berke

1. Download Firefox

2. Add the following extensions: uBlock Origin, AdBlocker Ultimate, Privacy Badger, Privacy Possum, minerBlock (ClearURLs and Don’t track me Google also recommended but not necessary for this)

The more browser extensions you have installed, the more fingerprintable your web browser is!

That’s why on the TOR Foundation’s website they recommend that you install ZERO extensions on the Tor Browser. Of course, in reality most people want or need some, so here’s what I’ve come to learn on a few vital and mentioned ones. The goal is to minimize your extensions as much as possible.

You don’t need two ad blockers. uBlock Origin is the best of the best, and has an element zapper if it ever misses anything automatically, which it rarely, if ever, does.

Privacy Badger is (allegedly) an outdated extension that doesn’t do very much other than make your browser more fingerprintable.

minerBlocker (while I haven’t don’t much research) doesn’t sound very useful. Because Firefox, if you change the Cookie Block settings, can block CrytoMiners on its own. uBlock Origin can also do this with a special script, but that’s beyond me, so you’ll have to turn to Reddit if you wanna use it for CryptoMiner blocking.

If you’re worried about viruses, the app Malwarebytes is cross-platform and open-source. It’s widely trusted by r/privacy and r/piracy. The free tier won’t run automatically after your free trial is up, so just run it every time you install a piece of pirated software, and then every once in a while after.

Also, you forgot the golden rule of torrenting. A good browser and extensions only prevent fingerprinting from a website, itself. This isn’t what’s gonna get you in trouble with the law. So: GET A VPN!! The ONLY way to prevent your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing what you’re doing is to encrypt your network usage with a VPN. Mozilla (the makers of Firefox) have a paid VPN which I personally use and is very beginner friendly and cross-platform. Most free VPNs cannot be trusted and usually collect, sell, and report illegal data, which defeats the purpose. Without a VPN, however, your ISP will be able to see that you’re downloading peer-to-peer content. Now, that isn’t always a bad thing. Some ISPs don’t care, and won’t do shit. For example, Mozilla VPN has failed a few times for me when I left my client running overnight, and nothing’s ever happened. If you live in Germany or another country with stricter piracy laws, or you have a stricter American ISP, you could get fined and/or have your service turned off. In Germany people have even gotten jail time. The #1 thing to do if you have anxiety about piracy is get a well-trusted VPN like Mozilla’s. In fact, if you only do one thing from this thread, THIS is the one to do. I highly recommend that you NEVER download to upload peer-to-peer pirated content without one, as it is a serious risk.

And finally, use r/piracy as a means to find reliable websites. Do not download torrents or files off random websites before looking it up on r/piracy. Stick to popular and active torrents, and I would suggest primarily using 1337x.to as a trusty website. Also, look for trusted crackers and repackers. For example, if you’re torrenting Mac Apps, a well known cracking group is TNT. If you want games and Windows software, FitGirl and DODI are popular repackers for them. DODI’s repacks are also among the only ones I’ve found that word with Translation Layers like Wine, WineSkin, and CrossOver on macOS and Linux.

Also, no amount of extensions on Firefox will make you anonymous. If want anonymity, you need to download the Tor Browser, add ZERO extensions, and NEVER change the default window size or settings. This level of security usually isn’t necessary for your average torrent downloader, though. I’d much rather use Firefox + a VPN than Tor. Tor is extremely slow because of it’s Onion Anonymizing Network, and is really only needed for people who have a reason to hide from the government, ie: political whistleblowers, protest organizers, etc.

There is also an extension called NoScript. It’s the only extension that comes with Tor, and it can be downloaded on Firefox as well. This extension is your gateway to preventing websites from collecting and sharing your data. HOWEVER, this extension will break websites, and it can be very frustrating to use if you aren’t privacy-minded, tech savvy, and patient. So, if you’re a beginner, I’d recommend trying this one at another time.

And finally, you need a way to download the torrented data (duh). The only two clients (apps) most people trust are qBittorent and Transmission. uTorrent is no longer trusted due to privacy issues. DO NOT USE IT. If you’re a beginner and want something with a pleasant UI, I highly recommend Transmission. I’ve been using it, and personally I love the simplicity over qBittorent; however, I know a lot of more advanced users really love qBittorent.

So, if you wanna get into the basics of piracy, here’s what you need:

Firefox

uBlock Origin

ClearURLs

“Strict” or “Custom” Cookie Setting on Firefox

Mozilla VPN!!!

Transmission

If you wanna go more in depth, add NoScript and swap Transmission for qBittorent.

This thing wasn't a lil' tiny booklet, it was almost a novella sized brick of paper, and I read that thing over and over again.

And it had all the usual stuff in a game manual, like technical support, troubleshooting, installation instructions and so on, but then next to those instructions you'd also get stuff like... a little poem, or a little lore tidbit from the game just hanging out in the dark margins, spicing up the place.

It also contained instructions for things which, nowadays, you probably wouldn't even get an in-game tutorial for in a lot of games, like "It also contained instructions for things which, nowadays, you probably wouldn't even get an in-game tutorial for in a lot of games, like "you can't walk through walls" or "clicking on a character interacts with them." This was a time when gaming wasn't ubiquitous, where a lot of people saw computers mainly as data entry work tools, and a time when in-game tutorials simply were not a part of game design yet.

You want to know how to operate the software? Consult the manual.

But the REAL prize that got me reading the thing over and over again was the concept art and the lore, the story, this literal VOLUME of background and information about the game world that, much like the tutorial, would never be explained or be accessible in-game.

Oh, bad anatomy Chris Metzen warrior illustration, you informed so much of my younger self's idea of what cool fantasy aesthetics look like...

Besides those biographies of the warrior, rogue and sorcerer, there were extended details about the items and weapons, diagrams and drawings of the magic system and the bestiary and, most fascinating of all to young me, literature and art from the deep stories of the setting.

Playing Diablo itself, you would only ever really get the cliff's notes and hints about the full breadth of the lore and story created for the game, and so the developers took great time and care to cram it into - as I remember it - almost a 100 page booklet full of all the creative ideas they couldn't fit into the game proper.

The instruction manual felt like a true companion piece to the game, an equally important part of the experience if you wanted to fully understand the game you were playing. Getting to read the instruction booklet for a game you you had bought after only ever playing it at a friend's house, back then, felt like being let in on something. I guess the closest equivalent would be... it felt back then kind of like how discovering a really fascinating fan-theory, or a really great video essay about a game, feels today. Like a step deeper into something that's otherwise closed off to you.

Now, I don't want to wax TOO nostalgic, though. A lot of game manuals weren't this elaborate and interesting (Blizzard always took special care with theirs), and for all that I loved the Diablo instruction manual, it's not like any of the writing in it would make for literary classics. It hits about the level of the worldbuilding notes for a really cool homebrew D&D campaign, deeply stewed in 90s fantasy cheese and underground comix aesthetics, complete with... that particular cultural moment's approach to female characters.

(this is an approach to character design Blizzard has never grown out of, even to this bloody day)

And for all that I love the instruction manuals of old, yeah, I'm not gonna pretend like it's not more convenient and holistic to have an in-game codex and in-game tutorials, I'm not gonna act like the registration cards and ads and half-baked and incomplete attempts at troubleshooting and tech support aren't relics of a time when better options weren't available.

There is not a lost golden age of manuals when games were more magical and the experiences were more real, no prelapserian utopia from whence the modern world has fallen.

But game manuals were, once upon a time, a thing that creative folks at game companies poured a lot of time into, a lot of care and attention, and buying a big box brand new video game for a game with a really good manual felt that much more special and revelatory for it.