Imgormiel
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PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: Filtering False and Fake Torrents
By Colin S.
Tip #1 - Avoiding Bad Torrents
In the last couple of years a few organizations have begun seeding the internet with bad torrents. Generally these are manifested as torrents that stall or fail at 95%, even though there may be many seeders. Other reports tell stories of entirely blank data after decompression. These false and fake torrents probably exist for a couple of reasons; to frustrate users, as vehicles for delivering viruses and trojans, or potentially for gathering IP information that may be used against you in any situation that warrants it.
The good thing is, there are a limited number of bad torrent seeders out there, and a quick Google search (say for “bad torrent IPâ€) will give you the information for reacting. For example, IP addresses of “questionable torrent seeders†can be blocked in most Bit-Torrent clients. If the torrent client is set to block the IPs in question, you essentially mask yourself from these organizations.
Look through the settings or options of your torrent client, and you could save time by not downloading bad torrents, or being directly tracked. While you're at it, read PCSTATS guide to legally copying software and music.
Tip #2 - Speeding up Torrent Transfer Rates
The Bit-Torrent protocol is one of the most popular ways (if not the most popular) of transferring data on the internet. However, most ISPs throttle things back because torrents eats up a ton of bandwidth. If your torrent downloads are coming in at 5KB/s or lower, it's probable the ISP is artificially slowing down traffic. There is an easy way around ISP throttling, all you have to do is stay tuned for next week's PCSTATS Newsletter for the second half of this Tech Tip.
By Colin S.
Tip #1 - Avoiding Bad Torrents
In the last couple of years a few organizations have begun seeding the internet with bad torrents. Generally these are manifested as torrents that stall or fail at 95%, even though there may be many seeders. Other reports tell stories of entirely blank data after decompression. These false and fake torrents probably exist for a couple of reasons; to frustrate users, as vehicles for delivering viruses and trojans, or potentially for gathering IP information that may be used against you in any situation that warrants it.
The good thing is, there are a limited number of bad torrent seeders out there, and a quick Google search (say for “bad torrent IPâ€) will give you the information for reacting. For example, IP addresses of “questionable torrent seeders†can be blocked in most Bit-Torrent clients. If the torrent client is set to block the IPs in question, you essentially mask yourself from these organizations.
Look through the settings or options of your torrent client, and you could save time by not downloading bad torrents, or being directly tracked. While you're at it, read PCSTATS guide to legally copying software and music.
Tip #2 - Speeding up Torrent Transfer Rates
The Bit-Torrent protocol is one of the most popular ways (if not the most popular) of transferring data on the internet. However, most ISPs throttle things back because torrents eats up a ton of bandwidth. If your torrent downloads are coming in at 5KB/s or lower, it's probable the ISP is artificially slowing down traffic. There is an easy way around ISP throttling, all you have to do is stay tuned for next week's PCSTATS Newsletter for the second half of this Tech Tip.