You Really Should Bind Your VPN to Your Torrent Client
When you download torrents on your computer, consider using a VPN . Your ISP and advertising companies don’t need to know that you’re downloading the latest Linux distributions or other completely legal content, and a good VPN can help you improve your privacy.
Most people just download a VPN and assume that all their data is secure from prying eyes, but that’s not the case. Once you have chosen the right VPN, you must bind it to a torrent client to ensure that your IP address is not leaked.
Some VPNs have a kill switch that will cut off your internet connection if it is not routed through your VPN. Even if you enable this feature, the kill switches can fail and compromise your privacy. The best way to keep your data private while downloading torrents is to directly link your client to the VPN.
Which torrent client should I use?
There are many torrent clients out there, but Qbittorrent is one of the best. It’s free, works very well, and contains no ads or other annoying things. It’s also one of the few torrent clients that supports direct VPN network interface binding, which means you don’t have to fiddle with configuration files or manually enter your VPN’s IP address anywhere.
If you need to use an alternative client, try to find one that supports this feature. Otherwise, maintaining confidentiality will be much more difficult.
How to connect Qbittorrent to VPN
Once you have downloaded and opened Qbittorrent on Windows, select the server in the VPN app and turn it on.
Click the gear icon on the Qbittorrent toolbar to open the options window. Go to ” Advanced ” and from the drop-down menu next to ” Network Interface ” select your VPN. Click OK and you’re done.
If you’re having trouble identifying the VPN from the drop-down menu, you can go to Settings > Network and Internet > Status and select Network and Sharing Center . If your VPN is connected, it will show up as one of the adapters on this page. Right-click VPN and select ” Rename “. You can now change its name to make it easier to identify and try linking it to Qbittorrent again.
For those using macOS, your VPN may show up in Qbittorrent settings as utun2, utun3, or similar names. You can select it and save your settings.
From now on, Qbittorrent will use your VPN to download torrents.