PeerBlock vs. VPN – What’s Best for Anonymous Torrenting?

Government agencies and federal authorities from countries all over the world are working hard to develop ways and means to look into what people are upto on the Internet. In a bid to avoid such a high level of violation, users are turning to technologies such as PeerBlock and VPN to cover up their tracks. Because there’s a high chance that a good number of our readers might be new to the whole concept of Internet privacy, we thought we might come up with an article that’ll help them uncover the major differences between the two, and see which one works best with for anonymous torrenting.

Serious About Your Privacy? Use VPN

To keep things short, virtual private network, or VPN, are the ultimate solution if it’s Internet privacy you are after. Proxies, PeerBlock, Tor, and SOCKS5 are all inferior and have their disadvantages when compared to VPN. Nonetheless, you can read more about PeerBlock and how it works below. Here are the best VPN service providers you can use for torrenting. We’ve evaluated them according to speed, VPN protocols, no-logs policy, and refund guarantee.

PeerBlock Explained

Between the two, we’d bet that a lot of people are less familiar with PeerBlock than they are with VPN. Peerblock (previously known as PeerGuardian) is a Windows product that’s essentially meant to put in place a firewall for its users whenever they’re surfing the Internet. It is mainly used by people who do a lot of torrenting.

The firewall is created to block certain IP addresses from connecting to your PC. The type of addresses you’d want to block here include those belonging to copyright authorities, governments, or any other organisations that can easily limit the kind of content you’re able to access.

How PeerBlock Works

As soon as you install the application, you’ll be able to add any IP addresses that you’d want to prevent from connecting with your computer. PeerBlock will then prevent any form of connections through those IPs. That’s all there is to it.

Adding each IP address at a time might be really frustrating to a number of users since the list is usually very long. To shorten this process, sites such as i-BlockList.com keep a record of known IP addresses belonging to organisations that users may want to block. This way the hassle of looking for every individual address is taken care of. Users however part with a small fee every month to access the service, and we’re sure that most of them agree to it being well worth their while.

VPN vs PeerBlock

In as much as a VPN service can easily work in the same way PeerBlock does, it has a lot more features to offer in terms of ensuring online privacy. With VPN you get added capabilities that allow you to hide your IP address, unblock geo-restricted sites, and also speed up your connection.

How Does PeerBlock Work When Used for Torrenting

Technically, PeerBlock only blocks IP addresses through the use of a firewall. This type of security isn’t nearly enough to protect you from any individuals who are keen on attacking you, or stealing your personal information whenever you’re torrenting. Here’s why:

• PeerBlock only blocks IPs – Your IP address is like your digital fingerprint on the Internet. PeerBlock blocks other IPs from connecting to you but doesn’t really hide your own. Your IP address remaining visible means you are vulnerable to any form of attack.
• Difficult to keep track of IPs – Agencies that are really intent on monitoring your online activity only have to get a new IP address every now and then to remain outside your blocklist.
• Slowed Internet Performance – Having a long list of blocked IP addresses might have a negative effect on your browsing speed. Websites might fail to load if a good number of their source points are blocked. Torrenting as well might be affected, as a smaller number of IPs to connect to means reduced access to hosts for leeching files.
• No Traffic Encryption – Using PeerBlock means your ISP will be able to take note of your browsing history and downloads. As a result, whenever you visit any restricted sites, they’ll get to know.

Among these and a few other issues that PeerBlock isn’t able to take care of, the biggest drawback is that the app is only as good as the IP’s listed on the blacklists. Keeping up with a record of what IPs to block might be really difficult due to how easy it is for agencies to get new ones.

Using a VPN instead of PeerBlock

The best way to take charge of your privacy online is subscribing to a quality VPN service provider. Once you do so, you’ll gain a remote IP address that will be used in place of your actual one. This will prevent any site you visit from tracking your actual location.

We also have a comprehensive list for those of you who want to search for VPNs that are best for torrenting. You can have a look at that here. You’ll find services with features like kill switches, where your browsing history doesn’t get revealed in case the VPN connection falls out, as well as “zero log” policies, where the providers assure you that none of your activities will be logged anywhere.

Should I Use Both VPN and PeerBlock?

There are a number of discussions online about whether using both services is a good idea, but we here think it’s best to make a decision after you know what both offer, and exactly what you want to do. If you specifically want to block a couple of IP addresses from connecting to your computer and nothing else, then PeerBlock is your ideal solution. As mentioned earlier, VPN is more equipped to protect your online privacy compared to PeerBlock, and so there really is no reason you should have to use them both at the same time.

VPN vs PeerBlock: Conclusion

There was a time that services such as PeerBlock were in great use, but since VPN services came to the scene, there has been a lot of change regarding what most people would prefer. People no longer want to prevent just a few IPs from connecting to the Internet, they want the “full package” in terms of online security. A proper VPN connection assures them of complete encryption. As long as you choose a reliable VPN provider, then you’ll be able to keep everything you do online to yourself.