Personally I would NEVER go near a torrent download. They are used by pirates and open access to your machine for anyone who has nefarious intentions. I actually can't believe that anyone providing downloads for FS would direct their users to a torrent, period.

Trolling or just totally clueless?

Trolling or just totally clueless?

Neither, are you? I work online and have for years, If you want to allow anomomous users into your machine, go for it. The fact is you have no idea who you are connected to and what their intentions are. Most are harmless but it only takes one hacker with malicious intent to steal your info or ruin your machine. To each his own.

Neither, are you? I work online and have for years, If you want to allow anomomous users into your machine, go for it. The fact is you have no idea who you are connected to and what their intentions are. Most are harmless but it only takes one hacker with malicious intent to steal your info or ruin your machine. To each his own.

You would also need to be running a torrent client that contains some very serious security holes for that to happen... If you block incoming connections to your torrent client you will only get and send data on connections that the program on your computer initiates, which would eliminate the risk. Most router firewalls probably does this by default. If you only download torrent files from sources you trust (e.g. the NL2000 website) you don't run the risk of getting malware in the downloaded files, as a hash check is done on the downloaded files to make sure that you have downloaded the full file, and that all its bits match what is expected.There are far more dangerous security issues that can happen anytime you visit a website, especially if the website has some minor design errors...But clearly, you will not change your mind. However, for other people reading this thread I think it's important to mention that what you say is not true. Using a torrent client is about as safe as using your web browser.

Instead of running heads, we could focus on this, don't you think?Have fun flying this beautiful scenery!

I find the proclamations that Torrent is perfectly harmless interesting. I wonder how many would have said the same thing about the Sony gaming site. Rather odd that the opinions are probably based upon personal anecdotal experience. I could therefore say that Torrent worked for me with no harm. That is no harm until my credit card hits its limit. The philosophy of anyone getting into your computer, even for a wondrous social cooperative such as Torrent, seems risky. The firewall explicity block this stuff now. I have absolutely to reason to engage in a social compact to support downloads. I'll stick with AVSIM. At least I know where Tom lives.

Rather odd that the opinions are probably based upon personal anecdotal experience.

Speaking purely for myself, I can say that my opinion is based on a sound knowledge of protocol stacks and operating systems, as well as a good background in network and computer security. In my post above I also offered a link that can be used as a starting point for gathering facts.

I find the proclamations that Torrent is perfectly harmless interesting. I wonder how many would have said the same thing about the Sony gaming site.

What the point I'm trying to get forth is that there is nothing that is really special to the torrent protocol or torrent clients that make them more susceptible to attacks than other programs that use the internet. It is not perfectly safe, if there are bugs or security holes in the torrent client that may lead to your computer being compromised. The same is true for every web browser, operating system, email client, etc.My understanding of the attack on Sony's networks is that they hadn't secured their network properly, and a number of mistakes led to the attack.

Rather odd that the opinions are probably based upon personal anecdotal experience.

My opinions in this thread are based on what I know of how computers work, which is quite a bit given that I have spent the last four years studying computer science at university, including networks and computer security (how several different attacks work, how to prevent them, etc.).

The firewall explicity block this stuff now.

Firewalls typically block everything and are set up to let (inbound) connections through as an exception. Unless you meant that you have set up your firewall to explicitly block it, in which case I misunderstood you.

If you like lighting a fuse and hoping the dynamite doesnt explode, then by all means, play with torrents, enough said.

Well darn! Looks like I need to scratch the State of Oregon GIS department off my list. Seems the source material they have (many, many GB) is only available through use of a torrent client. Good thing you warned me, because I have no idea what those quackers might have done to my computer. Quack, quack! :LMAO:And a few months back I downloaded the entire NL project via torrent. Scans revealed no hidden danger or malware infestation by using uTorrent as a client.

I have absolutely to reason to engage in a social compact to support downloads.

HelloYou should really prefix that with"Now that I have got my totally free scenery,I have absolutely no reason to engage in a social compact to support downloads." Courtesy of all of the sewerage out there on the internet that shared their bandwidth whilst you D/L it.As one of those who have also been D/L this great scenery and therefore contributing MY bandwidth to help you get the Scenery I resent being lumped in with the "sewerage out there"

I find the proclamations that Torrent is perfectly harmless interesting. I wonder how many would have said the same thing about the Sony gaming site. Rather odd that the opinions are probably based upon personal anecdotal experience. I could therefore say that Torrent worked for me with no harm. That is no harm until my credit card hits its limit. The philosophy of anyone getting into your computer, even for a wondrous social cooperative such as Torrent, seems risky. The firewall explicity block this stuff now. I have absolutely to reason to engage in a social compact to support downloads. I'll stick with AVSIM. At least I know where Tom lives.

Torrented downloads don't even come in contact with your credit card info unless you've created a text file with your card info and uploaded it as a torrent. However that would be completely ridiculous and I seriously doubt any user would do such a thing. Any stable torrenting client (BitTorrent, uTorrent) will not allow for others to simply walk in to your computer and steal data. That being said I am somewhat shocked as to the community's reaction to torrents. Despite their use in piracy they're incredibly effective in reducing load from servers and distributing large files. They are not a file created simply to allow thiefs into computers.

You get all this beautiful scenery for free, the least you can do is help others download it as well.

Sony Quote Yesterday:"Sony chief Howard Stringer has warned he can no longer guarantee the security of the electronics giant's gaming network in the "bad new world" of cybercrime after one of the biggest Internet data breaches."

Sony Quote Yesterday:"Sony chief Howard Stringer has warned he can no longer guarantee the security of the electronics giant's gaming network in the "bad new world" of cybercrime after one of the biggest Internet data breaches."

HelloWe had all better log off and shut down then if the cybercrime guys are after us :(

Interesting as the Sony hacking might be, I fail to see the relevance to torrent technology.The Sony hack shows that even large commercial operations with lots of resources can be vulnerable to hackers, and emphasises the need to be careful when handing out your credit card information. Essentially it shows that online buying has some disadvantages that you need to weigh against the convenience of instantly being able to download your purchase. Think about that next time you use your credit card to buy from Flight1, PMDG, Aerosoft, or another online webshop (all of these have considerable less money and resources than Sony to protect their systems).The NL2000 organisation does not store any of your credit card information, so a hacker gaining access to their servers cannot damage you in any way.The main danger you run when using a bittorrent client such as uTorrent or Azureus is if you decide to download pirated versions of copyrighted software. These may very well contain malware that could open your computer to misuse of various kinds.Don't steal software and you will be fine.

I better log off from AVSIM and disconnect from the Internet because all those bad people are after my useless files on my computer.