How to use a VPN to access blocked torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay. How to access The Pirate Bay in the UK. How to use a torrent site. (See also: Why you need a VPN: here’s what a VPN can do for your online security.)
Well this is awkward. Here at PC Advisor we genuinely don’t advocate the use of torrent sites to download and share copyright content. In fact, as the owner and producer of digital magazines that are regularly ripped off and shared via such sites, we actively disagree with such activity. But we also believe in the freedom of the internet, we’re here to provide independent and objective information and, well, you’re grown ups. You can make your own decisions as to the legality and morality of your actions, as well as the inherent security risks.
We’re far from alone in our belief that ripping off copyright material is wrong, and Kanye West hit headlines back in March after tweeting a photograph of him visiting The Pirate Bay to download music-editing software. He claims it was a joke after The Pirate Bay enabled mass piracy of his new album, The Life of Pablo. Not a very funny one, admittedly, but we’re sort of inclined to believe him – we very much doubt that he enjoys people downloading his music for free.
Getting back to the case in point, we don’t agree with illegally downloading content from torrent sites, and we don’t think Kanye West does either. But there are some legitimate uses of torrent sites, and you are all adults who can make up your own minds as to what is right and wrong. (If you’re not an adult, then you should check with whomever pays your internet bill first.) So here’s how to access torrent sites in the UK, even now that your ISP has in all likelihood done its best to block you from doing so. (See also: How to use a VPN: set up VPN for private browsing.)
What is torrenting?
It’s the process of downloading a file but instead of getting it from one server, pieces of the file are sourced from people’s computers around the world. It’s called peer-to-peer file sharing. Most commonly, a bittorrent program will be set up so that your computer is also sharing the file that you’re downloading, but only while you’re downloading it. Downloading this way avoids overloading a single server and is typically used to download video.
How to use bittorrent, utorrent
Unlike downloading a normal file – such as driver for your PC’s graphics card – you can’t usually search for torrent files in Google. Your ISP has probably blocked the most popular websites which list torrent files, such as the Pirate Bay. Google also excludes most search results which include illegal torrents (such as Game of Thrones episodes).
That’s why you’ll need not only an application which can download torrents – utorrent is a common one – but also probably a VPN. We’ll explain why below. See also: Best VPN services.
How to access The Pirate Bay
Note that – in the UK at least – most ISPs won’t let you simply enter the URL for The Pirate Bay. Instead you usually need to access it by clicking on a link to it, and then get around the ISP block. One of the easiest ways to do so is to download the Hola browser extension for Chrome, then find and click on the link to The Pirate Bay in its list of popular sites. Alternatively you can change your router’s DNS settings so that you’re not using your ISP’s servers to route you to websites and therefore not limited by the sites that it blocks.
How to download torrents in the UK: use a VPN
The principle is simple: you need to create a virtual private network. A VPN enables a computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks like the internet as if it were directly connected to a private network. You get the functionality, security and management policies of a private network via a virtual point-to-point connection. Most importantly in this case, a VPN creates a virtual tunnel between you and the sites and services you need to access, which means the ISP doesn’t know who or indeed where you are, so you won’t be blocked off from sites you wish to access.
We explain how to use a VPN service to surf the web anonymously
One way of doing this is to use Opera’s Turbo mode. This is intended to speed up your browsing, but it does so by re-routing all your web pages through Opera’s own speedy servers. In effect this creates a VPN.Soon, an Opera update will bring a full, free VPN service within the browser, but right now this is only available if you install the developer beta version.
Simply install the Opera web browser. Find the Opera Turbo icon on the lower left of the screen, on the left side of the status bar. Hover this icon, and it says “Opera Turbo Off”. Click on it, and Opera Turbo is enabled. The icon turns blue, and each time a page is loaded, information is displayed about the network savings.
How to download torrents from The Pirate Bay: with PirateBrowser
Another simple way of using a VPN is to install the PirateBrowser from The Pirate Bay. It’s just a modified version of Firefox, and it works in a similar way to Opera Turbo. Just be careful from where you download PirateBrowser.
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Author: Matt Egan, Global Editorial Director
Matt Egan is Global Editorial Director of IDG, publisher of Tech Advisor, and a passionate technology fan who writes on subjects as diverse as smartphones, internet security, social media and Windows.