Any tips before my first foray into P2P ?

I am about to take my first foray into the world of P2P having previously not really paid any attention to it. Before I do, I would like to garner the combined knowledge of people on Wilder's to make sure I don't make any obvious mistakes. To that end, below are some of my questions.....

1) I understand there are different types of Torrent, and am swaying towards using a BitTorrent client. Is this the best torrent to use or are there better ones ?

2) Which of the following BT clients is best and why ?

- µTorrent (utorrent.com)
- BitSpirit >>LINK REMOVED<<
- Azureus (azureus.sourceforge.net)

3) I've heard of security issues when using P2P software. What exactly are these security issues, and how can I minimise, or ideally eliminate, any risk ?

4) How exactly do I go about finding files that I might want to download ?

5) Is it possible to use a BT client in conjunction with Tor anonymous proxy ?

Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated.

 

1) I understand there are different types of Torrent, and am swaying towards using a BitTorrent client. Is this the best torrent to use or are there better ones ?

As far as i am aware there is just bit torrent. It is a type of P2P, there are different types of P2P networks, bit torrent is one.

2) Which of the following BT clients is best and why ?

- Azureus (azureus.sourceforge.net)

Is the best of the three you have chose, but the one i use and most people swear by is Bitcomet.

3) I've heard of security issues when using P2P software. What exactly are these security issues, and how can I minimise, or ideally eliminate, any risk ?

Security for your computer while using Bit torrent is not an issue as far as i am aware, unless you are doing it to download copyrighted material. Then you will need something to anonymise yourself. (but if you were wishing to do this, i doubt youd be asking this question on a site like willders). Just make sure to virus scan your downloaded .exe files just to make sure. But that is just commen sence anyway.


4) How exactly do I go about finding files that I might want to download ?

Bitcomet has prectically every singe Torrent hosting site on a list on the left. Just click one and search. Or web sites that offere torrents will usually tell you how to obtain the torrent file.

5) Is it possible to use a BT client in conjunction with Tor anonymous proxy ?

Dont know this one.

 

Hi, Bittorrent is very safe compared to alot of networks, but it has its risks as well. For information on whats sites to use and where to get started visit www.slyck.com. Most Bitorrent sites have sections where people review the files, so make sure you read what they write as it could save you from downloading a Trojan or worse. Its also worth downloading a program like this;

PeerGuardian 2 http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs’ premier IP blocker for Windows. PeerGuardian 2 integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P

Hope this helps

T

 

lol - don't

Be prepared for scans galore from unfriendly sources.
Always keep your IPDat file up-to-date and log those
unfriendly scans and add them to the banned list.

I got fed up with it all and have given it up for a while.
Also, avoid incomplete uploads. Some people have files
that are deliberately missing parts - just check sources
to make sure all parts are there before downloading.

Good luck

 

2. i currently use utorrent since its super light and simple but if u dont need to download all the files in a torrent or need more power then give bitcomet or azureus a try. azureus, like nod32, has lots of options but being based on java, it can use quite a huge chunk of memory. bitcomet is somewhat in the middle.

3. in p2p the risks u face are possible malware in the files (mostly on fasttrack network aka kazaa) and copyright issues.

4. search for torrent sites. i use isohunt and piratebay.

5. heres a guide for azureus otherwise try google

 

Personally I've had more luck finding torrent files on eMule than anywhere else. eMule has some nice security functions built in.. it will create it's own user account and run in that. I like Azerus for torrents.. I used the actual BitTorrent client before but it was always crashing.. Azerus has been great. I use eMule for my primary program, though, but if a torrent file pops up in a search I'm doing I will try to go with that. You could also run the program in a sandbox, like DefenseWall, BufferZone (they make versions specifically for p2p clients), Sandboxie (I'd imagine), etc., if you want to take the extra measure. You could also use DropMyRights, or run it in a limited user account to begin with.

Just get a good firewall. Look'n'Stop with Phant0m's is the best I've found for p2p.. and some of the extended settings Phant0m put in do trigger alerts once in a while. Harden-It is good here, too.

If you are using XP SP2, you will probably want to patch the TCP/IP stack, otherwise you're likely to notice your network connection continually dropping, if not choking all together. This is due to SP2's limit on half-open connections, put in to slow the spread of worms. Since you're here, I'd imagine you've got more than adequate malware protection anyway.

 

In utorrent, go to the files tab, select any unwanted files, right-click on them and choose 'Don't Download'.

utorrent has everything most people will need in a BT client.

 

mustve missed that since i dont view the detailed status bar, thanx

 

As a die hard Azureus fan, uTorrent rules, can't beat its 106kb exe and 6mb load. Does the same job of downloading as any other clients without much doo dads and its fast. Use a higher than 50,000 number port to avoid ISP throttling issues.

 

i like the windows version of Azureus. it has a good chat client too in the plugins part. but, i think Bitcomet is the fastest.

here's a good torrent searcher.
http://ts.kurtubba.com/

 

Thanks for the link , T

 

Azureus is probably considered the best client out there but after trying it, I found I prefer Bit Tornado by Degreez (stable version). If you're going to download video ( or anything copyrighted), definitely get Peer Guardian 2 as I think that Bittorrent is where the MPAA is currently focusing their attention. Also, excellent link iceni, thanks.

 

Hi, I may not be the most respoected member of this forum, however i've been arround p2p sice i had my first 56k modem. This being said i am not the security first type of guy, I organise my security in fonction to best overall p2p / security experience.


TIP 1: p2p doesnt play well with firewall/router (natively). If you cannot receive incoming connection you are a dead leave for the network and you'll suffer from bad speed. If you have a p2p problem it's the fault of your firewall 95% of the time... if you have a problem with your firewall it's because of p2p

p2p will do a very high stress for any firewall that read each packet in order to "protect" you. What i personnaly recommand is inbound protection firwall well configured and no outbout protection, at leat not for the p2p application. You do as you wish, but common sens will tell you that if your machine is clean then outbound protection is of little use.

TIP 2: There's 3 types of p2p application

2.1: 0 days, those are application like bittorent. It is important to realise that in this particular protocol, ppl have to actively share a file in order to send it to other. It is not shared just because it is in a shared directory. This have two major effects: first is that file being downloaded actually will have better speed that file being released a few months ago. Torrent die by themself, however they give better speed for any recent files. This is also a good "security" mesure. If a file is infected and is a scam ... the torrent die by itself and it's just not shared anymore. If you want to try bittorent, i say the best protection you have is to find a nice community. As you already know torrent doesnt get searched, ther are http distribued on web site wich often have forum. You know who posted what so you can build trust, just like you would build trust with other wilders security forum member

2.2 Popular. If you need a quick fix. A file not recent enougth to be active on bittorent, or you may look only at a single song and not a full disc ( please limit your download to comon creative license or such to stay in legality )
This is where you'll find the most viruses
just be carefull of the extentions or to attracting filename
All ipod secrets.txt.exe / Free nude screensaver.exe / Half life 2 Mega Cheat.exe
You know those are quite suspect
Those thing are KazaA Lite (Fastrack)
Bearchare / LimeWire / FrostWire (Gnutella)
Ares / Wares (kazaa clones, cleaner network)

2.3 Storage
Edonkey, emule .. you'll find prety much all those rare thing, or thing you trust more that popular, but it's awfully slow compared to other two


Tip 3:
RTFM No really on many p2p release the instruction is in a file.nfo
If you double click on it, it'll lauch the system information of xp ??
This have nothing to do, .nfo are just text file that have a special extention
It is generally the manual, so read it carefully

You'll see alot of different strange characters in it ▓▓▀██Ì▒▓▓▓
Generally it just look like garbage. Actually it's ASCII ART. Some character while put together have different contrat / shade of black and you can draw some pretty impressive picture with it. I recommand DAMN NFO Viewer to view such textfiles, its easily findable on google and free.

On the same category of strange file is file_id.diz

Tip 4: .sfv file is just some md5 hashes to verify a file is not corrupted

Tip 5: .001 .002 .003 files are a .rar archive splited in different part
Most of p2p stuff is compressed using this winrar, it is worth trialing it

Tip 6: .iso .mdf .bin .ccd .cue are cd images you either burn them to spare cd or load them using Alcohol 120% or other cd emulator

Tip 7: Have fun and be really carefull. Sometime good thing are bundled with bad thing. Like a pefect working software is bundled with a setup.exe, just read the nfo before doing anything

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Now for BT client.
Azureus and utorrent are like david and goliath

Azureus is really packed with everything you need however it's a ram eater
uTorrent is a nice little client with a very active forum. They also are releasing new version about each month.

What i suggest to a newcommer is uTorrent first. It have a nice little seach in the top rigth which will introduce you to some well know torrent site. However as i have said. Security for torrent is really depending of you community. SO huge site like piratebay have more chance of being targeted by virus uploader than other site ( still i never really found naything bad there )

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Then if you need a popular (2.2) type i suggest bearshare lite
On their main website you have a choise between pro and normal
DO NOT USE NORMAL it'S bundled with some spyware
they have also a lite version, but it's not accesible from their main page
you have to know the url ( something like /lite lol )

i hope this help.


And again i reapeat, on most p2p support forum, your question will be answeared with a faq on how to configure your router firewall, they simply don't go to well together.

If your not sure about a file, do not woryy, just scan it with your antivirus.
If a virus is old enough to be popular on p2p, av compagny will have spoted it.
Often i have nod32 interupt me from doing a download because the file was indeed a virus.

 

and now to answear your question

1) I understand there are different types of Torrent, and am swaying towards using a BitTorrent client. Is this the best torrent to use or are there better ones ?

there are different type of Torrent ?
NO, there only have different type of p2p, (see my last post)
Wich is best, depend of your need and how old is the file (see my last post)


2) Which of the following BT clients is best and why ?

None is best, every single n00b ask this question
Which is the best antivirus ??
Which is the best firewall is even harder to answear
Just go and try
Personally i alwais used Azureus and have faith it's the best one
Now i'm pleased to have very low ressource with uTorrent

3) I've heard of security issues when using P2P software. What exactly are these security issues, and how can I minimise, or ideally eliminate, any risk ?

You cannot eleminate any risk. Those risk are the same (nearly) as downloading a hundred of free screensaver a day. You'll end up wit both legit files ans virus / spyware on your HD. however those viruses are innofensive until you launch them. You'll have to be more carefull with what file you open that is all. Fortunately a nice and up to date antivirus as a first line of defense and a second line of defense like micorsoft antispyware or ewido or regdefend will assist you if you have not chosen well

Wise decision, common sens and up to date layered protection will be perfect.



4) How exactly do I go about finding files that I might want to download ?

In normal p2p, you have to search and it is that way
In Bittorent you need to find nice tracker.
You'll download a .torrent file wich will contain the hashes of the file and the indication to where you find them. use google to find nice torrent site and be carefull with scam

5) Is it possible to use a BT client in conjunction with Tor anonymous proxy ?

yes, only Azureus can do that ( well maybe another can too )