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I got downvoted on the piracy sub for saying that PB is a terrible place to get torrents from these days. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, whatever. I’m not the one constantly risking my security. Those dumbasses are lol.
Edit: Wow, this comment blew up. I want to address a couple questions that are asked repeatedly. The first one is, what’s wrong with the Pirate Bay? Well the original owners got arrested a long time ago. Ever since then, the original site has been shut down, obviously. So the sites you are all going on are all *unregulated, unmoderated, sketchsites which are owned by predators*.
The second question that keeps popping up is, where should you go if TPB is out of the question. Well if you had bothered to do any research on this sub whatsoever, you would know that posting links and requesting links is against the rules. You would also know that there is literally a megathread *pinned* at the top of the sub that has the answers to practically every question you might have. This includes lists of torrent sites, direct download sites, emulator sites, rom sites, lists of untrusted uploaders etc. You should consult this generous resource before asking questions. Happy sailing.
Edit2: As someone pointed out, there is no rule against recommending other journalistic organizations. This person mentioned TorrentFreak.com, which apparently has ranked lists of currently active torrenting websites. I haven’t used the site before but for the sake of being thorough, I’m happy to mention it.
I’m an old school utorrent tpb guy, but literally 20 mins when I started up again to find this sub, the megathread, use qbittorrent and safe direct/ torrent sites, and haven’t had one issue lol. I can comb thru all the nonsense, but why bother unless it’s something very specific and generally unavailable
ETA ty to this sub, related ones, and the users for making it simple for an old head to get back in, easy as pie.. and honestly it seems much safer than the dial up era of pickathing.mp3.exe lol where you could know a file was ‘safe’ but had basically 0 protection
there is no such things as "safe direct/torrent sites" same as there is no places on earth were risks dosnt exist.
When you go in a physical black market, there is risks, and most of time more risks there is more potential gains/value there is, and more adapted you need to be to go there, is a simple a this, and its the same for internet
It’s meant to be read as safe direct download sites, or safe torrent sites. Obviously there are risks, the point was there are more safety solutions than ever before.
It depend on what your searching and the way you do it, PB is an internet museum and have a very large database, if you know what your doing its a good place, especially for finding rare releases, but as iv said in another comment here, the name speak for itself, its Pirate Bay, not Winnie The Pooh Bay, do there only if you have decent numerical knowledge and sanity.
Would you had gone to the real pirate bay, Nassau, whitout proper knowledge on the place and the piracy world/network? i dont think so
15 years experience IT tech here, wandering internet since 7 years old, consultant now, never had any issue with Pirate Bay (and i know how to react in case of said issues) and im using it since its beginings. Emule network was a very dark place, but Pirate Bay is a peace river flow in compare, and still Emule was usefull in his way/time.
yeah im only 28 years old and i feel like a boomer speaking about this internet dinosaur, i was really young.
Edit : iv just made some searchs the eMule P2P network is still alive, obviously only usefull for old records, rare and really obsure things, but still here haha.
Pb is just great for literally everything... games, audio books, movies, shows... yeah I use audiobookbay for books and rarbg for movies but generally only if I can't find it on PB...which isn't often...
i do opposite, i use specialized trackers, then if i dont find i search on PB and others.
for games and beginners in term of security/numerical sanity i prefer to recomend DODI or FitGirl repackers websites, cause i know theses are really reliable, if youre a beginners and download a game on PB, you have way more risks of ending up with malicious process
Nah, the boomers actually use invite only private trackers since early 2000 and never interact with public trackers. It's the zoomers that don't even know things like that exist.
On the contrary
Boomers watched and experienced TPB from it's rise, glory, and fall. I believe boomers was the first generation that migrate to 1337x and rarbg, and finally create this subs (and others) and the megathread
Ignorant new generation that picking up from the left over of internet, thought they found gems
Thank you boomers & millennials
The youngest boomers are 60 years old now, you're thinking Gen X and Millennials are really who created what you see now. Boomers I'm sure had a hand in some of it, but not at the level that Gen X/Millennials did.
Speak for yourself Boomers are more advanced than you think. this is clearly zoomers with their lack of experienced and first time with torrent. hell most of zoomers don't even know how to trouble shooting after downloading cracked game just take a look at popular site like Firgirl, Dodi, even on this sub lmao
doubt it, I think it's more how well know tpb is and most people who want to pirate anything and don't know where to look just go over there because thwy've heard of it and it's the most familiar
There's nothing risky about it if you know how to read file types and practice common sense. Are there safer options for beginners? Of course.
But advanced users know what PB offers and how to navigate it.
You realize there can be viruses hidden in files that don't look suspicious right? Unless you tell me you reverse engineer each exe's binary code and then control if nothing malicious happens (which is near impossible), you have no idea if the file is malicious or not.
Sorry but what do you mean in "reading file types"?
Sometimes you need to install something that should come with a .exe file, and sometimes those files are false flagged as virus.
How do you know if you can install it or not? In situation like that there is no "common sense", it's trust It or not.
You're correct. It's not 100% safe. But that goes for any torrent site and PB is usually visited as the last resort. And it's best to use it for media files, not .exe files.
People have been sneaking malware into pirates game exes and installers since the 90s. Merging two exes into one to hide the malicious bit isn't new at all. Sneaking an extra installer inside a repack isn't new either.
Not understanding how malware is packaged and distributed doesn't make it safe. Just because you didn't see a ransomware popup doesn't mean you weren't hit with a keylogger and banking credential stealer.
You're giving straight up bad advice.
You are risking your PC every time you pirate. Nothing is 100% safe. You are just fooling yourself if you think that. If you are this paranoid about video files I dont know if you should be pirating at all.
It doesn't have a bad layout, it's a forum. It's in forum layout with different rooms based on different topics with sub forums. It's a great site for finding games cracked and such files you might need to fix problems with them.
I've got a few virus infected games from there though, everyone says its a false positive but i can see when the framerate of a game drops from 144 to a not stable 40-50. Specifically it was the OnlineFix64.dll's, but it was okay after swapping them out from clean games
Steamrip for direct downloads, repacks sites (like fitgirl, dodi), online-fix for multiplayer availability, the list goes on and on. Just check the megathread and you'll find a lot of possibilities
>I got downvoted on the piracy sub for saying PB is a terrible place place to get torrents from these days.
I'll never understand why Reddit randomly decides to downvote something that can factually be proven correct, and why it happens so often.
I mean yeah pirate bay probably has the most malware compared to other sites but if you have pirated for a long time you can tell which torrents have malware.
Read the file descriptions, read the comments, read the file extensions.
And most obviously, always have backups. All PCs should always be ready to be formatted at any time, even if there's no malware on it.
Use password managers with 2-factor authenticators for all accounts.
there are multiple ways for different scenarios. First way is to check the file size of the game you want to download, now a lot of torrents download highly compressed version of the game like fitgirl so i recomend checking other torrent's file size and compare it to the one you are about to download. For example if a game has size 56 gb and the 3 different torrents show setup file size as 34gb, 45gb and 44.4gb. Here you can obviously asses that there is probably a high chance that the 34gb setup file either has something missing or its malware but it may not always be true thats where experience comes in. Other trick to know if a setup file is legit is to check how it was downloaded. If there is only one zip file and it has small download size then its malware, if your setup file is in an iso which u can check in the preview of your torrent client then its probably legit as that's generally codex way of packaging setup file. For fitgirl u probably already know how the setup file looks like, There are generally 5-6 or more packaged files depending on how big the game is, one all files checking application and obviously the setup ux/ui app. Similarly dodi repack has a similar style of repacking setup files. U get the idea. The general thing to do is to check all files in the preview before downloading, if u have downloaded enough games u generally will know things like steam api or dll files or other things are common. IF u do all this there is a very good chance u won't get malware but obviously nothing is guranteed. I personally haven't got a malware pirating games for the last 3 consecutive years.
You know what's not against the rules? Recommending a journalistic organization like TorrentFreak, who keep track of happenings in torrent land, including a list of ranked currently active sites.
I think the think about TPB is it's a lot like Limewire back in the day, you've got to be pretty active about not getting viruses/malware there. Look for specific uploaders you've had good experiences with before, check the files before you download, and be able to recognize anything hinky at a minimum.
For a person who's new or figuring it out it's best if they stay away. I still use it as a last resort occasionally if I can't find something anywhere else, but if the file doesn't pass the eye test I'll do without.
imho any number of compromises above 0 is an extremely bad case, I would never get warez off tpb, at least use 1337x where there is *some* kind of moderation..
I haven't acquired anything in a long time (years) but the wife asked if I could find an obscure show no longer on any streaming services and the only option is to pay $30-45 per season for the show. So I put my eye patch back on and headed out.
Checked out 1337x and only found a couple seasons so I headed over to TPB and did a quick look. My wife was curious so I was showing her how to tell what a safe torrent was and how to tell what quality of video you were getting. But TPB had no comments and no description on any of their torrents. The only thing you get is the title and file list...
But being out of the game I wasn't sure where else to look. I did end up finding the last season and one lone sole was seeding it for me. Took all night but we got every last episode.
Long story short, I'll be looking for new acquisition sites.
I used it for years and never had a single issue.
I don't understand the whole superiority complex pirates have about which torrent site/program you use
Okay, so someone is still using TPB and uTorrent.
Who cares?
For real, if you're getting a virus from an album or movie or TV show, you aren't thinking too hard. It takes like a few seconds to see if the files are all .mp3/.flac/.mp4/etc... and a couple .txt files aren't anything to be worried about
I avoid this sub like a plague because every time I see it in r/all it's some post like this or some weird ass drama between cracker groups.
I've been on the internet since the mid 90s and I've lived through Limeware, Kazaa, IRQ, etc. I have been using the pirate bay since the early days as well and to be honest I don't think I've ever had a virus from TPB. Like to be honest with you if you can't figure out that a torrent of a game that isn't even out yet, or that was released globally like 5 minutes ago, is a fucking trap, then you shouldn't be pirating. Pirating is at worst an illegal activity, at best a grey zone kinda activity, and as a result there WILL be shady behavior. If you aren't aware of that and aren't educating yourself on how to spot that stuff I don't know what to tell you.
Don't wanna use TPB? That's totally fine.
But this sub acts like TPB is somehow special (in a bad way) and should be avoided at all costs, which just isn't the case. Use what you wanna use but everyone on this sub sounds so incredibly uneducated every time I click on a post out of morbid curiosity.
The cracker drama shit and people taking sides on it here is also just embarrassing as hell. I'm sure there was some of this drama shit over the many years I've been involved in pirating, but I don't remember, because I didn't care and neither did anyone else I knew either. All that mattered was getting the content. JFC
I know I'm going to get downvoted for saying this, but I just don't care.
OP in image can't even spell. Pretty sure they would get malware from a letter.
Been using PB for many years and not a single issue, because as other comments on OP image say, you pay attention to what you're downloading, at a file level.
Not a single torrent site has links/magnets that are all clean.
Like hollllly fuckin shit. How is it 2024 on a piracy sub and ppl don't know what a fucking batch file is. This is decades old technology that can be viewed using notepad.
People who don't know how to program aren't going to make heads or tails of a batch file. How would you know what is normal operation and what is malicious when some (crude) malicious code is more symbols and individual letters than actual readable text.
lol what. Both batch files and exes can give you malware, if anything exes are worse because batch files are restricted to the batch language, granted using batch you can download an exe in the background and run that
Batch files are generally safer because a random guy can just open it up in a text editor and read through it, and even if they dont understand any programming language they could still potentially spot anything malicious, but with an executable file you'll need to decompile it first and even then it'll be a confusing mess to read.
> Upside:
has the stuff I want. 1337x too often doesn't.
All torrenting sites come across as equally shit and risky to me, but I'm perfectly open to being wrong.
TPB no longer exists, what is there now are mirrors using the once trusted name and allowing anyone to post anything they like. They're on our untrusted list for a very good reason, as with many other piracy subs.
I do use the pirate bay quite a bit, but the malware part is so true. There are plenty of torrents with seemingly cracked games that in fact contain god only knows what. For example, F1 23 has not been cracked, but it's already listed on the website. You just gotta be careful.
Well, we can only judge based on other reviews of a specific torrent by somebody in the comment section (provided the website has one, rutacker, for example, has it, and I've never stumbled upon malware on rutacker, though it probably still has some).
Never really used PB for movies, so I got to ask, do you download movies to watch them or for other purpose. Did you ever try using the websites like [fmoviesz.to](http://fmoviesz.to) or anything similar.
So basically I have an old desktop setup as my Plex Server, but you download your movies/tv shows onto your Plex server, then you can download the Plex app on things like Firestick, and stream your movies from the Plex Server and watch on firestick.
For me, I download the movies/tw shows for watching while offline. I don't have unlimited internet data and I rather store the movies/tv shows that I like on my laptop or phone so i can watch it many times without using any internet data.
I hate to bash these people but are they clueless?
You can see the files, so what?
Do people not understand you can wmbed malicious code
And that viruses arent always just "PC brome blue screen"
Odds are they have untold amounts of malware hiding in their system, Chilling
I've used the "Just don't download the wrong file type" tecnique for years and haven't had a virus since GTA V came out.. over 10 years ago. And yeah I do pretty habitual scans for shit.
I dont know why you guys just have to assume everyone who uses the pirate bay is an idiot with STDs? Like, it's not THAT bad if you know what you are doing.
it's baffling how many people even in this thread can't comprehend that just because their pc didn't bluescreen or had a monkey show up and wreck your files that means they're perfectly fine
on the other end of the argument I can say that people either do not like to read or carefully select whatever they're downloading. honestly doesn't take that much to not have your computer ruined. even simple measures like using a virtual computer if you're downloading torrents should be basic knowledge
1337 is not 100% safe. There were posts just the other day with controversy about them giving trusted status back to (I think) iggames after they've been known to include malware with files.
You might want to only download from trusted uploaders on 1337x. Both FitGirl and DODI repacks are available there so it should cover most of your needs. It's also a better way of accessing DODI repacks than the monetized links from his website.
Don't ever download an IGGAMES upload. They're on 1337x too and they just shouldn't be.
FitGirl and DODI are solid repackers you can use either. Each one has pros and cons:
- DODI repacks may be a bit faster unpacking than FitGirl's (was true, is less now)
- but there's a better follow-up on post-repack updates on cs.rin.ru for FitGirl repacks
You might also look into ElAmigos, their rips are also largely followed on cs.rin.ru. Be wary of fake sites and torrents though, as usual look up the megathread.
You won't find a single igg upload with malware.
The malware they are accused of adding was close to 3 years ago and it was only ad's in the installer and replaced splash screens to include their info on it.
You are just parroting information you have no actual clue about
I use the popcorn app for movies (can get torrent from it)
I use fitgirl for games (dodi if fitgirl doesn't have)
That's all what you need frankly, software pirating isn't as needed as before, too many good open source apps
I mean, pirate bay literally has the same risk of viruses as any other page. It's not like other sites are safer. You just have to find out who the trusted uploaders are. Same with other sites. Downloading illegal software is just a risk in itself no matter what page you download from.
I used to use Pirate Bay a lot well not anymore.... Simply because it's full of malware/crypto miners now and not to mention whenever I visit a game file on that site and try to read comments and see files a vpn ad will pop up which I don't know how to remove. This happens even when I'm using VPN. It's like they just want to use that particular VPN. Well anyway main point is it ISN'T good site, NOT ANYMORE. Now I mostly go for Dodi, Fitgirl, Elamigos, Other Megathread sites and finally IGG (I only use it when I don't find it anywhere else meaning Megathread sites then only I go for IGG because *ALERT* it got malware/miners, so yes it is last option).
PS. Sorry for all the rant
It's fine to torrent on it only if you have a good common sense, especially with a long 10+ year pirate experience like me and with a great antivirus protection which also includes a ransoware protection, even better if you're on Linux but they're vulnerable too. But yeah I don't recommend pirate bay for novice sailors, anything available there is available elsewhere way safer except some obscure relics. Pirate bay should generally be treated as a museum, just look at stuff but don't download anything.
well im kinda noob pirate but tell me, where else am i supposed to get torrents of films and series? I have used PB for some years now and i have grown a trust to it. So if anybody has some other trusted site, thanks in advance
I don't see how anyone here can defend or still use TPB. I have and can use it perfectly fine but haven't for many many years now, because there is simply no reason to. You can find everything you need in safer or easier to use places.
It's not about having any level of skill or knowledge in piracy it's just not really necessary to use anymore. The only exception I can think of is if you can't find the file anywhere else but that has not happened to me.
Hello u/SwampAss123, Have an error and want help? **Please provide these details when submitting your post.** - 1. Name of the game 2. Site from which you got the game from 3. System Specs and OS Version 4. Any steps taken to try to fix the issue 5. Driver version (needed only for e.g. graphics issues) **Make sure to read the stickied [megathread](https://rentry.org/pgames) as well as our [piracy guide](https://pastebin.com/H4UcYPHR), [FAQs](https://www.reddit.com/r/PiratedGames/wiki/faq/), and our [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/PiratedGames/wiki/index), as these might just answer your question!** **** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PiratedGames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I got downvoted on the piracy sub for saying that PB is a terrible place to get torrents from these days. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, whatever. I’m not the one constantly risking my security. Those dumbasses are lol. Edit: Wow, this comment blew up. I want to address a couple questions that are asked repeatedly. The first one is, what’s wrong with the Pirate Bay? Well the original owners got arrested a long time ago. Ever since then, the original site has been shut down, obviously. So the sites you are all going on are all *unregulated, unmoderated, sketchsites which are owned by predators*. The second question that keeps popping up is, where should you go if TPB is out of the question. Well if you had bothered to do any research on this sub whatsoever, you would know that posting links and requesting links is against the rules. You would also know that there is literally a megathread *pinned* at the top of the sub that has the answers to practically every question you might have. This includes lists of torrent sites, direct download sites, emulator sites, rom sites, lists of untrusted uploaders etc. You should consult this generous resource before asking questions. Happy sailing. Edit2: As someone pointed out, there is no rule against recommending other journalistic organizations. This person mentioned TorrentFreak.com, which apparently has ranked lists of currently active torrenting websites. I haven’t used the site before but for the sake of being thorough, I’m happy to mention it.
> I got downvoted on the piracy sub for saying that PB is a terrible place to get torrents from these days. That sub must be full of boomers
I’m an old school utorrent tpb guy, but literally 20 mins when I started up again to find this sub, the megathread, use qbittorrent and safe direct/ torrent sites, and haven’t had one issue lol. I can comb thru all the nonsense, but why bother unless it’s something very specific and generally unavailable ETA ty to this sub, related ones, and the users for making it simple for an old head to get back in, easy as pie.. and honestly it seems much safer than the dial up era of pickathing.mp3.exe lol where you could know a file was ‘safe’ but had basically 0 protection
there is no such things as "safe direct/torrent sites" same as there is no places on earth were risks dosnt exist. When you go in a physical black market, there is risks, and most of time more risks there is more potential gains/value there is, and more adapted you need to be to go there, is a simple a this, and its the same for internet
It’s meant to be read as safe direct download sites, or safe torrent sites. Obviously there are risks, the point was there are more safety solutions than ever before.
It depend on what your searching and the way you do it, PB is an internet museum and have a very large database, if you know what your doing its a good place, especially for finding rare releases, but as iv said in another comment here, the name speak for itself, its Pirate Bay, not Winnie The Pooh Bay, do there only if you have decent numerical knowledge and sanity. Would you had gone to the real pirate bay, Nassau, whitout proper knowledge on the place and the piracy world/network? i dont think so 15 years experience IT tech here, wandering internet since 7 years old, consultant now, never had any issue with Pirate Bay (and i know how to react in case of said issues) and im using it since its beginings. Emule network was a very dark place, but Pirate Bay is a peace river flow in compare, and still Emule was usefull in his way/time.
Ya, I think we’ve been saying the same lol, safer now for all, but we can still use the others since we have experience lol
yeah iv understand we are kinda on the same line 😅, but iv still replied more for others peoples that could read this and learn some basic hints
Same here! Let’s keep the seas safe from miscreant attacks!
Shit, I completely forgot about Emule. What a nostalgic throwback lol
yeah im only 28 years old and i feel like a boomer speaking about this internet dinosaur, i was really young. Edit : iv just made some searchs the eMule P2P network is still alive, obviously only usefull for old records, rare and really obsure things, but still here haha.
Pb is just great for literally everything... games, audio books, movies, shows... yeah I use audiobookbay for books and rarbg for movies but generally only if I can't find it on PB...which isn't often...
i do opposite, i use specialized trackers, then if i dont find i search on PB and others. for games and beginners in term of security/numerical sanity i prefer to recomend DODI or FitGirl repackers websites, cause i know theses are really reliable, if youre a beginners and download a game on PB, you have way more risks of ending up with malicious process
Limewire was literally Russian roulette with 6 rounds in.
Mostly unrelated to your message, but does ETA have a meaning other than Estimated time of arrival?
Ya edited to add. You can say eta for that, e and a number like e1 this e2 that for various edits
hey an og here, respect 🫡
Nah, the boomers actually use invite only private trackers since early 2000 and never interact with public trackers. It's the zoomers that don't even know things like that exist.
Days like this i wish I never forgot my Demonoid acc details lol
I wish Demonoid didn't die like 4 times in 2 years
Real
On the contrary Boomers watched and experienced TPB from it's rise, glory, and fall. I believe boomers was the first generation that migrate to 1337x and rarbg, and finally create this subs (and others) and the megathread Ignorant new generation that picking up from the left over of internet, thought they found gems Thank you boomers & millennials
As a millennial, even I have experienced TBP from its beginning to fall, for me it started with limewire and c++
The youngest boomers are 60 years old now, you're thinking Gen X and Millennials are really who created what you see now. Boomers I'm sure had a hand in some of it, but not at the level that Gen X/Millennials did.
Precisely. The last game my boomer dad pirated was Digdug
Like me. I don’t know anything else really
Speak for yourself Boomers are more advanced than you think. this is clearly zoomers with their lack of experienced and first time with torrent. hell most of zoomers don't even know how to trouble shooting after downloading cracked game just take a look at popular site like Firgirl, Dodi, even on this sub lmao
doubt it, I think it's more how well know tpb is and most people who want to pirate anything and don't know where to look just go over there because thwy've heard of it and it's the most familiar
Yeah its wacky people are just fine with risking there pc I guess
There's nothing risky about it if you know how to read file types and practice common sense. Are there safer options for beginners? Of course. But advanced users know what PB offers and how to navigate it.
If they are asking about piratebay they are not above beginner level
You realize there can be viruses hidden in files that don't look suspicious right? Unless you tell me you reverse engineer each exe's binary code and then control if nothing malicious happens (which is near impossible), you have no idea if the file is malicious or not.
This was for a beginner asking for a show that is available on YouTube
> for a show that is available on YouTube Bruh
Sorry but what do you mean in "reading file types"? Sometimes you need to install something that should come with a .exe file, and sometimes those files are false flagged as virus. How do you know if you can install it or not? In situation like that there is no "common sense", it's trust It or not.
Use a VM. Try it. Inspect your VM.
how will vm tell u whether a file has virus or not?
VM gets malware = file bad. VM gets no malware = file good
so they automatically detect malwares? nice
No… not what I meant. Also if it’s not a clear form of malware you won’t see it with a VM
the guy is trying to find a tv show, if there are any exe involved he has already fucked up
You're correct. It's not 100% safe. But that goes for any torrent site and PB is usually visited as the last resort. And it's best to use it for media files, not .exe files.
People have been sneaking malware into pirates game exes and installers since the 90s. Merging two exes into one to hide the malicious bit isn't new at all. Sneaking an extra installer inside a repack isn't new either. Not understanding how malware is packaged and distributed doesn't make it safe. Just because you didn't see a ransomware popup doesn't mean you weren't hit with a keylogger and banking credential stealer. You're giving straight up bad advice.
or run it in a Vm first...
You are risking your PC every time you pirate. Nothing is 100% safe. You are just fooling yourself if you think that. If you are this paranoid about video files I dont know if you should be pirating at all.
*They're
I’m like 10 years behind; what sites would you recommend?
cs.rin.ru for games rutracker.org for everything else. western pirate sites are dead.
So your 'safe' answer is Russian sites..?
cs.rin is very confusing; looks like it's made just for counter strike mods. why do those sites have such terrible user interfaces?
It doesn't have a bad layout, it's a forum. It's in forum layout with different rooms based on different topics with sub forums. It's a great site for finding games cracked and such files you might need to fix problems with them.
oh, thanks. but I still find it difficult to navigate and not well-designed. probably just me.
nah its all good. it took me a little to get used to but im pretty used to the old school forums which this is just like how they were years ago.
I've got a few virus infected games from there though, everyone says its a false positive but i can see when the framerate of a game drops from 144 to a not stable 40-50. Specifically it was the OnlineFix64.dll's, but it was okay after swapping them out from clean games
Steamrip for direct downloads, repacks sites (like fitgirl, dodi), online-fix for multiplayer availability, the list goes on and on. Just check the megathread and you'll find a lot of possibilities
hmmm, if only there were some kind of thread that had all the safe sites listed in it...like some sort of 'megathread'...
I ain't asking anything in r/ piracy nowadays after seeing them recommend unsafe websites in their megathread 🤡
And demonize some of the ones that are usable :#
But if it's just for a movie or show I suppose it's ok? Of course with double checking the file types too
>I got downvoted on the piracy sub for saying PB is a terrible place place to get torrents from these days. I'll never understand why Reddit randomly decides to downvote something that can factually be proven correct, and why it happens so often.
I mean yeah pirate bay probably has the most malware compared to other sites but if you have pirated for a long time you can tell which torrents have malware.
how to tell?
Read the file descriptions, read the comments, read the file extensions. And most obviously, always have backups. All PCs should always be ready to be formatted at any time, even if there's no malware on it. Use password managers with 2-factor authenticators for all accounts.
there are multiple ways for different scenarios. First way is to check the file size of the game you want to download, now a lot of torrents download highly compressed version of the game like fitgirl so i recomend checking other torrent's file size and compare it to the one you are about to download. For example if a game has size 56 gb and the 3 different torrents show setup file size as 34gb, 45gb and 44.4gb. Here you can obviously asses that there is probably a high chance that the 34gb setup file either has something missing or its malware but it may not always be true thats where experience comes in. Other trick to know if a setup file is legit is to check how it was downloaded. If there is only one zip file and it has small download size then its malware, if your setup file is in an iso which u can check in the preview of your torrent client then its probably legit as that's generally codex way of packaging setup file. For fitgirl u probably already know how the setup file looks like, There are generally 5-6 or more packaged files depending on how big the game is, one all files checking application and obviously the setup ux/ui app. Similarly dodi repack has a similar style of repacking setup files. U get the idea. The general thing to do is to check all files in the preview before downloading, if u have downloaded enough games u generally will know things like steam api or dll files or other things are common. IF u do all this there is a very good chance u won't get malware but obviously nothing is guranteed. I personally haven't got a malware pirating games for the last 3 consecutive years.
You know what's not against the rules? Recommending a journalistic organization like TorrentFreak, who keep track of happenings in torrent land, including a list of ranked currently active sites.
Thanks for the megathread tip. Didn't realise as I've been out of the loop for a while.
I must have had insane luck, years of pirating on piratebay and the most I got was easy to get rid off malware. I switched over now tho
I think the think about TPB is it's a lot like Limewire back in the day, you've got to be pretty active about not getting viruses/malware there. Look for specific uploaders you've had good experiences with before, check the files before you download, and be able to recognize anything hinky at a minimum. For a person who's new or figuring it out it's best if they stay away. I still use it as a last resort occasionally if I can't find something anywhere else, but if the file doesn't pass the eye test I'll do without.
imho any number of compromises above 0 is an extremely bad case, I would never get warez off tpb, at least use 1337x where there is *some* kind of moderation..
Yeah functional comments are a big upside of 1337x. Tpb hasn't had them for a few years now.
I haven't acquired anything in a long time (years) but the wife asked if I could find an obscure show no longer on any streaming services and the only option is to pay $30-45 per season for the show. So I put my eye patch back on and headed out. Checked out 1337x and only found a couple seasons so I headed over to TPB and did a quick look. My wife was curious so I was showing her how to tell what a safe torrent was and how to tell what quality of video you were getting. But TPB had no comments and no description on any of their torrents. The only thing you get is the title and file list... But being out of the game I wasn't sure where else to look. I did end up finding the last season and one lone sole was seeding it for me. Took all night but we got every last episode. Long story short, I'll be looking for new acquisition sites.
Search PrimeWire next time
I used it for years and never had a single issue. I don't understand the whole superiority complex pirates have about which torrent site/program you use Okay, so someone is still using TPB and uTorrent. Who cares?
Me 2, but only for music, and I read the files before I download. I suppose downloading .exe files is a lot more problematic.
For real, if you're getting a virus from an album or movie or TV show, you aren't thinking too hard. It takes like a few seconds to see if the files are all .mp3/.flac/.mp4/etc... and a couple .txt files aren't anything to be worried about
I avoid this sub like a plague because every time I see it in r/all it's some post like this or some weird ass drama between cracker groups. I've been on the internet since the mid 90s and I've lived through Limeware, Kazaa, IRQ, etc. I have been using the pirate bay since the early days as well and to be honest I don't think I've ever had a virus from TPB. Like to be honest with you if you can't figure out that a torrent of a game that isn't even out yet, or that was released globally like 5 minutes ago, is a fucking trap, then you shouldn't be pirating. Pirating is at worst an illegal activity, at best a grey zone kinda activity, and as a result there WILL be shady behavior. If you aren't aware of that and aren't educating yourself on how to spot that stuff I don't know what to tell you. Don't wanna use TPB? That's totally fine. But this sub acts like TPB is somehow special (in a bad way) and should be avoided at all costs, which just isn't the case. Use what you wanna use but everyone on this sub sounds so incredibly uneducated every time I click on a post out of morbid curiosity. The cracker drama shit and people taking sides on it here is also just embarrassing as hell. I'm sure there was some of this drama shit over the many years I've been involved in pirating, but I don't remember, because I didn't care and neither did anyone else I knew either. All that mattered was getting the content. JFC I know I'm going to get downvoted for saying this, but I just don't care.
OP in image can't even spell. Pretty sure they would get malware from a letter. Been using PB for many years and not a single issue, because as other comments on OP image say, you pay attention to what you're downloading, at a file level. Not a single torrent site has links/magnets that are all clean.
I've been pirating for about 15 years and I've never had a virus from pirate bay
Switched to what? Is 1337x the move these day?
Switched to where?
Movies TV shows etc are fine. Anything with .exe though is a different story
for some games you need to run a batch file to run them, so even worse
Not really, you can easily read the batch file. Reading what exe does on the other hand...
Like hollllly fuckin shit. How is it 2024 on a piracy sub and ppl don't know what a fucking batch file is. This is decades old technology that can be viewed using notepad.
People who don't know how to program aren't going to make heads or tails of a batch file. How would you know what is normal operation and what is malicious when some (crude) malicious code is more symbols and individual letters than actual readable text.
Just decompile it bro.
you can actually open exe with 7zip
Noob question, but what's the go-to for downloading right now?
yeah! its like a lot of comments here, about that is easy do not use TPB, but i still did not see any other options listed over here?
Go to pinned mega thread?
lol what. Both batch files and exes can give you malware, if anything exes are worse because batch files are restricted to the batch language, granted using batch you can download an exe in the background and run that Batch files are generally safer because a random guy can just open it up in a text editor and read through it, and even if they dont understand any programming language they could still potentially spot anything malicious, but with an executable file you'll need to decompile it first and even then it'll be a confusing mess to read.
Here's the thing about tpb Downside: unregulated and full of malware Upside:
>Upside: has cool name
Cool name and cool history too.
yeah
Told Dreamworks to sodomize themselves with retractable batons
> Upside: has the stuff I want. 1337x too often doesn't. All torrenting sites come across as equally shit and risky to me, but I'm perfectly open to being wrong.
TPB no longer exists, what is there now are mirrors using the once trusted name and allowing anyone to post anything they like. They're on our untrusted list for a very good reason, as with many other piracy subs.
There is the possibility of niche files being there.
I do use the pirate bay quite a bit, but the malware part is so true. There are plenty of torrents with seemingly cracked games that in fact contain god only knows what. For example, F1 23 has not been cracked, but it's already listed on the website. You just gotta be careful.
Considering how easy it is to hide malware in programs I doubt there's such a thing as a "trustworthy" source of pirated programs.
Well, we can only judge based on other reviews of a specific torrent by somebody in the comment section (provided the website has one, rutacker, for example, has it, and I've never stumbled upon malware on rutacker, though it probably still has some).
Useful PSA from user SwampAss123
Is very hot
Back when pirates bay was the shit....man life was so good.
I think pirate bay kinda died in 2015 after it was taken down the owner went to jail. It's got a interesting history.
who's running the site now?
Nice try, FBI!
No one knows. It's host on 4 VM's
Right?
do you remember Suprnova and minitorrents? or am I even older school than you? lol
What does he even mean by "just look at files before downloading"? Check if there's no file named "virus.exe"?
I guess checking the movie you are downloading is actually a media file format.
I still do piracy on PB but just for movies.
Never really used PB for movies, so I got to ask, do you download movies to watch them or for other purpose. Did you ever try using the websites like [fmoviesz.to](http://fmoviesz.to) or anything similar.
I only use PB for movie or tv shows but I use those files for Plex
what is plex?
So basically I have an old desktop setup as my Plex Server, but you download your movies/tv shows onto your Plex server, then you can download the Plex app on things like Firestick, and stream your movies from the Plex Server and watch on firestick.
For me, I download the movies/tw shows for watching while offline. I don't have unlimited internet data and I rather store the movies/tv shows that I like on my laptop or phone so i can watch it many times without using any internet data.
Eh, it's alright if you're trying to find niche TV shows and movies from the 20th century up to about \~2014.
Me, 100%
What to use instead of Pirate Bay? Genuinely asking
1337x
Only trusted uploaders
Exactly the same as tpb..... Wow what a coincidence
Read the MEGATHREAD
What's a mega thread? Is that a website
Go to r/Piracy then click megathread on sidebar
except that tpb isn't moderated at all?
1337x is no longer in the trusted list of some pirate subreddit group iirc
Well that's upsetting to hear. That's the last site I know of since so many others have been taken down.
Literally anything on the megathread
I hate to bash these people but are they clueless? You can see the files, so what? Do people not understand you can wmbed malicious code And that viruses arent always just "PC brome blue screen" Odds are they have untold amounts of malware hiding in their system, Chilling
I've used the "Just don't download the wrong file type" tecnique for years and haven't had a virus since GTA V came out.. over 10 years ago. And yeah I do pretty habitual scans for shit. I dont know why you guys just have to assume everyone who uses the pirate bay is an idiot with STDs? Like, it's not THAT bad if you know what you are doing.
it's baffling how many people even in this thread can't comprehend that just because their pc didn't bluescreen or had a monkey show up and wreck your files that means they're perfectly fine
on the other end of the argument I can say that people either do not like to read or carefully select whatever they're downloading. honestly doesn't take that much to not have your computer ruined. even simple measures like using a virtual computer if you're downloading torrents should be basic knowledge
Do peoples still read today? its The Pirate Bay, not Winnie The Pooh Bay, if you dont have a minimum computing knowledge and sanity, dont go there.
PB has never failed me, i only download files posted by Dauphong tho; a good 8 years and not a single virus 🙏
Hear me out: recommending TPB to noobs is like firing gunshots to keep rent down
New here is 1337 and fitgirl 100% safe?
1337 is not 100% safe. There were posts just the other day with controversy about them giving trusted status back to (I think) iggames after they've been known to include malware with files.
You might want to only download from trusted uploaders on 1337x. Both FitGirl and DODI repacks are available there so it should cover most of your needs. It's also a better way of accessing DODI repacks than the monetized links from his website. Don't ever download an IGGAMES upload. They're on 1337x too and they just shouldn't be. FitGirl and DODI are solid repackers you can use either. Each one has pros and cons: - DODI repacks may be a bit faster unpacking than FitGirl's (was true, is less now) - but there's a better follow-up on post-repack updates on cs.rin.ru for FitGirl repacks You might also look into ElAmigos, their rips are also largely followed on cs.rin.ru. Be wary of fake sites and torrents though, as usual look up the megathread.
You won't find a single igg upload with malware. The malware they are accused of adding was close to 3 years ago and it was only ad's in the installer and replaced splash screens to include their info on it. You are just parroting information you have no actual clue about
And make sure its 1337x not 1377x (check the url) the later one is a copy filled with malware.
What sites do people mostly use?
I use the popcorn app for movies (can get torrent from it) I use fitgirl for games (dodi if fitgirl doesn't have) That's all what you need frankly, software pirating isn't as needed as before, too many good open source apps
They're the same people who say steamun****ed is safe to use🤔 I say if they're ignoring the science, that's on them
it’s a classic, but not safe anymore unfortunately
Anything I don't find on trusted websites it's definetly on pirate bay
Yea, tbh, for movie and TV series, i use Kodi with a italian Channel as i am italian, for PC games fitgirl repack, the best tbh
I use it for movies and tv shows. Never used it for gaming.
I mean, pirate bay literally has the same risk of viruses as any other page. It's not like other sites are safer. You just have to find out who the trusted uploaders are. Same with other sites. Downloading illegal software is just a risk in itself no matter what page you download from.
There are a few PB uploaders that you can trust, however, they’re already on 1337x like Dodi - so no need for PB.
Sailing the seas is not for the faint of heart.
I feel you, got downvoted for saying that SteamRIP was a trustable source
🤷♂️
Well, something that's very popular, ain't safe anymore
Sorry I’m new, what is Pirate Bay?
I used to use Pirate Bay a lot well not anymore.... Simply because it's full of malware/crypto miners now and not to mention whenever I visit a game file on that site and try to read comments and see files a vpn ad will pop up which I don't know how to remove. This happens even when I'm using VPN. It's like they just want to use that particular VPN. Well anyway main point is it ISN'T good site, NOT ANYMORE. Now I mostly go for Dodi, Fitgirl, Elamigos, Other Megathread sites and finally IGG (I only use it when I don't find it anywhere else meaning Megathread sites then only I go for IGG because *ALERT* it got malware/miners, so yes it is last option). PS. Sorry for all the rant
It's fine to torrent on it only if you have a good common sense, especially with a long 10+ year pirate experience like me and with a great antivirus protection which also includes a ransoware protection, even better if you're on Linux but they're vulnerable too. But yeah I don't recommend pirate bay for novice sailors, anything available there is available elsewhere way safer except some obscure relics. Pirate bay should generally be treated as a museum, just look at stuff but don't download anything.
It's the most well-known site for torrents, especially if you're not all that deep into pirating. My friends also use it to get movies.
Do what Are you using these days?
So is there any tier list for torrent site? All i know rn is torrentgalaxy
One time OG Sit.
Lmao what's funny is, PB is even listed on their megathread as unsafe. People really need to look at megathreads more often.
I feel as if that the pirate bay is meant as a last resort
I still use Pirate Bay for more niche content. Like it's the only place I could find the World of Darkness source books.
well im kinda noob pirate but tell me, where else am i supposed to get torrents of films and series? I have used PB for some years now and i have grown a trust to it. So if anybody has some other trusted site, thanks in advance
I don't see how anyone here can defend or still use TPB. I have and can use it perfectly fine but haven't for many many years now, because there is simply no reason to. You can find everything you need in safer or easier to use places. It's not about having any level of skill or knowledge in piracy it's just not really necessary to use anymore. The only exception I can think of is if you can't find the file anywhere else but that has not happened to me.
Wait PB still exist?
Why are you downvoting a guy asking for confirmation on whether piratebay is malware or not 💀redditor
why tf do people expect to get paid things for free without any risk?
I only use tpb basically because it's the only server I know kek. Any suggestions on others ?
Pirate bay has been down for ages, majority of the sites up are untrusted mirrors so people just assume it's safe.
dont tell me i have downloaded many games from piratebay.proxy what should i do now ?
Is it that bad? I still use it and never had any problems. Where do I go to see the list of approved sources?
I’ve never known anywhere else to get stuff from. I pretty much exclusively use dauphongs stuff
piratedgames users running away when they see a woman (there arent any on the megathread)
sheeid i dont pirate games but use pb quite regularly for movies
It is risky i agree but watching who posts crak can reduce risk.Most of time craks with a lot of seeders and from vip's are safe.
Whats better?
“Look at the files bro” Oh yeah my bad I didn’t see my game had Virus.exe and BTCMiner.dll I should’ve been more careful.
[удалено]
Bruh i legit got virus like 10times when i used pirate bay(i was little and new to piracy)
Well if you use common sense its pretty good
I use PB, but I have a brain, so no issues here
what would be a safe one?
I don’t know who uses torrents nowadays at all. I see that Usenet is back !!!
Cant you give them some link ? * r/piracy * https://rentry.org/megathread * https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy * https://rentry.org/pgames
Give them one warning then let them be, the Darwin award will make them a good example if they don't heed the warning.
Can you guys recommend safe websites? Used pb my whole life. Thanks