Stop windows firewall to help bittorrent

[hugoharding]

Ok, i've not been round here for a long, long time, but you guys have always helped me out with stuff i've not been able to do myself.

So here goes,
Trying to sort out Bittorrent on my laptop last night, sorted out the port forwarding and all that, but I was still downloading and uploading at <10kBs.
So I discovered that Windows Firewall was on, but when I tried to go to the settings an error box came up saying "Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings." So I went to this site:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/sharedaccess.htm
and it sorted the problem out, I could turn off Windows Firewall, and was now downloading at around 120kBs and uploading at about 75.

So, I turn on my laptop this morning, and i'm downloading at <10kBs again. Went to windows secruity center, it says that windows firewall is on, and i go into the firewall setting where it's still set at off, yet still says that its on in security center.

So I either need Bittorrent help or Windows Firewall help.

Cheers in advance,

Hugo.

[Jeff Stryker]

I found this.
http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/t120065-.html

[hugoharding]

I followed the reg entry in that, but it still didn't turn off. Weird thing is though, last night speed went up to about 30 but now there back down to less than 10.
I really do think it is windows firewall, coz when it said off in security center, my speed bombed up.

H.

[mr. nails]

i've never had to turn off winxp's firewall to get better dl's or ul's. so i doubt that's ur prob. maybe a firewall on ur router is causing the prob?

[limesqueezer]

Or you use your own firewall or windows firewall, but never boath. Complications can accour if windows firewall doesn't want to turn off automaticly when you install another firewall, don't know why this happens. I had come to the point once when i couldn't turn off my windows firewall and soo i couldn't open IE also anymore. Did you check if your connection link to internet has in configuration properties firewall enabled ?

[gamer4eva]

I would suggest you use zone alarm so then i think windows firewall will turn of automatically.

[mr. nails]

I would suggest you use zone alarm so then i think windows firewall will turn of automatically.

it does.

[limesqueezer]

Microsoft fixed some problems with Windows firewall problems with p2p with latest SP2. U can use SP1 that has no windows firewall. You can also uninstall SP2 or windows firewall if you have reached complications beyond repair. I can give you instructions how to do it if you want this cause you can't do it with just add or remove programs option.
But no matter what firewall you use on latest xp version in your security center you always see Firewall ON, just that under that you see the name of firewall.

[hugoharding]

Ok, I've installed zonealarm, so windows firewall is now turned off.
But my dl and ul speed are still well low. I have just noticed that in our router settings the firewall is set to medium level, should i keep this as is or turn off or down or anything?

It also says that "universal plug and play" is disabled, I don't know if this is anything useful, and "Discard ping from the internet" is set to yes. Don't know how useful these last 2 things are, they mean jack shit to me, but maybe helpful to yous lot.

Any other ideas?
H.

[peat moss]

If it disabled universal plug and play that's great ,I'v never seen a Firewall do that . I usually have to do it by hand .

The ping is probably your ISP checking your connection .




A quick Google found a guide for ZA and Bittorrent .

http://forums.torrentspy.com/showthread.php?t=30142

[hugoharding]

Ok, so its definately setting on my computer and not the router, was just chatting with one of my housemates, she says she only uses bittorrent occasionally, but gets speeds over 100kBs all the time when she does use it.

Re: peat moss
Went to your google link, but it says to click on a tab labeled expert, but i haven't got that tab option.

H

[peat moss]

Are you sure its not there ? I hav'nt used ZA for years but still remember the Expert tab . Mabye its just in the Pro version .

[smeghead]

Hey H, here's my solution.
I turned off security centre run>type "services.msc" without quotation marks go to security center right click and stop that service! change its startup type to disabled (restart shouldn't be necessary.) Next go into network connections, right click your internet connection select properties and go to advanced tab, click "settings" box under windows firewall and confirm that it is turned off for your connection.
(i often found that security centre would annoyingly turn win firewall back on.)
my next recommendation would be to rely on your router for firewall protection, most of them are up to the job and if some rogue 12 year old wannabe hacker manages to get in he's only got access to your box with your net settings on it (not very useful.)
Next check your ISP details see if they have a fair usage policy and if they implement traffic shaping use a client like utorrent or azureus to work around this. Configure your laptop to have a static address using the routers set-up page. Finally, and I know some guys on here will want to kick my head in for this ENABLE UPNP on your router and laptop, this for me was one of the primo factors in getting good torrent speeds, I use azureus which has a upnp plug-in showing mapping of the ports. Technically yes it is a bit unsecure but provided you have a) a good anti-virus client and b) some common sense you should be fine. I did not have to port-forward using this method, and it is also easy for me to change my port number on a whim in case my ISP finds me and slows me down (when they decide its BT traffic)