Arrred games?

[titanicbrittanic]

Here is an exceedingly "dumb ass" type of question... what does it mean to have an arrred game? And if it is what I think it is, where can I find them? Any help greatly appreciated XD

[BastDawn]

ARRRR, matey!  An arr'd game is pirated.  Download µTorrent and find any game you want at www.thepiratebay.org.  Installation instructions are in the FAQ:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,7437.msg208008.html#msg208008

[titanicbrittanic]

That's what I thought they were but wanted to be sure XD

Yet another dumb newb question... what does it mean by "legally backed up" in the FAQ? As in truly is legal for us to be using this or...? Just want to know what I'm getting myself into

[Zazazu]

It is, technically, illegal to pirate a game .iso you have not paid for. However, EA sucks rocks.

[titanicbrittanic]

Mkay... let me rephrase that LOL... what is the likeliness of getting caught in using this 'legal backup'? XD

Thanx for the help, btw. I love this site. What got my hooked was the Sim Store thread, so thanx for the tight knit community and whatnot

[BastDawn]

Make sure you have a good firewall, and never, ever allow anything you've pirated to connect to the internet.  Do not expect the game company to provide you with technical support.  Also, make sure you turn on the encryption protocols to "forced" in the preferences section of µTorrent, and you should be fine.  Have fun!

[keirra]

BastDawn, why should we turn on the encryption protocols to "forced"? I'm curious. I did it, because I trust what you say. It's been disabled in the past when I've downloaded stuff. I bet that's not a good thing.

[BastDawn]

It's the most paranoid response, and thus the best.  It also makes it difficult for your ISP to figure out what you are doing.  Your privacy is too important to allow anything less.

[NothingToSee]

Thanks for the tip. I had mine set to 'enabled', but if you say 'forced' is better, then forced it shall be.

Not that I download much in the way of torrented games, but whatever. 

[maxon]

There's an option in preferences called 'randomise port on each startup' - would someone be kind enough to explain that (this stuff I am not savvy about)?  Is it good to use that randomise option? 

[jsalemi]

Yes, if you have an ISP that's smart enough to slow traffic on the standard torrent ports.  However, you have to be sure your router has Upnp enabled, so it'll know to pass torrent traffic through to the new port.

[TimeStop]

  Also, make sure you turn on the encryption protocols to "forced" in the preferences section of µTorrent, and you should be fine.

Right next to that drop-box is a check box that says "allow incoming legacy connections". Should we uncheck this box since we are being as paranoid as possible?

[BastDawn]

I did, and my torrents didn't slow.  So yes, uncheck it.

[TimeStop]

Thank you, and while I'm being paranoid but not doing anything, is the firewall that comes with windows (xp on my desktop) good in your opinion?

[somnambulist]

BastDawn, why should we turn on the encryption protocols to "forced"? I'm curious. I did it, because I trust what you say. It's been disabled in the past when I've downloaded stuff. I bet that's not a good thing.

The encryption protocols can also help alleviate traffic shaping imposed by some ISPs (here's looking at you, Comcast...). Depending on your ISP and setup, Encryption == More Quicker.

[witch]

Yes, if you have an ISP that's smart enough to slow traffic on the standard torrent ports.  However, you have to be sure your router has Upnp enabled, so it'll know to pass torrent traffic through to the new port.

I just picked a random port for each of my PCs, that seems to work fine. I don't have Upnp enabled. I read somewhere having Upnp enabled was not such a good thing, but I can't remember why. 

[Theo]

A Flash script can easily hijack your router, if you have UPnP enabled.

http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/flash-upnp-attack-faq/
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205800419

Prescription: Turn off UPnP on your router. Disabling Flash is also a good policy; if you use Firefox, install the FlashBlock extension, or other equivalent.

[Judecat]

Thank you, and while I'm being paranoid but not doing anything, is the firewall that comes with windows (xp on my desktop) good in your opinion?

From the little I know the Windows firewall will block some incomeing stuff,  but it does not block out going stuff -- so it allows things to "phone home".

[Ryslin]

Comodo Firewall is nice.. bit complicated and can easily lead to you leaving yourself open if you let it default. With it set to paranoid it can be annoying in a different way because you cannot open a single program without it questioning if that is what you ment to do.

Zone Alarm is a old standby if you are looking for basic protection.
Both of the above are free and easily found by a Google search.

I would strongly recommend NOT getting anything with the name Norton on it.

With windows firewall alone you have put on a light coat to go out in zero degree weather...

[jsalemi]

Prescription: Turn off UPnP on your router.

Unfortunately, that's not always an option -- my DirecTV HD DVR connects to the computers to play audio and video files, but it fails to function if UPnP is turned off in the router. (Or more specifically, the video/audio sharing on the PCs fails if UPnP isn't enabled.)

[Kazzandra]

All I have to add to this is that Comodo, once trained, is highly efficient and only asks for input with installers. I have not had a single piece of malware (okay, to be fair, I've only had two during my usage of PCs, and one of them came from BastDawn's Sims1 site back in the day  ) since I have used it. Norton did let a trojan slip through and it was suck suck suckety suck. Norton should be boycotted like EA. Do not buy Norton suck.

[Theo]

Prescription: Turn off UPnP on your router.

Unfortunately, that's not always an option -- my DirecTV HD DVR connects to the computers to play audio and video files, but it fails to function if UPnP is turned off in the router. (Or more specifically, the video/audio sharing on the PCs fails if UPnP isn't enabled.)

Since the attacks are delivered through scripts in Flash, it's a good practice to whitelist your script-enabled domains. Again, either FlashBlock or NoScript won't display Flash objects in non-whitelisted sites.

[Zazazu]

I use McAffee, which comes included with Comcast Internet (though they aren't very public about it). Anti-virus is fine, though I really don't get to test it. I run scans with McAffee, Panda Active Scan, Ewido, and AdAware monthly and haven't gotten anything but cookies come up since I had Vundo almost two years ago. The firewall is great. I have it at Tight security and it is definitely blocking things and very paranoid about changes in Internet software (like MMORPGs). I wouldn't pay for it if I wasn't already, though.

[BastDawn]

I have not had a single piece of malware (okay, to be fair, I've only had two during my usage of PCs, and one of them came from BastDawn's Sims1 site back in the day  )

Gah!  I'm so sorry.  My AngelFire site is teh suck.      I made myself a shiny new site over the weekend; I would have done it much sooner had I known.

[Bugger]

Sucks for me.  I don't post much here, for I prefer to watch the roastings from afar.  But I was actually approaching the idea of posting nearly the same question: where does a novice go to brush up their pirate-y skills and stop supporting EAxis?  I finally caved today and got FT, needing to see what exactly I am missing out on.  Damn it all, and was hoping to find a, er, cheaper way to play when AL comes out.

I have Norton, and also a penchant for being attacked by viruses each time I make an attemp at getting my hot little hands on an arrred game.  Suppose I will need to change out my anti virus for something better?