Safely download torrents?

This is all perfectly legal. However, much of the content that is shared through torrents is copyrighted content like movies, TV shows, books, anime , comics, or music. The sharing of this content for free is illegal as it is against copyright law. So it is the content shared through torrents which may be illegal, not the method of torrenting itself. One reason that copyright holders have been so active in pursuing legal action against torrents users is to do with the way that torrents work.

When you use a torrent to download a file, you start downloading that file in small chunks from other users. The chunks that you have already downloaded are then made available to other users to download from you. Therefore, whenever you use a torrent to download you are technically hosting a file for download too, though in a decentralized way. In general, copyright holders are not too focused on users who download or stream their content — they are much more concerned about the people who upload or host the content.

With torrents, you become a hoster of any file you download, making you a target for copyright holders if you are downloading illegal content. Ok, so you know that many of the content found in torrents is illegal. But how do people get caught using torrents? The reason that so many people get caught and receive legal threats when using torrents as compared to, say, direct downloads is also to do with the way that torrents work.

A direct download is a file hosted on a website that you download like any other file from the web, like a picture, audio file, or even text. Unless your ISP is looking carefully at your internet activity , they are unlikely to notice that you direct downloaded a particular file.

But torrents use a particular method for file transfer, based on the Bittorrent technology. This uses a particular port for traffic — typically the TCP port — which means that torrent traffic is very distinctive and easy for an ISP to spot. If you use torrents over your regular internet connection, the chances are very good that your ISP will investigate which types of files your are downloading and will take legal action against you if they find you torrenting illegal files. It is easy for ISPs to track the IP addresses of people using torrents, as torrents users share their IP addresses with each other in order to facilitate downloading.

When your ISP can quickly spot that you are using torrent traffic, and then see that your IP address is sharing a particular file illegally, this is a recipe for disaster. We hope this article has served as a guide on how to torrent safely. Many users are worried about using torrents due to the high number of people who have been caught downloading illegal content and faces some kind of legal consequence. However, there are legitimate ways to use torrents and you can use them safely.

The most important take away for torrent users is to use legal torrents and to only download torrent from trustworthy sites. If you are going to use torrents for other purposes, it is vital that you take steps to protect yourself as otherwise the likelihood of your ISP discovering that you have been torrenting is high.

This is the best way to keep yourself safe when using torrents. Do you still use torrents, or do you consider this method of downloading too risky? What about for open source software purposes — have you tried downloading open source software with a torrent? NordVPN includes a day money-back guarantee. Their no-questions-asked cancellation policy lives up to its name. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

We are reader supported and may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Learn more. Once you've signed up for a VPN service, you'll need to configure your torrent client to connect to it. Open the Options or Preferences menu. You'll usually find this in the Tools or Options menu at the top of the torrent client. Click the "Connection" tab.

This will allow you to adjust your connection settings, including adding your VPN connection information. Double-check your VPN connection information if you aren't sure.

Enter in the VPN address and port. You'll find this connection information when you log into your VPN's website. Many VPNs offer different servers that you can connect to, which can increase your connection speed. Make sure "Use proxy for peer connections" is checked. Start downloading torrents.

Once your VPN service is configured, you'll be able to start downloading torrents more anonymously. I'm downloading a. Is this legal or safe? I don't know the number of seeders or peers. Blake Foster. Most torrenting clients should show you the number of seeders that are in that torrent. Before you download the torrent, check the files that you are downloading. If any of them have a. But that is up to you to decide. Yes No. Not Helpful 5 Helpful Can you recommend any other clients if my antivirus software removes Utorrent as malware?

I've never had that problem, but I've never used anything other than version 2. A tracker site I use has blacklisted anything newer than 3. If you have anything released after that, you might want to switch. Google "older versions of uTorrent" and you should be able to pull something up.

If you still have that problem, you'll probably have it for all torrent clients. Either add the client to your exceptions list, or switch to Avira which is an excellent antivirus software.

Not Helpful 11 Helpful If you are trying to search for a torrent on a torrent website, there will most likely be a search bar in which you can type what you would like to download. If you can't find your torrent that you download in your file explorer, just type the title of the torrent in the search bar in your file explorer.

If you are still haveing a problem, I suggest you use Utorrent. With Utorrent you can choose where you would like the file to be placed once it's downloaded. First, right click on the torrent and then hover over Advanced. There should be a option where you can choose the location of where you would like your torrent to be downloaded.

Not Helpful 8 Helpful 3. RandomAir BGM. Search the taskbar for your open VPN software. If you are using an extension on a browser, then it is located on the top right corner of your browser. Not Helpful 8 Helpful 4. Most free software offering VPNs do not offer great quality or many features.

But you can use it if you insist. Not Helpful 47 Helpful 3. You can download torrents with games on them legally if for example the game is free or it is open source. However, it is best to download games from a server. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Downloading copyrighted files without permission from the copyright owners is against the law unless it is protected by fair use. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Related wikiHows How to. How to. About This Article. Tested by:. However, these groups come with certain rules you have to follow to keep your place.

In addition to downloading great quality files, you also need to upload seed torrents to keep the ratio. Unfortunately, torrenting communities work on an invitation-only basis. As each private group has a limited amount of spaces available, it can be difficult to find a free spot. Download ExpressVPN and keep your data safe. It only takes 3 simple steps for you to set up a VPN and start torrenting safely. Encrypt your traffic with ExpressVPN.

I tested over 20 different locations and no matter what server I connected to, my download speeds remained at around 30Mbps — only 0. With such high speeds, I could not only torrent files from the public domain but also stream legal content at the same time.

I could even torrent a copyright-free movie in less than 10 minutes while downloading a music album in the public domain at the same time which only took 1 minute!

ExpressVPN has very strict privacy policies aimed at providing fully anonymous access to the internet. Its TrustedServer technology deletes all of your data from the system every time you turn it off.

So if you are travelling there and want to torrent freely, this is the right choice for you. Although these features come with a higher price tag than other VPNs, they are worth it for unlimited and uninterrupted torrenting. You can try ExpressVPN for yourself before committing to a contract with its day money-back guarantee.

Stay safe online with ExpressVPN. With a vast network of servers optimized just for torrenting, CyberGhost is a great choice for safe and easy P2P file sharing. Optimized servers ensure the fastest download speeds and seamless file sharing.

During my tests , I could successfully download a 40GB file in just under 3 hours — an average of an hour less than when I was connected to other VPNs. Since servers closer to me had higher load more people utilizing it , connecting to them slowed down my speeds. CyberGhost allows you to download files while staying protected for free for 45 days! PrivateVPN has no bandwidth restrictions, so you can download torrents at unlimited speeds.

For my tests, I downloaded multiple files simultaneously and while doing so could still browse the internet without a problem. When testing these servers , I was pleasantly surprised to see consistently good results, even when I was connected to servers on different continents. Unfortunately, with few servers to choose from, I encountered some connection issues at certain times of day. The fastest local servers got overcrowded quickly, forcing me to choose one of the slower options — this doubled my file download time.

Although I was able to torrent safely, I was annoyed that even small files took over an hour to download. PrivateVPN offers a day money-back guarantee , so you can test its servers for yourself before you purchase a plan. Subscribe to PrivateVPN today. As each of its servers come with multiple IP addresses available, each connected device is given a unique IP address.

This keeps your identity safe and ensures that regardless of how many devices are connected, connection speeds remain the same. While testing the service , my kill switch worked seamlessly every time I disconnected or changed a server connection. As the kill switch is automatically disabled, enable it before you start torrenting to protect your personal information if the connection drops.

This was really frustrating for me as random pop-ups appeared on most torrenting sites I used. You can use IPVanish for free with its day money-back guarantee. Download files with IPVanish today.

Luckily, there are many torrenting sites that allow users to share only legal files like open-source software or old movies. Keep in mind that in some countries, like China and Australia, torrenting is completely illegal.

However, less severe measures like sending out warning letters and emails or slowing down your internet connection are usually taken. If legal action is taken against you, you might have to pay a fine to both your ISP and the owner of the copyrighted material.

As torrenting sites always store IP addresses of everyone who downloads and uploads certain files, the authorities simply check who accessed the illegal material.

Copyright trolls are individuals or companies whose sole purpose is to locate torrent pirates. Once they locate a person sharing unlawful files, they send a settlement letter with a large fine. Peer-to-Peer P2P file-sharing creates a virtual network that allows connected computers to exchange files between each other. When you request a file using the P2P system, all the computers communicate in order to upload it to your device. This means that parts of that file are taken from each computer and put into your torrent client.

This constant exchange of data is quicker and easier than downloading files from a single server. Various torrenting sites, like uTorrent , allow you to bind your device to a specific IP address. This practice is called IP binding. You can use this tactic to bind your device to your favorite VPN server.

This way, your data will still be safe if you forget to connect your device. There are hundreds of free VPNs to choose from, but only a few free providers will let you download torrents.

Reputable free providers compromise on their features to offer services for free.