With the popular torrent site ISOHunt redirecting its US users to a new “lite” version which basically renders it useless to US users due to the crackdown by MPAA, I have been on the search for a new service to use. Like many people have done in the past I’m sure we will all just find a new source or service to use instead of giving up and going fully legit.

If you ask me this is just power and money hungry “media whores” trying to get every penny from anyone and everyone. If you go to other countries like Iraq, you can purchase illegal copies of DVDs at 10 for $5 way before the movie even gets released to DVD much less theater. Makers of movies make enough money as it is off of box office profits and need to let us (We the people) be more free (In a free country).

FIRST ALTERNATIVE

So now the question is what are we going to use? I made a post earlier about how to proxy your torrents to better protect you from your ISP and help you search torrent sites that would regularly be blocked by your ISP. But unfortunately there is filters now being used by the popular torrent sites, filtering out torrents based on a word database called FileRights.  In the future they plan to use FileRights but have not yet. Below you will find a list of replacements I found so far. The list from top to bottom is my favorite to least favorite.

1. http://extratorrent.com/
2. http://torrentz.com/
3. http://thepiratebay.org/

SECOND ALTERNATIVE

Another alternative that you can still use until they and if they start using FileRights is to use a proxy server located in another country. I suggest you use a Canadian proxy as they are the closest to the United States. There are two ways to do this by altering your proxy settings in your browser or by going to an actual proxy site.

Proxy By Browser Settings List (Advanced)

Proxy By Site  List (No Setup)

Please let me know in a comment if there is anything better out there!

Lately it seems Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been cutting down on people downloading content from BitTorrent sources. In the past it used to be a big deal with songs, now they have moved onto movies. A couple days ago I received a letter from our ISP explaining that one of the movies I downloaded was having its download activity being watched by the makers of the movie, and that I need to stop downloading copyrighted material, and delete any copyrighted material I have now. I talked around, and it seems that a lot of people have gotten more than one of these notices. So today I’m going to show you the steps I took to help avoid getting in trouble,  and help better protect your identity when downloading torrents.

Everything I’m going to talk to you about involves proxies. A proxy is just an alternative path to a source via a provider that keeps you anonymous. So for example instead of going up and telling someone “Hello my name is __ and I’m downloading your movies” , the proxy will do that for you and say “Hello my name is Proxy and I’m downloading your movies for someone who I can’t tell you their name”. Of course there is a lot of proxies out there, and with the right papers in some countries they can make that proxy reveal who the true downloader is (You), and that is why I use a proxy from Canada. Canada has some of the most strict privacy laws, helping this proxy keep its customers hidden.

How A Proxy Server Works

BTGuard (Torrent Downloading Proxy)

The proxy I’m using right now is called BTGuard. BTGuard is not a free service but there are no free torrent proxies I know of. It is also important to take note that going through a proxy your download speeds will drop, and if you use a free service to do this good luck downloading at all. With this any downloading I do is now going through a proxy, leaving my identity hidden.

Furk (Torrent Searching)

You should be doing pretty good keeping your identity hidden when it comes to downloading and uploading torrents but what about when we search for them? A lot of ISPs have been blocking torrent search sites and with a proxy you can get passed that. Although it is not required if your ISP is not blocking them, it is still a good idea to use it so your ISP does not know what you are searching for. My favorite service to use is Furk.net. It searches all my favorite torrent sites to include ISOHunt.com and ThePirateBay.

So now you are all proxyed up and ready to start downloading torrents again in complete privacy. Some sources also suggest turning off the seeding features in your torrent client but I DO NOT recommend this as it beats the whole purpose of torrents, and you are already hidden behind your proxy. Like I mentioned before, downloading will be a lot slower now, but just plan your downloads to start over night and/or turn the proxy off when downloading safe content (Just don’t forget to turn it back on).

Looking for a ISOHunt Alternative? Check out this article

Fiverr is a cool website that is just a bunch of posts with people making offers for $5 dollars. Within this site you will see people willing to do your homework, photo editing, classes and much more for only $5 dollars. It is a good site to go to when you are bored or have an extra $5 dollars to spend on nothing (If that ever happens?).

Another cool feature that they have is the ability to “suggest” offers. So lets say you want something done for $5 dollars you can suggest it, and someone might accept the offer.

If you have ever wanted to look up a number by dialing 411 but hated it when you got your bill and found out you owned $2 for the phone call then this service provided by Google is for you.

Goog-411 is a free 411 information service that anyone can use on any phone by calling 1-800-Goog-411.

All you have to do is call 1-800-Goog-411 and state the business and location. From there Google will connect you or give you their address at no additional cost…FREE!

This has been out for awhile but I’m pretty sure that not everyone knows about it so lets spread the word. If you don’t already know Microsoft is offering Windows development and design tools free to students of Universities, Collges and Grade schools.

Here is an interview I found with Bill Gates talking about DreamSpark so you all know it is legal and legit.

Although the title talks about Window Server 2008, they offer a lot more tools and software other than WS 2008. Some other software they offer for free is Visual Studio 2010, Server 2003, SQL Express and Developer Edition and Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 Pro Edition.

To be able to take advantage of this offer you must be a student and your school must be registered with Microsoft. From there you just login to www.dreamspark.com using your Live account (@hotmail.com or @live.com) and verify you are a student with your school. You then are able to download ISO files to burn to CDs and generate Product Keys. Although once you are no longer a student you are not allowed to use their service you can still use any products that you have downloaded.