairing your ability to connect to peers. Furthermore, not seeding is considered leeching and is not good for the community.

moshbeast

You don't need to force protocol encryption, as the VPN is already encrypting your data. Also if you disable incoming legacy connections, you are significantly impairing your ability to connect to peers. Furthermore, not seeding is considered leeching and is not good for the community.

No offense,

Thanks for the reply

My Protocol Encryption setting for Outgoing was set to Forced. Allow incoming connections was checked, so I unchecked it. 

I have enabled randomize port each start and I set global upload rate to 0.

I do have kill switch option set

The rest I'm not sure how to do. Not sure how to remove trackers or setting your PIA encryption. Also, I thought it wasn't a good idea to use a proxy and vpn at the same time. Also heard port forwarding is less secure

If you don't want to upload or seed, your global upload rate should be set at 1, not 0...when set at 0 it uploads like crazy....you get busted more for seeding and uploading more than for downloading....that's why I suggested this...I've never been concerned about the spirit of file sharing...Im more concerned about not getting notices, hate me if you will...disabling allow legacy connections has not impacted download speeds that much on my end...and I've never experienced any conflict at all with the proxy in utorrent and the VPN being on together even though I've heard it's possible....finally when a magnet link or torrent opens up in utorrent, you get that little box open that shows you what the files the torrent contains....in the bottom left hand corner, there is an advanced button...click it and it opens a window with the trackers in it...hit the delete button then hit OK...done

benq1

Now im really confused i have set up utorrent as shown above, then read a post that said that using the newer version of utorrent is better (my virus software says it contains malware) so i'm running V 3.1.3 thought i'd ask in chat and they said yes the newer version would be better and then sent me a list of settings to adjust in utorrent one in particular was uncheck randomize port on start up,here is a copy of all the settings that they gave me
Please go into the Options Menu, and click on Connection:
We want to ensure that "Enable UPnP Port Mapping", "Enable NAT-PMP Port Mapping", and "Randomize port each start" are all unchecked. If you are using Port Forwarding in our Application, please enter the forwarded port in the "Port used for incoming connections" field.
If your main goal for torrents is speed, and sharing back to the swarm, please do not enable the Proxy server options, as this will slow down your downloads, and inhibit sharing back to the swarm.

Please also click on the BitTorrent Tab, and uncheck "Enable Bandwidth Management [uTP]"
For Maximum security, please uncheck "Enable DHT Network" and "Enable DHT for new torrents" These options may lead to having less seeds, but is more secure, and anonymous.
Sorry to be a dumb ass about this i have been trying to get this sorted by reading the forums but its getting confusing now thanks for any help that i can get

YN1F

Hi friend---

Login here and go to your Control Panel. Scroll to bottom-right of the page and generate a username & password for 'PPTP/L2TP/SOCKS' .....and then follow the instructions in this tutorial. 

FYI: This is PIA's socks5 address and connection port:

SOCKS5 Proxy 

proxy-nl.privateinternetaccess.com port 1080 

If you follow the tutorial I've linked for you, you'll be fine as far as anonymity in your torrenting.