@ianfontinell Oooh. How did you get the map? I don't have that showing on mine, and I miss it from ExpressVPN.

@Aestet First "binding". Remember that setting you looked at earlier, under Tools > Preferences > Advanced? (1) Click the dropdown and look for "Proton0" ... o "Proton...." something. It might have named yours differently. Select that.

Then take a look at your options on the one below it - Optional IP (2). Is one of them an actual IP number? I can't remember what I did to find out mine, but if it's not there already, I can ask my AI. If there is a number, set it to that.

**Actually, I think I can now remember... that might be the second step in port forwarding. If there isn't a number, don't worry about it. Our next step should give us one.

@Aestet Oh, cool. qB is working? with the VPN on? Major step forward.

Now we'll set up binding and port forwarding, OK?

@Aestet OK. Like McAfee, not every server supports P2P and port forwarding, but at least they tell you which ones do.

Launch the VPN, if you haven't already, and select a server that has the kinda "recycling arrows, next to (1). It doesn't have to be in the country you're in, but the closet that has it is probably best. The VPN may have already pre-selected hte fastest, so first check if that has the arrows.

@Aestet Absolutely. It costs a few pounds / euros / dollars, but it's only money. Seems like you have no choice anyway, as McAfee doesn't support you, but I gave up on ExpressVPN with about 18-20 months left on a 24m contract, mainly for the port forwarding.

You won't experience this, but I've been torrenting for ages without it, and having to really work on keeping my ratio up, and issues connecting to torrents with only one or two seeders. With port forwarding, I'm constantly seeding 15-20 torrents at my highest upload speed most of the time!

@Aestet It's certainly working for me. Port forwarding was far easier to set up than I thought it would be too. Safe? Well, the police haven't knocked on my door yet, so I guess so. Though I have only been using it a couple of weeks, tbh.

This link takes you to a "Compare plans and prices" page. As I say, I opted for the Unlimited so I got everything. The free offering doesn't support P2P or port forwarding.

https://protonvpn.com/pricing#compare-plans

@Aestet They're basically just two routes to the same thing. I opted for Proton because I got a really good deal for twelve months on a package that gives me VPN, email, a password manager, and cloud storage. My primary goal in changing VPNs was to get port forwarding, but I also have a goal of breaking as many links with US tech - such as Micros**t and Google - as possible.

@Aestet I use Proton. Someone else I was chatting to a short while ago uses Torguard. There are a few around, so the best thing to do is investigate a little to find the best deal for you. The important things are that they support P2P and offer port forwarding. This sometimes depends on what package you sign up for, or is offered at an additional cost, so work out what the bottom line is before signing up.

You should have no problems running whichever one you opt for while other in your household stay on McAfee. Just don't try to run both on the same computer at the same time. Things can get very complicated and confused that way!

@frostycab They don't deserve to, based on what I've just learned about their VPN offering!

@Aestet Good luck with it. Don't think I can help anymore where we're at. Happy to try though, if you get new info, or once you decide how you're going to proceed and have questions like "Why did the torrent I uploaded not work?"

Hmm. One thought. You could ask here. Start a new thread: "Anyone know which McAfee VPN servers support P2P?"

@Aestet Yeah. McAfee don't seem to be the best for this. Much closer to the bottom of the list!

@Aestet OK. Well, you have two options then:

Do your torrenting not hidden behind a VPN. This has big risks in that you could be identified as doing so, and face civil and criminal penalties if caught.

Manually connect to every McAfee server to test if that one allows P2P. And, according to what my AI has just told me, not only do they not publish a list but the ones that do allow it may be subject to change. Don't know how often this might happen, but it's another factor to consider. You may find one that works then find in a few weeks or months that it no longer does, and have to go through the process all over again.

@Aestet OK. Is this also a cost issue, or is it just there's a multiple users in the household all using the same VPN? If so, do they have their own computer each, or is it a shared computer too?

@Aestet Ok. So in summary .... McAfee is REALLY crap! How long are you tied into using their VPN? Can you afford to just drop it and pay for another?

@Aestet Ask the AI:

"Which are the three fastest servers closest to me which support P2P? Is there a way to distinguish in the list of available servers I see whether each supports P2P?"

@Aestet Can you try to share what McAfee's AI is saying to you? It may possibly click with me.

But for all intents and purposes, just take P2P ("peer to peer") to just mean torrenting for now.

"Peer-to-Peer" is basically any two computers talking to each other .... kinda directly. According to my AI friend:

"Torrenting is probably the best-known example today, but there are many others.

For example:

BitTorrent – peers exchange pieces of files with each other.
Syncthing – synchronises files directly between your own devices without needing cloud storage.
LocalSend – transfers files directly between devices on your local network.
Many online games (especially older ones) used P2P networking so players connected directly to one another.
Voice/video calling – technologies like WebRTC often establish direct peer-to-peer connections where possible, with servers used only to help set up the connection.

There are also more specialised examples:

Distributed databases
Blockchain networks (e.g. Bitcoin)
Distributed computing projects like Folding@home (although these often use a central coordinator as well)"