**10/31/09**
We received feedback from the developer of PeerBlock - Be sure to read their comments at the end of the article!
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It is time for another
TGZ Reviews.....
PeerBlock
If you are an avid torrenter, you may already be aware of PeerGuardian and what it does to help protect you while you torrent. PeerBlock picks up where PeerGuardian left off. With many bug fixes and full install support for 64-bit operating systems (including Windows 7) PeerBlock has become one of the best free IP Blockers for Windows.
Continued.....
Using the same interface as PeerGuardian, it is easy to use and customize what different IP lists you want to block. PeerBlock has the options to block Anti-P2P organizations, Spyware & Adware servers, and educational institutions. You can even add a custom List if you prefer one over the ones built-in.
You no longer need to worry about grabbing the latest List update before torrenting or surfing the web because PeerBlock can automatically download updates for you. You can also view what IP addresses have been prevented from accessing your computer. If you find an IP that has been inadvertantly been denied, simply select the IP address and choose 'Allow'. PeerBlock can also make your web surfing a little safer, but I prefer to disable
HTTP filtering. There have been a few times I have accidentally enabled
HTTP Blocking and haven't been able to access a website due it being tagged in the block list.
PeerBlock recently raised money to purchase a Signed Driver to allow installing in a 64-bit environment. Whereas in the past with PeerGuardian & PeerBlock you would had to test-sign a driver and hope that it worked. They have also fixed several instability issues where PeerGuardian would crash or not even load at all.
I highly recommend anyone who is going to download a torrent to go out and download PeerBlock. As with all software, be sure to tip the developers to let them know you appreciate their hard work.
Website:
http://www.peerblock.comProject Lead: Mark Bulas
***10/31/09We received some feedback from one of the PeerBlock developers and wanted to share their comments with everyone:
"One thing to note though: when you tell PeerBlock to "Allow HTTP" it actually allows any
outgoing traffic on port 80 or 443 (the defaults for HTTP and HTTPS,
respectively). We do not currently do any sort of "Deep Packet
Inspection" or anything to make sure that only HTTP connections are
allowed there. This leads to a potential security hole in that if a
"bad guy" were to, say, set up their P2P program to make use of port
80, PeerBlock would not be blocking your connections to them. And I have seen a few outgoing connections on port 80 to IP addresses flagged as "Mediasentry"..."
