Recommended Posts

I have a problem with one of my housemates constantly downloading all day everyday using bittorrent. Even when asked to only download overnight, he still persists on leaving downloads going.

My network is set up with one linksys wag45 router and everyone connected wirelessly. I'm having no luck in finding a way to block bittorrent (or even blocking the ports used) and i was wondering if anyone knew how i could do this?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/435845-block-bittorrent-usage/
Share on other sites

install netlimiter on his computer, and limit is net or create some form of a network shedule to reduce his overall bandwidth usage during certain hours and make sure to have a password

Well considering he hasnt stopped doing it, I dont think he would allow him to install such a program on his computer so If it was me.. I would ask him nicely again and if he continues to do it call up your isp and get the ports blocked :p

Block ports 6881-6999. On my AG241 (which is quite similar to the WAG54G) you have to go to access restrictions, then you can set up the restrictions. Set it up for just his mac address, and add a service at the bottom so you can block ports 6881-6999.

best bet would be to limit his net usage not block the ports, because torrents can use any free ports, so blocking just the ones he using means he could just change ports and you would have to find which one he is using constantly

Block ports 6881-6999. On my AG241 (which is quite similar to the WAG54G) you have to go to access restrictions, then you can set up the restrictions. Set it up for just his mac address, and add a service at the bottom so you can block ports 6881-6999.

With this method, the services at the bottom part confuses me. It has "Blocked Services" and is set to None. There are various different options and two empty text input boxes (which i guess are for the port range). What service should i choose when setting this up?

Block ports 6881-6999. On my AG241 (which is quite similar to the WAG54G) you have to go to access restrictions, then you can set up the restrictions. Set it up for just his mac address, and add a service at the bottom so you can block ports 6881-6999.

Won't work, as per ambulance's post. Also, the MAC address can be changed, so that might not work either.

Then blocking the port mentioned won't work. Azureus tells you NOT to use that post range, as most ISP itself blocks it.

I think your best bet is to use WRT54G to block his internet access completely, that'll show that you can easily block him off completely if he doesn't listen.

I forgot that Bittorrent clients use any ports now. I think you should block ports 1-79 and 81-65535. Then he will only be able to use the web. Being not computer literate he won't understand why the web works but BT doesn't (Y)

Edited by BobMarley

find out where he gets his torrents from and block those ips, on my network i also block all torrent files from being downloaded. this way the only way to get them is from someone else over like msn

find out where he gets his torrents from and block those ips, on my network i also block all torrent files from being downloaded. this way the only way to get them is from someone else over like msn

^that's probably your best bet.

OR.. you could make up some fake email address and send him an email pretending to be a lawyer from the RIAA/MPAA or Ubisoft or some other company.. lol

im sure us neowinians wouldnt mind helpin you make a realistic letter demanding he cease and decist. (or whatever they call it) :yes: :)

Buy a wrt54G. i had the same problems, and this router fixed them all. you can have total control over everything. the DD-WRT firmware lets you even block torrent traffic *by analyzing was IS torrent traffic*, not by port blocking (which can easily be circumvented). Trust me, it's worth the money (which isn't all that much anymore).

Buy a wrt54G. i had the same problems, and this router fixed them all. you can have total control over everything. the DD-WRT firmware lets you even block torrent traffic *by analyzing was IS torrent traffic*, not by port blocking (which can easily be circumvented). Trust me, it's worth the money (which isn't all that much anymore).

Lol, yeah the WRT54G will solve the problem to a certain extent because it crashes when you use bittorrent. Read this: http://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#Special_no...G_GL_GS_routers

And note, you can't use 3rd party firmware on the new WRT54Gs.

I have a problem with one of my housemates constantly downloading all day everyday using bittorrent. Even when asked to only download overnight, he still persists on leaving downloads going.

leaving downloads 'going' means he's uploading, a vital part of the bittorrent experience--so instead of cutting him off, teach the fool how to use the options to set the upload speed to something reasonable :shiftyninja:

I just went on his computer and changed his settings to limit it to 5 kb/s both upload and download. Hopefully he won't realise why it's slowing down.

Also, in reference to the uploading being part of the bittorrent experience: I understand that, and know that seeding the files is helping the community. However, i should have specified that he was starting new downloads constantly and not actually seeding at all. Hence not only ruining our internet connection, but not actually helping the community much.

(plus, the internet connection is in my name, so ultimately i get in trouble if he abuses the system)

Lol, yeah the WRT54G will solve the problem to a certain extent because it crashes when you use bittorrent. Read this: http://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#Special_no...G_GL_GS_routers

And note, you can't use 3rd party firmware on the new WRT54Gs.

It's true that the new WRT54G's and GS's use non-linux firmware (v5). That said, there are versions 1-4 *widely* available. Further, linksys has renamed the linux version to WRT54GL: so if you want to be sure, grab an L version.

That utorrent link is out of date. New versions of HyperWRT (tofu) do not need that startup script, and DD-WRT just needs a simple change in "max connections" and "timeouts" which takes oh...all of five seconds.

I posted because I was commenting from experience. If you want to limit his connection in the way you are asking, you either have to build a linux box, or buy a WRT54G (or compatible). There are no other cost effective means.

DD-WRT has packet shaping. That's pretty high-tech for a cheap consumer router. Certainly nothing to laugh at, nor spread lies about.

I forgot that Bittorrent clients use any ports now. I think you should block ports 1-79 and 81-65535. Then he will only be able to use the web. Being not computer literate he won't understand why the web works but BT doesn't (Y)

dont forget 443 either, or he wont be able to do https lol

  • 4 years later...

Hello i would like to know if anyone could tell me how i might go about blocking inappropriate content such as pornography in torrents. It seems as if my internet filtering program blocks all restricted categories and keywords from the internet but it doesn't seem to catch anything torrent related or from any file share site. Any help would be appreciated.

I should note that he isn't the most computer literate. He uses Azerueas (sp?), but applying the access restriction (having figureed out i had to add a service) doesn't seem to have done much :s

In that case when he's not around his computer go into Azerueas and limit the Download and Upload speed.

I'm surprise your ISP haven't send you any C&D letter yet or the FBI knocking on your door, With that much download.

May I ask what ISP you use? :p

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • BATorrent 4.1.0 by Razvan Serea BATorrent is a lightweight, open-source BitTorrent client built with modern C++ and Qt 6, offering a clean, fast, and privacy-focused alternative to traditional torrent apps. It supports magnet links, .torrent files, resume data, sequential downloading, per-file priorities, and even imports from qBittorrent. Power users benefit from integrated RSS auto-download with regex filtering, duplicate detection, and automatic tracker lists from Stremio. Streaming is seamless thanks to auto-detected players like VLC and IINA. BATorrent includes robust VPN tools—interface binding, auto-detection for WireGuard-based services like Mullvad and NordLynx, kill switch, proxy support, and IP filtering. A full WebUI enables remote control, while integrations with Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby automate library updates. With themes, speed scheduling, system-tray alerts, and cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and macOS, BATorrent delivers a polished, high-performance torrenting experience. BATorrent features: Core .torrent file and magnet link support Resume data — picks up where you left off after restart Import torrents from qBittorrent Create .torrent files from any file or folder Sequential download mode Per-file priority control (skip, low, normal, high) Seed ratio limits with auto-pause DHT, PEX, UPnP, NAT-PMP RSS Auto-Download Subscribe to RSS feeds — automatically download new torrents as they appear Regex filters — match only what you want (e.g. 1080p|720p, S01E\d+) Per-feed settings — custom save path, check interval (5–1440 min), enable/disable Auto-download — matched items are downloaded automatically in the background Supports magnet links, .torrent URLs, and tags Tray notifications when items are auto-downloaded Duplicate detection — never downloads the same item twice Stremio Stremio Addon System pre-installed — works out of the box Auto tracker list from ngosang/trackerslist Streaming Play while downloading — stream video files before the download is complete Supports mp4, mkv, avi, mov, wmv, flv, webm, m4v, ts Auto-detects installed players (VLC, IINA, system default) VPN & Privacy Interface binding — lock torrent traffic to a specific network interface (e.g. tun0) Auto VPN detection — identifies VPN interfaces (tun, tap, WireGuard, Mullvad, NordLynx, ProtonVPN) Kill switch — automatically pauses all torrents if the VPN interface drops Auto-resume — resumes only the torrents paused by the kill switch when VPN reconnects Proxy support — SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy with optional authentication IP filtering — load P2P blocklists to block unwanted IP ranges Protocol encryption (enabled / forced / disabled) WebUI Remote management — control torrents from any browser at http://localhost:8080 REST API with JSON responses Add torrents via magnet link or .torrent upload Pause, resume, remove torrents remotely View peers and files per torrent Dark theme matching the desktop app HTTP Basic Auth with SHA-256 password hashing Configurable port and remote access (localhost vs 0.0.0.0) Interface 3 themes: Dark, Light, Midnight (bat/vampire aesthetic) Real-time speed graph Detailed panel with tabs: General, Peers, Files, Trackers Filter bar: search by name, filter by state (Active, Downloading, Seeding, Paused, Finished) Drag & drop .torrent files and magnet links Drag & drop reorder in torrent list System tray with notifications (download complete, kill switch events, RSS auto-downloads) Splash screen with bat animation Bilingual: English and Portuguese (BR), auto-detected from system locale Bandwidth Scheduler Alternative speed limits — set different download/upload limits on a schedule Time range — configure active hours (e.g. 01:00 to 07:00), supports overnight ranges Per-day control — choose which days of the week the schedule applies Automatically switches between normal and alternative speeds Media Server Integration Plex — automatically trigger library scan when a download completes Jellyfin / Emby — same automatic library refresh via API Configure server URL and authentication token/key in Settings System Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS Auto-shutdown — automatically shut down PC when all downloads complete (60s cancellable countdown) Auto-update system (AppImage on Linux, installer on Windows, DMG on macOS) CLI arguments: pass .torrent files or magnet: URIs directly Keyboard shortcuts: Space to toggle pause, Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+O to open BATorrent 4.1.0 release notes: A community-driven release: everything here came straight from your reports and requests. It closes the remaining gaps with qBittorrent and fixes the Windows settings/tray/splash issues several of you hit. Fixed Settings now actually save. A whole class of preferences — speed limits (and the alternative limits), max active downloads, seed ratio, listen port, max connections, DHT/uTP/encryption, VPN interface, kill switch and proxy — weren't being persisted and reset to defaults on every launch. They now round-trip correctly. (Thanks to everyone who reported "the upload limit always goes back to 0".) Splash and tray toggles stick on Windows. Turning off the startup animation (or "close to tray") no longer reverts — the Windows registry stored these booleans as integers and the UI was misreading them. Close-to-tray hint. The first time the window hides to the tray you get a one-time notification, so the app doesn't look like it vanished (Windows 11 tucks new tray icons into the overflow). macOS Dock icon size. The icon filled its canvas edge-to-edge and rendered larger than neighbouring apps; it now uses the standard safe-area padding. Native file picker language. The "Torrent file / All files" filter in the open dialog follows the app language instead of being hard-coded. Added — qBittorrent parity Alternative speed limits toggle — a turtle button in the toolbar flips your throttled limits on/off instantly, independent of the scheduler. Follow system theme — switch light/dark automatically with the OS (Settings → Appearance). Pre-allocate disk space — reserve the full file size up front to reduce fragmentation (Settings → Downloads). Recheck data on add — optionally force a hash check when adding a torrent, so existing or partial files on disk are detected. Port status indicator — a 🔴 dot in the status bar shows whether your listen port looks reachable (UPnP/NAT-PMP + listen state; fully local, no external check). Add torrent from URL — File → Add torrent from URL (Ctrl+U) fetches a remote .torrent and routes it through the normal add dialog. Export .torrent — right-click a torrent → Export .torrent to save its metadata file. Already there (in case you missed it) Watch folder — auto-add .torrent files dropped into a monitored directory (Settings → Files). This release just surfaces it. Incomplete files already carry a .!bt suffix until they finish. Under the hood Regression tests for the settings-persistence and Windows boolean bugs. A new Qt Quick Test harness covering the startup splash and the design-system widgets. Download: BATorrent 4.1.0 | 37.5 MB (Open Source) Download: BATorrent Portable | 51.7 MB Links: BATorrent Website | Screenshot | Changelog Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      AndrewSteel earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Veteran
      Taliseian went up a rank
      Veteran
    • One Month Later
      Clizby earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Timaximus earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Timaximus earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      514
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      170
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      162
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      84
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      78
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!