Im very new to this torrent and vpn stuff and got it because I didn’t wanna spend the money for plug-ins and vsts for music production. After doing some research and attempting to understand whatever all this vocab means I’ve found myself lost. I’m asking for some help so that I don’t screw something up badly so here is what I use. I use RuTracker to download a torrent of the plug-ins. I use Transmission as the BitTorrent client. And I just got AirVPN. I also do all of this on a 2020 mac. How do I connect my airVPN to my transmission client and basically set it up to make it as streamline as possible. I understand I have to do something with the ports but am struggling LOL. Anyways sorry for the lack of knowledge, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I might be able to help a bit.
1 - qBitTorrent is also a client, but you can bind your VPN interface to it (which you can’t do with Transmission), and that makes it a better client
2 - there’s a sticky with instructions on how to identify your VPN interface (read it)
3 - binding the interface is done in “preferences” (sorry, I’ve forgotten the section)
4 - once you’ve bound the interface, test it with a harmless torrent (e.g. a linux distro)
That’s it basically, when your VPN goes down, the torrenting stops.
Btw, you don’t need to do anything with the ports.
I’d second all of these recommendations although if you’re using AirVPN they have port forwarding and it will help you maximize the number of connections you’re able to make to others who are sharing/downloading the same torrent.
Ok thank you so much! One more question. So if I have AirVPN on and my connection is somewhere that’s not my IP address it is safe for me to download the torrent? I understand it’s beneficial to bind the vpn to the client but can I download things if my connection is secured?
Actually, it’s safe for you to download the torrent file without a VPN on.
It only becomes a problem once you start the torrent in your client (e.g. qBitTorrent).
Put another way… downloading is not what gets you in trouble, it’s uploading (aka sharing, aka torrenting) that gets you in trouble, because then your IP address can be found.
That’s why you should torrent with a VPN.