Hi I’m very new to VPN’s in general, and I know that this question has probably been asked about 100 times here but I just had to ask myself.
How does it work exactly? Like if I turn my VPN on before I download anything and then make sure the torrent and client is turned off before I turn off my VPN the ISP won’t see it correct? And they won’t be able to see the files on my computer with or without the VPN on correct? I’m sorry again for the newish post.
Yes. Also read this. Configure qBittorrent to block transfers on VPN disconnect - gHacks Tech News. It’s the ultimate kill switch. Even with your torrent client on and vpn off, no data will transfer.
The big VPN companies have a Built in kill switch that kills the torrent program if the vpn goes down. NordVPN even has a feature that internet Only works of you have a vpn connection. So if it drops you cant continue downloading etc. Most important, make sure you get a vpn provider that has a no log policy.
Let me give you an idea of how a VPN works:
Lets say you have a subscription to TorGuardVPN. When you download their product and run it, what it does it create a connection to a privately controlled server that plays host not only to your connection, but many other people as well. This server can be in different countries, or near your own home.
Once this connection is created, it’s encrypted using a series of very powerful ciphers to keep your information hidden. This is referred to as a VPN Tunnel. Once the tunnel is created and encrypted, your VPN program begins to force all internet traffic through the tunnel, to the server and out to the web. As you might already can tell, this has a few benefits:
- Your program has a direct connection to the server via this VPN. This means that your ISP can see the server you’re connecting to, but it can’t tell what is being sent to the server, or what you’re receiving because of the encryption. Basically, they know you’re using a VPN, but not what for.
- Any information traded between the server you’re connected to and outside parties is free to see. The protection comes from the fact that the IP associated with this information is now the IP of the server as it acts as a gateway between you and whatever content you’re attempting to access. This helps anonymize your traffic.
- The servers you connect to are used by many others of the same service. Because many people use the same server, they may also share the same IP. This brings about herd anonymity. If everyone is using the same IP, it’s hard to distinguish what traffic is what.
So yeah, in essence, using a VPN will hide the fact that you’re torrenting, along with whatever information you’re torrenting. Just make sure you do your research as a VPN won’t protect you from yourself.
EDIT: Sorry, I feel it’s important to bring this up. Because you have a connection straight into the server, and only you and the server know what information you are passing along, it’s important that you make sure your VPN provider is taking care to not track or log your presence. This requires research on your behalf, and isn’t really related to your question, but you should keep it in mind anyways.
In theory, yes. In practice, only if everything is configured correctly. Do some research.
Your ISP won’t be able to see the files you have on your pc, though if you don’t use a vpn, then they’ll know what you’re downloading and the websites you’re surfing on. Regarding the torrenting, you should definitely look for a vpn that has a killswitch (others already explained about it) and p2p servers (those are made specially for torrenting). My advice would be go for something like Nordvpn or similar.
Your ISP can see that torrent traffic is coming in but they won’t be able to see the contents (what you download) since the traffic is encrypted by your VPN.
If you connect to the VPN and then start torrenting, no problem. You are safe
Do this indeed and don’t use an actual VPN’s kill switch.
Hi would you say Nord is good for beginners? And what is their app like on android?
How can they tell it’s torrent traffic if it’s going through the VPN?
So basically the ISP can see me connecting to a VPN but everything from there and until I disconnect is all hidden away, correct?