#creative cloud

DOWNLOAD ANY IF NOT ALL FILES YOU HAVE STORED

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Adobe Creative Cloud vs. Buying Design Apps Separately

If you’re weighing whether to subscribe to the full suite from Adobe or pay for single apps, the decision mostly comes down to how many tools you actually use. The full bundle costs about $70 per month, while individual apps run roughly $23 each. One or two apps are cheaper on their own, but once you regularly need three or more, the total cost quickly surpasses the bundle price—making the all-in plan the better value.

More on WE AND THE COLOR.

Adobes terms of service is insane they don’t claim “ownership” but they do have the right to use it as they want. Most importantly here- “create derivative works” means they can train AI off of it as that counts as “improving the software” — and subliscensing it means they can give it to another company who trains AI who might do god knows what with it.

Please be careful when accepting the new TOS of any service you use. The above terms were the general ones for all of Creative Cloud so it applies to both art and written content (there’s another section that says they can use Machine Learning on any written content within any application).

Hi g3nesis, this is so polite! And anon, I'm sorry that happened, Cloudflare Warp is not a safe and anonymous VPN.

Let's talk about Torrenting!

So let's start with the basic requirements. What is a VPN?

A virtual private network is a secure encrypted tunnel you make to someone else's computer, and that's what actually accesses the public internet, so it looks like all your traffic is coming from that computer. The obvious downside here is that you have to trust whoever's running that computer to 1) Ensure a safe connection that doesn't leak your info, and 2) Not keep logs of who you are or what your traffic contained.

Usually that means a paid VPN service, because the general rule of the internet is that if you get a product for free, then you are the product. Paid VPN providers companies have more of an incentive not to keep logs, since they're already getting their money, but you still have to take their word for it.

The one big exception to the above rule is FOSS: Free, Open-Source Software. This means someone committed to the principles of transparency and community/cooperation has made their software free to use, and the code public to anyone who'd like to peruse it. FOSS generally isn't particularly profitable, unless they also offer some service, e.g. hosting servers. It's like saying, "You can read the code and run it yourself for free if you want to, but I'm already running it, I'm know how it works and I'm good at maintaining it, so I'll let you use my server for a small fee."

So let's talk about Windscribe.

Windscribe is my preferred VPN because much of their software is open-source, and they have a Freemium model. That means basic services are offered for free, while upgraded services (like unlimited monthly data) is a paid feature. While nothing is guaranteed, this model is generally pretty safe.

You can download it here: https://windscribe.com/yo/v40g2xlr

(Full disclosure: This is my refer-a-friend link. Free users get 10Gb/month of data, but with this link, you'll get 11Gb/mo instead! I also get an extra 1Gb/mo for every friend I refer. Consider it a free, easy way to tell me thanks if you found this post helpful!)

Now the fun stuff: How do I torrent?

First you need a torrenting client, AKA a program that can download torrent files. I recommend qBittorrent, which is a completely free and open-source program. It's lightweight and ad-free, and has versions for any operating system. Install your torrent client, install your VPN, start up both, and activate a VPN connection. Now you're ready to torrent!

How torrenting works:

Torrenting (aka "bittorrent") is a decentralized method of file-sharing. Basically, one person hosts a file (or multiple files) on a torrent client. That's called a seed - the complete file, available to be downloaded over the internet from their computer. While they have their client open and running, they are seeding the file. If they stop seeding or turn off their computer, that file will no longer be accessible over the internet, because it is not hosted permanently on any server.

They might post a link (called a magnet link) on a website like ThePirateBay so others can find it. If I want to download that file, I can click that magnet link, and it will tell my qBittorrent client how to start downloading the file in little bits and pieces of data. If the download gets interrupted before finishing, I'll still have those pieces of data, and I can always resume later. Downloading the file is called leeching.

Once I've downloaded (aka leeched) enough pieces of the file, qBittorrent can make it accessible to others. Now if you start downloading the file, you might download some pieces of data from the original person, and some from me. It's a way of decentralizing the burden of constantly uploading data. If I do this, I am called a peer. If I don't, I am called a leech, because I am downloading from the torrent without contributing to it. Don't be a leech!

Once I have fully downloaded the file, if I leave qBittorrent on, it continues sharing that file. Since I have the whole file, even if the original person stops seeding, others will still be able to download it - from me! I am now a seed.

And that's how torrenting works! One person starts sharing a file, and as more people download it and then share it themselves, it remains accessible long after the original host abandons it. This also means that if no one continues seeding a torrent, then it will be dead. Unaccessible. You won't be able to download it unless someone decides to start seeding it again.

There are many websites that host magnet links. You can search them to try to find whatever file you're hoping to download. They will list the Seed:Leech ratio. The more seeds there are, the easier/faster it will be to download. If there are zero seeds, the file cannot be downloaded.

❗❗❗ IMPORTANT ❗❗❗

Once you have finished downloading, you must seed the file. Yes, it's tough when your VPN has a monthly data limit. Seed it anyway. Seed it next month if you have to. In your torrent client, your "seed ratio" is how many times more data you've seeded vs the amount you've leeched. (AKA, if you downloaded a 1Gb file and you've seeded 800Mb, your seed ratio would be 0.8). Common courtesy is to continue seeding until your seed ratio is 5.0. This number depends on how many other peers are trying to download that file, though. So at minimum, you must seed for 1-2x as long as you leeched. (AKA if it took you 1 hour to download your file, continue seeding it for at least 2 hours after that).

Now, you might have heard torrents are full of viruses. In truth, anything off the internet could have malware. I recommend having a good antivirus program. Kaspersky Free is a good option. Make sure it's one where you can run a scan on an individual file; anytime you torrent something, scan it before opening it. For smaller files, you can upload it to VirusTotal.com to run it through a gauntlet of different antivirus scans simultaneously.

Last notes: Internet safety!

P.S. If you're like our dear anonymous asker, and you receive a notice from your ISP about pirating, don't panic! Unless you're seeding terabytes of movies, you're very unlikely to actually be sued. Your ISP isn't even likely to actually do anything. They may threaten to cancel your internet, but that's because they're required by law to notify you. Typically, they don't actually care. HOWEVER, don't be lazy or unsafe about it! Make sure you're following the above steps. For extra security, connect to a VPN server that's not based in your home country, and make sure you don't run out of your monthly data halfway through a torrent, or it will kick you back onto your regular internet connection. Always activate your VPN tunnel before opening your torrent client, just in case some torrents connect automatically (to avoid this, always Pause all torrents, even ones that are seeding, before closing your client!)

Also, torrents are generally safer if...

a) There are lots of seeds/peers

b) It hasn't been uploaded super recently

c) It has comments that look like they're from real people

d) The person who uploaded it has a website-specific symbol of good reputation (e.g. on ThePirateBay, it's a colored skull-and-crossbones next to their username)

e) It's on a private or paid-access torrent site. I don't generally use these so I can't give more info.

P.P.S. Also check out my masterpost on getting Adobe Photoshop and other Creative Cloud apps for free!

And now you know! If you appreciate this post, show your love by seeding it on your blog and tagging it so others can find it!