Hi guys I'm back again with another issue. So my school is pretty big for computer engineering and other computer-related fields.
Ironically however, the network setup here is pretty abysmal imo; it works well if you know how to finesse it, but for the general public its full of inconveniences, all of which I wont discuss in this particular post.
So my problem right now is the school's anti-piracy policy. Now obviously all public schools are going to be anti-piracy and they'll claim to be "zero-tolerance". But my issue with my school is the overkill steps they take to enforce their policy.
I have Bittorrent installed on my computer, I avoid using it at school and when I do I make sure I use VPN so theres no problem there. My problem isnt actually using Bittorrent but having it. The school will often randomly block my internet access because it detects that my computer has Bittorrent installed. "But how can they be so intrusive as to see what's installed on my computer and even then how can they penalize me for having something installed if it's not in use and if it's use doesnt require illegal activity" I asked at first, then I realized that the reports it gave seem to be some sort of routine checks that Bittorrent runs in the background.
So to the task at hand: I tried disabling Bittorrent's automatically checking for updates in the background however today I received another strike for the same processes. Im currently on what I believe to be my 3rd strike (4 hour block) and Im not sure I can take anymore hits before they cut me off completely or worse: contact the authorities.
So two questions - 1. is there a way for me to reset my public IP address in order to wipe my slate clean (i believe a friend of mine used to do this but i forgot his technique and im having trouble contacting him) 2. how can i ensure bittorrent doesnt do anything to get detected without my permission so that i can have the vpn up?
You must create some sort of firewall settings to do so. The wat they detect it is by port scanning or traffic analizing. Or if the computer if owned or managed by school trough something like service or process searching.
If you use an pc that is not yours. Then consider this information not posted. Like @Urworstnit3m3r says. That is not allowef.
If you have a personally owned computet then deinstall bittorrent en dont use your computer for that kind of stuff ay school.
The reason why I gave this information is because whe are here because we want to learn. Not to break the rules or whorse prevent other students from working by downloading or spreading a virus of some sort. (By accident)
Or you could not use windows and use linux instead. I used linux at my school and they had some spyware you had to install that pung home if you were being sneaky. Called it QuickConnect or some shit. Anyways since I was a linux user I didn't have to install the client. Also mac spoofing was a lot easier and less retarded at that point.
But the problem is not that Im trying to break the rules but that Im being falsely accused of breaking the rules. I wouldnt be dumb enough to use a school computer for piracy.
Whats happening is that my gaming rig is popping up as being detected at times where I wasnt even using it and the report always shows that bittorrent was used even though I hadnt started it since i got back to school. Earlier this semester I got two false detections and discovered that it was because bittorrent was checking for updates in the background so I disabled the update check and the problem was fixed, however suddenly it happened again.
I havent torrented things that arent already free aside from 1 album that couldnt be purchased anywhere (i guess i like some obscure music sometimes).
So my question is how can I wipe these false positives (a friend of mine had to do this last year) and how can I completely disable Bittorrent from causing them?
if on windows use transmission-qt instead as your client, it doesn't do weird things in the background.
don't use torrent clients on school network even for downloading distros (most of them are shitty and forget to drop connections and router can be filled with shitty connections if policy is not set up correctly).
As a music technology major Bittorrent assists me in my learning process but aside from uninstalling bittorrent, how can I reset the status of my IP?
I got in contact with the friend but he doesnt remember the method he used after Network and Sharing Center>change adapter settings. Anything from this point?
I believe VMs get another MAC adress. So install virtualbox and a linux of your favorite choice inside it and run it with a light DE (openbox or lxde should be fine). Then you can assign your MAC address at will. Else find a tool to change your MAC address for your adapter.
You could try to set your ip-address manually it may work and may not. Maybe shifting bands can help, don't know the specifics of your schools setup. (right click on your ethernet adapter and go under advanced settings (i think, don't use windows that often for networks)).
Even if it doesn't help, good tip for a steamlined bittorrent client. You could open cmd and just use ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew to get a new Ip, dunno if that changes the internal Ip assigned to your machine by the network though.
It probably won't work, in that case you need to spoof your mac adress as said earlier.