BitTorrent has many clients, and the one that’s probably the most popular one is, of course, uTorrent. This is hardly surprising, considering that it’s fast, free and it can get you anything you want, as long as you provide it with a link.
Lately, however, many of the torrent users wanted to know what can they do to protect themselves, and how to use uTorrent anonymously. We’ve decided to provide you with the answer to that question, and so we’ve created this guide that will help you use uTorrent anonymously via VPNs and proxies.
Introduction to Anonymous Torrents
When it comes to using BitTorrent, it doesn’t matter which of its many clients did you choose. What matters is that there are only two efficient ways of using it while anonymous, and those are Virtual Private Network and Anonymous Proxy Service.
Of course, there are loads of VPNs and Proxies as well, but whichever you decide to use, they’ll do their job and hide your identity. Provided that they support torrenting, of course.
Why UTorrent Should be Used Anonymously
There are several reasons why you should always use torrent anonymously, and it would take a while to explain all of the dangers of it in detail, so in short, let’s just say that there’s always a danger that you’re being watched while torrenting.
When you use torrents, your IP address can be seen by the other users, and with that single piece of information about you, they can also figure out your location, your ISP and more.
Your Information is Public Info When You Torrent
Whenever you’re using torrent to download something, no matter the client, there’s a list of Peers that are currently connected to the ‘swarm’. If you go to the list and check it out, you’ll see that it consists of IP addresses, the software that the users are using, as well as download and upload speed for every one of them.
IP addresses are the most important part, and their last several digits can be used for identification of the person that the address belongs to. This can be a very dangerous piece of information, that the potential hacker can use to track you down. And, since you’re already forced to show your IP address in the peers list, it’s much better to have a fake IP displayed than your real one.
Two Options for Anonymity – VPN or Proxy
VPNs and proxies are both valid ways of protection, however, there are differences between them. There are deeper guides and explanations about them, but for now, let’s just take a quick look and compare them:
VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, have much higher encryption, and it’s applied to the entire internet connection, no matter what program you’re using while you’re connected. They do cost a bit, but it’s not exactly a fortune. It’s more like $5-$10 per month. They’re a bit slower, because all of your traffic is getting encrypted, and when it comes to our recommendation, PIA is the best one for torrenting.
On the other hand, there are proxies. The proxy has a lower encryption than the VPN, but that makes it faster than VPNs as well. They don’t encrypt all of your traffic, but instead, they specialize in encryption of one program, but they do an equally good job as the VPN that covers everything. Because of this, proxies are cheaper, and our choice for torrenting is TorGuard’s proxy.
How to Combine uTorrent with your VPN
Ever since the VPNs have become popular, the providers have worked hard to create software that’s easy for everyone to use. Now, the entire process is ridiculously easy, and all you need to do is sign up, download and install the software, log in and choose a server. That’s it. And the encryption covers everything you do online, including torrenting.
Now, there are a few things that you should remember when using VPNs with uTorrent. First, always choose one that has a no logging policy, so that you’d ensure extra safety. Second, you must make sure that the VPN that you’ve decided to go with supports torrenting. Next, you should see what other features does the VPN offer, since some of them have features that can make them better for cooperation with torrents, like kill switches.
Our recommendations for Torrenting
The best VPN for torrenting that we would recommend is IPVanish. We chose this one for several reasons:
- It has a no logging policy, which makes your online activities completely private
- It greatly values speed, which makes it perfect for torrenting and streaming
- It has a great customer support, as well as great prices
Next VPN that we would also recommend is PIA (Private Internet Access), which is also very popular in combination with uTorrent. Just like IPVanish, it doesn’t keep logs, it protects you from DNS leaks, provides you with a kill switch, and has free proxy servers.
Best of all, it has one of the lowest prices for a monthly subscription, because it has a minimal interface. Still, it provides its users with one of the best VPN services that can be found.
What makes them so special and unique is the fact that they’re regularly posting transparency reports, in which the users can see all of the legal requests that the provider receives, as well as their responses. Just like the rest, it doesn’t keep logs, and it’s also extremely cheap, with only $3.33 per month.
Use a Proxy for Anonymous Torrenting
It’s possible to configure uTorrent manually and make it download torrents via the proxy server, which would make it anonymous and safe.
Our recommended Proxy provider is TorGuard. It offers both a VPN and a proxy, and both work extremely well with BitTorrent clients. They keep no logs, provide you with a kill switch, and also protect you from the DNS leaks.
TorGuard’s proxy costs under $4 per month and the service has customers’ safety and privacy as a priority, as well as great speed. Many reviews were done about TorGuard, and they all agree about the quality of this VPN.
Setting it up is very easy, and most of the work is done by the software itself. All you need to do is enter username, password, choose a server location, and a torrent client. That’s it, and you’re now ready for safe torrenting.
How to Set Proxy Up Manually
We’ve also prepared this guide on how you can set your proxy up manually, in case that you want to use it this way. Just follow a few easy steps, and you’ll be good to go very soon.
- The first thing to do is sign up with the proxy service of your choice. We’ve already mentioned some of them, but if you have your own favorite, that’s fine too.
- Open uTorrent, go to Menu > Options > Preferences (or use the ‘CTRL + P’ shortcut)
- In Preferences, go to ‘Connection’
- Configure your connection options. In order to help you with this, we’ll describe the options that will appear, and tell you which ones you should check.
Listening Port Section
- Port used for incoming connections
If you’ll be using UPnP or NAT-PMP, use a random port, and randomize the port on startup. If you won’t use plug n play port mapping, just set up port forwarding for the router, so that it would allow the port of your choosing to be routed to the computer.
- UPnP and NAT-PMP
If you check these options, you’ll allow plug ‘n’ play functionality for the port routing, and as a result, there won’t be a need to set up manual port forwarding. It would probably be the best to try NAT-PMP, and if you’re not satisfied with how it works, try UPnP. It’s also worthy of mentioning that UPnP once has a vulnerability, but it was patched up. Still, older routers might still have problems with it.
- Windows Firewall exception
This should definitely be checked. It allows the data to go through your firewall, and if left unchecked, it might result in slow speeds, or great difficulty when it comes to connecting to peers.
Proxy Server Settings
- Type
Use the drop-down list to select the type of the proxy. Most of the time, it’s socks5
- Proxy
Here, you enter the address of the proxy server. It might look like a web-style address, or it might look like an IP address, depends on the proxy service provider that you’re using.
- Port
The proxy setup guide should provide you with the information of which port you should use. If you possess a list of available addresses, each of them may have its own port.
- Username/Password
Enter your login credentials.
- Other options
Check all of the options that can be found under the ‘Type’ settings. There should be six boxes, and all of them should be checked.
And that’s it! You’ve now successfully completed the manual setup. After you’ve done all of that, just hit Apply and restart the uTorrent.
Using torrents is one of the oldest, but still the most common way of sharing files. It’s fast, it’s free, and it can provide you with anything, as long as there’s a link to it. Unfortunately, it can also be dangerous, and for your safety, you should use one of the methods of hiding your IP that we described in this guide.
