Torrents were downloading even when PIA Client disconnected

whichseatcanitake

I'm very new to this PIA business.

My goal

To anonymize myself from my ISP and safely download torrents.

What I have done:

My PIA Client has the following settings:

http://postimg.org/image/ear4wks1p/

I'm NOT using a proxy.

My concern:

• I was downloading a few torrents through BitTorrent 7.7.3 on Windows 7 64-bit.
  
• The PIA Client was running and the icon was dark green ("Connected")
  
• I think I was on a bad server and intermittently the PIA icon would be light green ("Connecting"). When this happened, I was not able to browse, probably meaning the Kill Switch feature is working. However, my torrents were still running. This is very concerning to me because it would mean my IP is being leaked intermittently.

What I need:

I am looking for a solution to prevent this from happening and to anonymize myself.

[Also, if anyone has tips on how to increase download speeds, please let me know I am only getting 250kbps max when I was able to get around 1Mbps before I started using PIA]

Osborne_Cox

Two things you can do; use a torrent client that supports binding to network adapter such as qBittorrent (then bind to the TAP-Win32 adapter used by PIA), and use a firewall to block non-tunnel traffic:
https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/10218/build-your-own-vpn-kill-switch-in-windows-comodo/

heyitsme

You also might try setting your "Connection Type" in the client to UDP. Unless you have problems using UDP it's recommended since it is "faster".

whichseatcanitake

Two things you can do; use a torrent client that supports binding to network adapter such as qBittorrent (then bind to the TAP-Win32 adapter used by PIA), and use a firewall to block non-tunnel traffic:
https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/10218/build-your-own-vpn-kill-switch-in-windows-comodo/

Thanks for the link!

whichseatcanitake

You also might try setting your "Connection Type" in the client to UDP. Unless you have problems using UDP it's recommended since it is "faster".

But doesn't the UDP type have a higher chance of downloading a corrupt file?

lrr100

Be binded to the vpn when using torrent client programs. Proxies are not encrypted. When PIA goes down, your ip is exposed. Good question.

OmniNegro

You also might try setting your "Connection Type" in the client to UDP. Unless you have problems using UDP it's recommended since it is "faster".

But doesn't the UDP type have a higher chance of downloading a corrupt file?

The torrent client checks each and every part of the file as it is downloaded. It has a mathematical hash of what each piece should be, and if it gets a part of the torrent that does not match what it knows it should, it already knows that part is corrupt and discards it to download again.

VPNTester

use proxy = double protection

worst case scenario => your IP will show Netherlands

VPNTester

use proxy = double protection

worst case scenario => your IP will show Netherlands

Omnibus_IV

I would also recommend installing Comodo Firewall (just the firewall). You can set it up so if your VPN connection breaks you can kill the torrent immediately. I use it and tested it by downloading a test video file via torrent. I disconnected my VPN and the file stopped downloading without hesitation.