Newbie here, trying to figure out the firewall thing

[eugenicferlie]

Hey all, I know I know, this topic is probably really annoying to many of you. I've been working on my own to solve this problem for hours and hours, and "I just don't get it". I've read through the FAQ's, and a bunch of related stuff on The Traders' Den, followed link after link, but I'm totally lost in the terminology; I'm very ignorant about computers.
In my windows firewall, I made exceptions for my client, Bitlord, and added ports 6881-6889 as suggested. I also have AVG's free edition, but I don't think th free edition has firewall protection.
I want to have efficient download and upload speeds, and of course I don't want to block others' from accessing my music, but I don't want to be at risk from attackers.
Any help would be great. Thanks

[lgerard]

Do you have a router, or just a cable modem?

When you add an exception, it is for the service or program you use, not the specific client.....so in the first line you should enter bittorrent, then your IP, then the port number in the other two boxes.

You also might want to use another series of ports, say in the 5000 range, but neither that nor AVG have an effect on being firewalled.

[eugenicferlie]

Thanks lgerard.
still firewalled. I followed the procedure at portforward.com for setting up a static IP for my dell truemobile 2300. I've been at this for hours and canyouseeme.org still can't see me.
Am I overlooking something else?

[U2Lynne]

eugenicferlie, do you have both a modem and a router? That is my setup - internet to modem to router to me. If that is your setup, have you tried going internet to modem to you and seen if then canyouseeme and see you? That will at least let you know if your computer is setup correctly. Then we can work on getting your router setup.

[lgerard]

whoops

I meant 50000 range.

You might want to make certain that the range you forward is the same range specified in your client, although if you are using 6881-6889, that is generally the default range.

[eugenicferlie]

I think I made some progress, but not certain if I'm all done.
The big red "FIREWALLED" is gone anyway.
I set up a static IP and port forwarding on my router. D/l u/l speeds are way better.
I think I'm good to go. Right?
Thanks again for the help!

[eugenicferlie]

Now can someone explain what the green/blue/red numbers below the handle represent exactly? I get they're some measure of how much information
I've transfered, but that's about it. And is the right-most number red for me because I am in fact still firewalled?
Cool, thanks again Igerard & U2lynne!

[U2Lynne]

Originally Posted by eugenicferlie

Now can someone explain what the green/blue/red numbers below the handle represent exactly? I get they're some measure of how much information

uploaded/downloaded/ratio

When you've got some time, you might want to read over some parts of our FAQ. The BitTorrent Help section is good for newcomers.

[eugenicferlie]

Rats. So that means I'm still firewalled.
I'll keep working on that.
Thanks once again.

[U2Lynne]

Originally Posted by eugenicferlie

Rats. So that means I'm still firewalled.
I'll keep working on that.
Thanks once again.

The red of your ratio has nothing to do with whether you are firewalled or not. It just means it's below 1.0.

[eugenicferlie]

So now I just need to work on getting that number up. I learned that removing torrents from bittorrent makes them unavailable for others to download, so I'll stop doing that. I was only removing them for visual clarity.

[lgerard]

congratulations

It just goes to show if you screw around with something long enough, you will solve it.

You can minimize the torrent "box" to your tray, just like any other window, and you can hide the torrent files and the downloaded folders inside another folder if you don't want your desktop covered....I kind of like to see them.

Keep in mind that if you are using a client which needs a seperate port for each torrent, you can only have as many active as you have forwarded ports, its wise anyway to only have a handful active at one time, and close ones with no activity and open others to maximize your upload capacity.