How well does Peerblock work?

Unknown · August 2011

I used to use Peerguardian back in my Windows XP days for torrenting but ever since I stopped torrenting, I never really found a use for it. Today, I decided that I want to download a torrent of something once more, and figured that I'd give Peerguardian another look. Oh, hey, it's now called Peerblock, and it seems to have a FUCKING SHIT LOAD of blocked IP addresses. 775,664,250 IP's blocked right now to be precise. Seems like a massive improvement since I last used this software, and checking the logs, it seems to be doing it's job.

But really, how well does it work? I've got it set to block all P2P IP addresses right now, and it's blocking quite a few connections. How well will this actually protect my ass from snooping anti-P2P organizations?

ALSO - Where the fuck is the setting which allows you to block government IP addresses? I swear that used to be there! Do I have to download a custom list for that now or something? :mad:

EDIT2: I just found out what happened to the "Government" list on Peerblock...

The old PG2 "Gov" list - which contained governmental IP addresses - was merged into the "P2P" (aka "Bluetack Level1") list a couple years ago and has been empty ever since. If you look at the old Gov list url with your browser, you can see it's contents . . . just one line saying that it's now empty. So by selecting the P2P list you'll still be just as safe as you were before.

Don't like it? Prefer to have the Gov list separate from the P2P list? You'll need to contact the folks who author the list, Bluetack. PeerBlock doesn't create or maintain any of these lists ourselves, we simply point you towards other peoples' creations.

Echidna · August 2011

i wouldnt torrent without it. its a godsend of a program. i was addicted to watching my internet traffic and this always kept my pipeline filtered pretty well.

Unknown · August 2011

Maxstats · August 2011

I don't torrent as much as I used to. I have Comcast and over the past year they have sent me 10+ e-mails detailing exactly what I've dl'd and threated to shut my internet off. I started using peerblock and I didn't get any more letters until I downloaded an episode of House. I never used to turn on peerblock when downloading tv shows because, come one, they're on fucking cable television which I have. What the fuck is the difference between using tivo to watch a show and ff through the comercials of torrenting it? Fucking Fox, fuck you. Now I used Torrentday for torrenting movies and shows when I can't find them on luelinks and I also use a super secret (shhhhh) torrent site to download MMA. It's invite only and very low-key.

Echidna · August 2011

trx100 wrote: »

It's blocking some interesting shit, that's for sure. I had a connection made from some random police department earlier... Fuck knows why, I wasn't even torrenting :facepalm: Any ideas?

idk if its random or what, but like i said, watching all your internet traffix gets weird. youre like, what the fuck is all this. i would have nothing actively accessing the internet, atleast in an open program, and there would be ips from all over trying to access my computer. i unplugged my internet and started locking down ports. i had zero things to hide with the exception of music and pirated Photoshop, but i didnt want people accessing my shit.

Unknown · August 2011

^ That's exactly how I'm feeling right now... Just looking at some of the random stuff which is trying to connect to my computer... Weird as fuck to say the least. It makes me even more paranoid than normal! Maybe I can find a way of locking things down a little bit. Peerblock FTW though, it's definitely doing it's job.

Dfg · August 2011

Use private trackers.

On a side note, I used it before but I don't think I need it.

RemadE · August 2011

I used to use it but it blocked so much of my traffic and the lists were always fucking up via update so I gave up. Reinstalled it and issues are still ongoing but I've not used it in about a year. Educational IPs annoy me as I use my laptop at..you guessed it..a University

Unknown · August 2011

Well thankfully you don't have to select the Educational list to block. There's also a whitelist so you can permanently allow whatever you want. It's a little bit like no-script. After a little while of using it, you build up a good whitelist

duuude · August 2011

Never heard of this but I will definitely be giving it a try. There's no telling what's trying to connect my to shit.

GoingNowhere · August 2011

Aye, its amazing what stuff it blocks. I never torrent without it.

RemadE · August 2011

Yeah I disabled the Educational list but I was concerned about the lists that were not working as they had trouble updating. Still got it going now and fun to watch.

LSA King · August 2011

It's snake oil. There is a couple of major threads on Demonoid that explain why. It's also banned or not usable on Private Sites which you are much less likely to get busted for in the first place.

MarineBoat · August 2011

PeerBlock works exceptionally at blocking what it does block, but it fails miserably at blocking everything. It's a bit of an extra layer of protection, but isn't much in practice. It's like robbing a corner store and going back to rob it with colored contact lenses instead of your natural eye color. Sure, they can't see your eye color, but that doesn't mean you won't get caught. And, if they noticed your eye color the first time (ie before an IP gets added to the blacklist), it's useless.

Because of this it may do more harm than good for the bulk of users that get the impression that after installing it they're invincible and stop being careful what they download.

That said, it is still a free extra measure of protection, and I run it anyway for that reason if nothing else.

How well does Peerblock work?

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