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PeerBlock - block anti-file sharing, ads, spyware, etc.
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:13 am
by guinness
Do you like or did you like using PeerGuardian2 (
http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1266) but hated the fact that it hasn't been updated in 2 years? Check out PeerBlock (
http://www.peerblock.com)
This is the description from the site so I take no credit for the wording:
PeerBlock is a new version (aka a "fork") of the popular Peer Guardian 2 software. It blocks "known bad" computers from accessing yours, for example governments, corporate entities, and those flagged for anti-p2p activities. Peer Block maintains the functionality of the original Peer Guardian 2 program, but includes fixes for various issues that remain unaddressed in the latest (~2 year old) version of PG2.
I have download and will be testing but it appears to be the same old setup with most of the annoyances evened out!
Name:
PeerBlock
Version:
0.9.20
Download:
http://www.peerblock.com/latest-release
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:56 am
by donald
Any results yet? Anybody? Guinness?
I am sure I am not the only interested person.
***************************************
update I have failed to extract with Universal Extractor 1.5.0.0
I will search for the latest version of Universal Extractor and try again
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:32 pm
by guinness
I haven't tested yet to give full diagnosis! But I used Portable Sandboxie to install and then copied to my USB drive. Having played around for about 5mins it saves the config details to the application directory. But I was reading on PeerBlock bug reports that someone had complained that good programs save config files in APPDATA (
http://code.google.com/p/peerblock/issues/detail?id=5) but I think the PFWC would have something to say about this.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:13 am
by guinness
They have answered our prayers and are now providing a ZIP option, so no more installing and uninstalling. The options are:
Windows 2000 / XP, 32-bit/64-bit
Windows Vista / Windows 7, 32-bit/64-bit
http://devblog.peerblock.com/2009/09/pe ... lease.html - look at the bottom for the download links. This is not a stable release, its for those who wish to test out PeerBlock.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:16 am
by guinness
V1.0.0-r181 is available as of 27th September 2009
Download: http://www.peerblock.com/releases
Note: I think this should replace PeerGuardian in the database
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:29 am
by webfork
Great stuff. Seems to make the same registry changes that PeerGuardian makes, which is fine since PeerGuardian is already accepted as portable.
HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet???\Services\IpFilterDriver
HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet???\Services\pbfilter
So glad someone started working on this again. There's just a few minor updates and changes over the old PG2, but they're welcome updates.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:25 am
by guinness
I never knew it made changes to the Registry, but as you pointed out it is pretty minor! The beta (28th October 2009) looks interesting from the changelog since the stable release. I find PeerGuardian can sometimes hang when updating the database but PeerBlock doesn't experience this problem. Also why PeerBlock is far superior is it works on Vista and 7. Okay so there is a Vista version of PeerGuardian but I never could get it to work.
* Display Yellow Icon if HTTP is Allowed - While HTTP Blocking is disabled, the PeerBlock tray icon will turn yellow to warn you that your system isn't as safe as it could be.
* Save Window Positions - If you move around windows after opening them, their positions should now be saved.
* Save Column Positions - We now save the placement of the columns in e.g. our Blocked/Allowed Connections list on the main UI window.
* Default to "Delete History every 2 Days" on Fresh Install - On new installations, we now default to deleting your history every two days. This should strike a nice balance between not wasting disk space and keeping around enough information that we can troubleshoot your problems if/when they arise.
* Sort History Window with Most Recent First - The "View History" window should now show the most recent entries at the top of the list.
* Installer Tweaks - The installer should now have a PeerBlock icon. Also, the license shortcut has been removed from Start Menu.
* Fix for "StartService, 2, file not found" Error - Some XP users have experienced problems getting PeerBlock to start, in which PeerBlock would complain that it can't load the packet filtering driver, with the aforementioned error information. This should be resolved now. If not, please let us know!
* Fix for History Search by Protocol - Previously, PeerBlock would crash if you searched the History for e.g. TCP protocol packets.
* Updated Exception Handling - If PeerBlock crashes, it should be more likely to take a dump. Previously, there were some classes of crash that it wouldn't catch.
* Cleanly Terminates upon Windows Shutdown - Previously, we still weren't shutting down cleanly if we were running when the user logged off or shutdown/restarted Windows. This was possibly implicated in one or two rare problems reported.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:38 am
by guinness
I find the Lists in PeerGuardian to sometimes FAIL or not UPDATE regularly so I use
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/ because they are updating their lists on a daily or weekly and find that the server never fails
All the
Lists.
How to use: Add a new list as you would usually do and copy the relevant URL, try not to have too many lists as this can degrade internet use!
Code: Select all
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/Lists/SearchEngines.zip
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/Lists/Hijacked.zip
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/Lists/GeneralCorporateRanges.zip
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/Lists/Educational-Institutions.zip
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/Lists/BusinessISPs.zip
http://tbg.iblocklist.com/Lists/Bogon.zip
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:32 pm
by Napiophelios
Well I have been using this for almost a month now
and it is like using Peerguardian except that it works right.
I use every list available except for the 2 IANA lists with no problems
at all.( I cant log onto a couple of my favorite sites with them in place)
Unlike PeerGuardian tho,this app actually updates properly and doesnt hang up or crash.
Thanks Guiness,this is a must have even if you dont use file share programs at all.
Edit:Well its my ad blocker giving me problems not PeerBlock.
Making this even better than I thought 
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 3:35 am
by guinness
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:37 am
by guinness
PeerBlock Beta is available!
[1.0.227]
Check out the
Changes List.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:15 pm
by Napiophelios
I was wondering why my lists were not updating
...I feel so naked without my Peerblock in full swing.
Thanx for the info.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:01 am
by freakazoid
Does anyone experience any slow down from their usual surfing with PeerBlock?
I've tried it a couple of times even with a few lists and it seems a little laggish.
Re: PeerBlock
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:23 am
by joby_toss
I didn't.
I have (access to) one 2mb connection and one of 20mb.
Maybe if bandwidth is smaller it could have an impact on it.
Re: PeerBlock r484
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 2:13 pm
by webfork
On the entry, user Wolfghost pointed out that PeerBlock Beta is available
http://www.peerblock.com/releases/inter ... 1.0.0-r484
I was confused by the release page stating that this was a beta and evidently we've been tracking the beta version rather than the "stable" one. Both have portable versions for multiple platforms.
I'm inclined to go with the beta version just because its stable in my tests and there are a few changes in this most recent version that are pretty important (see link above for a brief list). However, this is after all a security program so average users should really be using the "stable" version.
If the vote is to stick with the current version, I'd like to add "beta" to the version number listing. Thoughts?