If you are a file sharer who is worried about security, you probably already use an IPFilter in the hope of blocking prying eyes from seeing your sharing habits. While not 100% effective, IP blocklists can prevent anti p2p companies, government IP ranges, law firms, military organizations and even p2p spammers from getting into your peer list. Perhaps the most popular IP block list that’s around is the one provided by Bluetack internet security solutions. However, there have been complaints of this list getting bloated and inefficient as of late. If you want to try out a new filter check out IpfilterX – it’s claimed to be efficient and carry a lot less bloat. It’s currently supports uTorrent, eMule and PeerGuardian.

Description for IPfilterX (found on their homepage) specifically speak of less bloat and ‘not needing to block 1 billion ranges to stay protected’ (which I'm sure is a crack at bluetack’s lists):

IpfilterX blocks Anti-P2P companies and the organizations that support them, Corporations, Military Ranges, Government Agencies, Law Firms, P2P spammers and many more. There's no need to block more than 1 billion of IPs to be protected, overloading further to a certain value will result in banning innocent IP ranges which means legitimate P2P sources, this paranoid setting will hog your machine. You won't run into risks using IpfilterX and won't run into more risks than using an overbloated ipfilter.

What they are trying to say is that blocking more ranges does not always mean better security. As of 15 January 2010 there were over 6600 different IP ranges in IpfilterX blocklist.

Download

As mentioned above, there are multiple versions of IpfilterX available for different types of p2p software. Currently you can use it with uTorrent, eMule mods and even use it as a block list for PeerGuardian.

[Click Here] to visit IPfilterX official download page to download the latest available version

The file you need to download varies depending on which software you intend to use the block list with. uIpfilterX is for uTorrent, PeerGuardX is for PeerGuardian and ipFilterX(B) is for eMule mods.

Note: An IP filter is not an all in one magical solution that will shield you completely. While it can be effective in some cases, do not get into a false sense of security thinking it’s the ultimate solution to all your problems :)


10 Comments

  1. DesX // 1/16/2010 05:55:00 AM  

    so i dl the .dat file for uTorrent. what to do now with the file?

  2. Anonymous // 1/16/2010 06:33:00 AM  

    Thanks! I needed one of these.

    To the previous poster, I found this, and used it (and threw in my notes in parentheses:

    1. Download (or paste) the file to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\utorrent. (Note, you have to unhide this folder)
    2. Open uTorrent
    3. Click Options
    4. Click Preferences
    5. Click Advanced
    6. Make sure ipfilter.enable = true
    If ipfilter.enable was false you will have to restart uTorrent after changing it to true.

  3. Sara // 1/16/2010 07:16:00 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  4. Sara // 1/16/2010 07:26:00 AM  

    Thanks, added to my Peer Block lists. I would rather have many lists to be safe. I don't see it slowing down my system or downloads.

    You can add this url to Peer Block or Peer Guardian lists:

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/ed2k-ipfilterx/files/PeerGuardX/PeerGuardX-Newport.zip/download

  5. DesX // 1/16/2010 03:55:00 PM  

    ok thx NeoMatrix911X , it works!

  6. Unknown // 1/16/2010 11:35:00 PM  

    I recommend peerblock.. There are many ipfilter setups for utorrent only.. Ones that will automatically update and create the ipfilter.dat and place it in the appropriate folder..

  7. Unknown // 1/21/2010 07:02:00 AM  

    Installing with peerGuardian on a Mac?

  8. Dave // 2/05/2010 11:59:00 AM  

    uTorrent 2.0 (17920) already has an ipfilter enabled (preferences -> advanced) is this the same one or, i tried this one (ulpfilterX) to install under a different name (ipfilterX.dat) but it doesn't show up in the list (preferences -> advanced) what does that mean?

  9. sattwick // 4/28/2010 08:50:00 AM  

    what is utorrent IP Address &Port

  10. Unknown // 7/01/2012 07:27:00 PM  

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