Some of you seem to have a problem with peerguardian/protowall etc. There is an alternative and that is to use uTorrent's excellent if well hidden ip filter. Here is how

First download the latest blacklist from Bluetack at this address http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/nipfilter.dat.gz. This list is updated daily, and contains all known anti-P2P organizations, trackers and peers, as used by the Bluetack team for ProToWall etc. Once downloaded, extract (winzip, winrar etc will work) and rename the file to "ipfilter.dat" in preparation for the final step.

To make the list available to µTorrent, you need to put it in the right place. Go to Start/run and paste in there %AppData%\uTorrent this will take you to the correct folder.

Now open uTorrent go to preferences/advanced and make sure ipfilter.enable is set to 'true'

Now just close uTorrent and reopen and you are done.

You need to update to the latest blacklist at least once a month preferably more often.

good morning guru!
i am going to TRY to make the switch to utorrent this weekend.
question: from your post, i don't need to use peerguardian if i can place this 'bluetack' list into the 'appdata' part of utorrent?

@paddedbag

This link does not work for me it comes up with the following: Please stop requesting pages that don't exist.
I was happily reading my logs until you came along!
What to do now?

That is correct, this is an alternative to peerguardian. It is particularly good for Vista users because Peerguardian is not Vista compatible.

If you do all your downloading on utorrent this is the better way to go imho.
If however you use other downloading clients as well as utorrent ie soulseek, gnutella etc, amd don't have compatibility issues, than peerguardian or protowall is probably a better way to go because it covers them all.

@paddedbag

Since I can't open that link, what file do I use from the download option on the bluetack homepage? I really want this for my laptop as I'm running Vista on it and peerguardian does not work as you have mentioned. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

mrsjerry I don't know why it wouldnt work for you, just checked it, its working fine.
You didn't perhaps leave the . at the end of the address?

If you are using just utorrent mrsjerry and still can't use that addy, try this one.
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php?act=dscriptca&CODE=viewcat&a
mp;cat_id=4
and download the 'level1' list

@paddedbag
The second one did the trick. Thanks very much! :)

@paddledbag,

You are AWESOME!

Worthy of the GURU status!

Seems Bluetack are having some issues so the latest blocklists can be downloaded on a torrent here.

http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=17400

Use the level1 list and don't forget to rename it to "ipfilter.dat" and place it in the appropriate place as explained above.

Well that worked well, Not!...sigh. It just wasn't blocking anything, wrong format.

Ok by trial and error I have found that the only one off that torrent that works well is nipfilter.dat.gz which can found in the Emule-IP-Filters folder. Unpack that and remain to ipfilter.dat, you know the rest of the drill.

remain = rename

Thanks for the work, @paddle!

I will try it again.

hi I want to watch the online shows but keep get told cant watch in uk ;( I have downloaded utorrent and want to either make me ip not available when going to sites or make it think i am in usa so I can watch the tv progs, can someone give me a dummies guide on what i need to do tar

utorrent won't help you with that objective, it is a download client for p2p downloads.

What you are looking for is a proxy server. Some people report good results with Hotspot Shield but it doesn't work for everyone. Certainly worth a try though.

http://www.download.com/Hotspot-Shield/3000-2092_4-10594721.html

The latest blocklist is back on this addy guys.

http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/nipfilter.dat.gz

Thanks heaps for this. I have vista and have been having a lot of trouble with both peerguardian and protowall. Can I ask though...how can I confirm this is actually working/blocking? Thanks

@jmhsbl

With your utorrent open click on any torrent you have running to highlight it. Then look where it says
General: Peers: Pieces: Files: Speed: Logger:
Click on logger and you will see it blocking addresses

Thanks for that. I have checked and so far it has only blocked one address, yet I have had utorrent running for over an hour. Normally peerguardian would have blocked 50 or more by now. How many blocked addresses should I see here to be satisfied that my block list is correct and up to date. I used the list downloaded from http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/nipfilter.dat.gz.
Thanks

@jmhsbl
Yes I would have expected to see 50 or so in that time particularly if you are on a public tracker.

Might I suggest you go over my first post in this thread one more time, make sure you have renamed the file correctly and have it in the correct folder etc.

Yep, it is definitely in the right place.

When I start utorrent the logger file states that

"loaded ipfilter.dat(236519 entries)" does that sound right? does that mean there are only 236519 ip's in the block list? Shouldn't there be more than that.

It has now blocked a total of 4 ip's and has been going for hours. Although, the torrent I am downloading is a rarer one with less than 100 seeds. Could this be why there are not many blocks?

Thanks for all your help. If this works for me I will be so grateful to finally get rid of peerguardian. It has been nothing but a pain since I moved to vista.

oh I forgot to mention I am in Australia. Don't know if that makes any difference as to which block lists I should be using? With Peerguardian I think I was using the P2P level one.

Ta

Yep that seems 100% correct to me, 236519 is what I am getting too, and mine seems to be working fine, I just added a new torrent, a popular one and it has 12 addys in 2 mins which is about where it normally is.
So I reckon it is probably that particular torrent you have running.
I wouldn't panic yet till you try a different torrent. I have had occasional ones where it only picks up a few addys but they have always been private trackers and not well seeded.

I just checked the level 1 list, it is a little smaller than the one we are using.
You can download the leval 1 list and use that if you are concerned but it will need to be run through a blocklist converter because it is in the wrong format for utorrent (there is one on the bluetack site). The emule p2p list is in the right format and that is an option too.
Btw I am in Australia too.

P.S. Mine is up to about 30 blocks now.

@jmhsbl
You would have seen that peer guardian would have been blocking over 1 million addys that is why you probably felt 236000 has not enough but you have to remember peer guardian blocks for all applications ie emule, soulseek etc and even http not just torrents, so a lot of that million just don't apply to torrents.

For comparison purposes (I also switched to BlueTack directly when routing through PG gave me problems).

My level 1 list is always around 700 million blocked IP addresses - right now it's at 772,478,384. I'm in the U.S.

wooahhh 700 million? Crikey, shows how good my memory is!

where on earth did you get that list kolbinfo?

Phew you had me worried there for a minute kolbinfo, your list contains all the spyware/malaware stuff, the greater part of your list applies to http and not to torrents.

I use my hosts file to block all that stuff on my computer.

Here's the description from the BlueTack site:

Level 1:

This list blocks known anti-p2p companies. It contains p2p trackers like Mediasentry, Mediaforce, and known fake p2p file sources from companies like Overpeer. The list also contains all known Government - Military - Science - Research Labs and Bad Education facilities IP addresses collected by the Bluetack Team. Basically this list will block all kinds of internet connections that most people would rather not have during their internet travels.

URL:
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php?act=dscriptca&CODE=viewcat&a
mp;cat_id=4

Ok guys I have triple checked everything, we are using the right list, all is well.

Top stuff Paddedbag!! I am happy:-) good bye and good riddance PeerGuardian!!

I have two anti-malware systems.

The one provided by ISP runs every 24 hours.
The other I have set to to run every 24 hours at 12 hours away from the one from my ISP.

Plus my anti-virus program runs 24/7 and it also stops some malware as well. This program also auto-updates as the supplier has new info. (this is at least once a day).

If there is anything new each of these asks if I wish to allow or block/quarantine whatever. Once this is done all remember and do not ask again unless it was a one time allowance.
I also run full scans weekly just in case.

So my question is do I need anything else?

@Quark; That one even calls for a Nagila I suppose, whatever that means. You can't hit me with a shoe so I guess it is OK.

What intrigues me about all that is after not having had to do *any* of that stuff for almost 10 years, I gotta say you sound busy keeping all that stuff up. Honest.

Wow. I mean you Windows folks seriously work hard for your computing experience! For me a computer is a means to an end, a tool and I cannot imagine what it is like to have to worry about if your neighbors hammer is going to infect your pliers...

W~~~

nagila quark

The anti-virus program you are running is exactly what is required in that area.

What you are running with regard to dealing with any spyware/malaware etc that you might have picked up in your travels is good also but in the prevention department it is a little weak imho

You do need to have a host file type prevention program be it directly with a modified host file like I do or as a feature incorporated into peer guardian or protowall.

An indication of this is browser hijacks I believe are getting serious, I don't encounter them at all. I see no banner adds on any sites, the host file prevents them loading at all. An indication of what I mean (admin cover your eyes you may not like me saying this) but I went to a friends house recently and saw this site and was very surprised to find it had adds, who knew.

AHFA

nagila padded

read your Guestbook

AHFA

Nagila Whip

With apologies to Ygagnon1024

You might call me a paranoid android but I'd rather you didn't.

Just a habit I got into when first working for my employer and early days of the net. Not being an IT technical type I probably go overboard.

AHFA

Nagila padded

Sorry just re-read your answer. The anti-malware progs
block as things come that have previously been blocked.
But are set to run scans automatically in case anything slips through before they are auto-updated.
(hence my saying above 'If there is anything new ')
Hope I make sense.

nagila quark

Now you do lol and its good.

AHFA

It looks like some people may be confusing PeerGuardian with Anti-virus software... The purpose of PG (using the BlueTack blocklist) is to keep your downloading activity from being detected and reported to the TV, movie, and music industries and/or ISPs that then issue notices of copyright violations and possibly threaten to cancel your Internet services if there are repeated violations...

@kolbinfo

That is all true but that applies to only a small percentage of those 7 million addys that peer guardian blocks, if you have a look at what the blocklists are composed of you will find it is spyware, web hijacks, web spiders, ad trackers etc etc

P.S. to my post above.

I am not saying get peerguardian and you don't need any other spyware or antivirus prevention, far from it.

@paddedbag

I understand your point about the URLs block - it doesn't matter to me what PG blocks, in addition to anti-P2P...

I just felt the Quark's question "do I need anything else?" was missing the point of PG and Blocklists...

They're not primarily designed for Anti-virus / spyware protection... They're to prevent peer-to-peer activity from being detected.

@kolbinfo

You are absolutely right, I just assumed he was running some anti p2p activity detection program. Please tell us that it is so guark?

I should use an example... Those of us in the U.S. will want to "block" any attempt by Comcast to view what we're downloading... But, Comcast is not going to be detected by your Anti-virus software as a threat, they're a legitimate cable company...

Does that make sense?

perfect sense.

Nagila paddedbag

As many will know I am not technical and whilst acting on advice given on this site previously I did d/l PG.
I was unable to get it running correctly.

Perhaps someone with real knowledge of it would write an 'idiots guide' so that we can all use it properly and not be put off by some of the jargon used. No disrespect intended.

Unfortunately it seems to me that there is probably a lot of useful information in various threads but until I am able to run PG2 basically they are of little use to me. Believe me I have tried but seem unable to get my mind around it. For instance I d/l it a little while back and had the icon on the bottom toolbar then one day it just disappeared. So I have no idea whether I have it or not and if I do what it is doing.

Nagila quark

Given that I am unable to run peerguardian myself now that I am running vista and doing it from memory would be extremely difficult I will have to pass on that one. Hopefully someone else will pick up the ball?

Failing that and provided you are using utorrent? Why not use the alternative to PG2, ipfiltering. It is afterall the purpose of this very thread in the first place. If you need any additional help than what is explained here I would be only too pleased.

AHFA

nagila paddedbag

I will reread the thread and see if I can relate to it.

I ran the linux equivalent for a time and well, there are two ways of accomplishing this filtering: at the driver level which means ALL internet traffic is routed through the filter which can slow down non-special traffic. This is how MoBlock and PeerGuardian work. Then there is the filtering right in the app itself using the same kinds of lists. This is the one that I prefer, embedding the filter right in the bt client.

My two cents.

W~~~

@paddedbag

I still use PG, but I changed the block list URL to point directly to Bluetack...

I know you've mentioned that members should update their blocklist at least once a month... With the embedded process you provide here - does this mean that the update must be done by members manually?

I know you use Vista and need this work-around, but if this means that members will have to "remember" to do an update, instead of being able to rely on an automatic schedule that PG offers, I think some might be better off just sticking with PG (if they can).

Just something to think about...

@Kolb: Well conceptually on linux what we do is this:
1. Write a short script to perform the update.
2. Add the call to that script to what is called the cron table. Basically its a schedule of things to happen on your system. You can say run on (for example) Feb 1st or you can set recurring (ie run the first of every month, every day, etc).

This is what we use to automate things like backups and so on.

I am sure there is something similar to this in Windows but I just don't know what that is. For me it was a 2-line bash script (to update the linux work-alike for peer guardian) and a one-line cmd in a terminal to set the crontab for it.

I only provide this as a conceptual solution and simply a different way of doing things. Makes the world go around, as my brother used to say.

W~~~

@kolbinfo

Well I do it manually, it only take a couple of minutes to do so it is no biggy but it doesn't have to be. I do it manually mainly because I like to check the Bluetack forums and keep abreast of what is happening.

Buttt....if you are the sort who needs it done automatically and are reasonably computer literate, which I know you are, you can use a simple script to download it into the correct folder at any given interval. Copies of said script are available at many techie type sites.
Here is a page with one such script, this particular script downloads the .dat file from sourceforge, (nothing wrong with that btw } and of course it is an easy matter to edit the script to point to the file on Bluetack.
http://www.teckh.com/?p=185

Hope that helps

Oh whip beat me too it lol

Hi all you technical people out there
@kolbinfo @paddedbag and others.

As Quark said many will know I am not technical and whilst acting
on advice given on this site previously had installed PG and all was working great.

But I had to do a reinstall of XP and are lost to get it back as it was.

Can someone please put a link to the Newest nipfilter.dat file as the old ones are Old.
Sorry can't understand which Bluetack file I need,

I'am a Thicko.

I think this thread is important to Block ip addresses as my ISP Virgin Media (UK) said they will cut me OFF because I downloaded a Music file. Naughty Naughty Me. LOL.

Downloaded the file Paddedbag said in the post to update weekly

http://www.teckh.com/?p=185
but don't know what to do with it. As I said THICK O.

Thank's OnlyMe1

#onlyme1........................................................

there are much better stuff than that stufff if you need to stay anonymous for your torrent undetected only if you can shell out $$ tell me so .Leave me a Private message on my place if you think i can help tell me the need u want ,AND couldn't post here some dont appriaciate .

@onlyme1 I personally do not know how to help, but I have asked a person who does and he may be able to post something for you shortly. In the meantime, you can go to http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/ and download the latest PG2 for free, and that will have an update button for their block lists which have worked very well for me in the ten years I've been doing torrents.

@ all I have noticed today that the denis stalker tracker is giving a tracker sending invalid data error. I don't know if it will last or what to do but I have posted a question on it in one of the vtv comments section on one of their coldcase video uploads on mininova. If anybody has any ideas on this please pm me thanks! :)

I found this on a site when I was trying to sort out Peerguardian2

If you Block HTTP You Should if you use P2P
and you use programs that need to access HTTP
open Peerguardian "click the blue PG icon on the taskbar"
Click View History "at the Top Right" When your history appears
Right click what you want to give Access and chouse your Pref.



USER FRIENDLY PEERGUARDIAN FAQ GUIDE

-by someone whom has blocked over 800 billion IP ranges.



Greetings fellow fiends and pirates,,,
I realize there are many sites and much information already concerning peerguardian,
but I have been requested to produce some more info to be of more help. The advice
you will get here from me is all based upon personal experience and not that of an
expected result programming guide. I will give you some skinny from the pages of my
memoirs. I have, and still do, block over 800 billion addresses from my PC daily.


What is Peergardian and where do I get it?

Peerguardian is a small program that runs in the background and blocks many IP ranges
from connecting to your IP and even blocks them from downloading or 'leeching' the
torrents you are currently also downloading or sharing. It blocks mainly the parties
set out to track or monitor what you are downloading or sharing. All the way down to
a digital timestamp of the file your are sharing and from where you share it from.
They then use this info to issue warnings and copyright notice infringements to those
whom IP's are logged. All it takes is them connecting to you, once!

Peerguardian is currently only available for XP but is in beta-satges for Vista and
something should be available soon. You can visit the homepage & download below:

http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/