How do I open ports on my computer?

[Hydralisk]

I recently decided that in order to speed things up with utorrent a bit [read: a lot], I have decided to open up a port.

However, after twenty minutes of futilely wrestling around with windows firewall I have still no idea what the sodding hell is going on. I asked my brother for advice, and he told me to just switch off the damned thing [something about a NAT being an effective virus remover.], and that it would open the port.

Zilch. It probably doesn't help that I have a mega-old computer [although XP works fine on it...]. I have Mcaffee antivirus on my computer as well, but it is usually switched off anyway.

Help please!

[ynnekkenny]

i have had the same problem with many computers/routers/firewalls

www.portforward.com helps if you are using a router. you need a static IP address which it can also help with. your bro doesn't know what he's talking about.

if you are not using a router then im not too sure. sorry.

[Hydralisk]

i have had the same problem with many computers/routers/firewalls

www.portforward.com helps if you are using a router. you need a static IP address which it can also help with. your bro doesn't know what he's talking about.

if you are not using a router then im not too sure. sorry.
That site makes me want to eviscerate kittens. Not your fault by anymeans, but it just pisses me off too much.

[ynnekkenny]

haha it can be pretty annoying and seriously difficult to understand. it took me ages to get it working properly. good luck!

[Kanden]

ynnekkenny surely you could say how you done it?

[piemastermike]

seriously, that website is SO easy to follow

just select your router, select the program, and put your internal IP in.

You can find your internal IP by going

Start>>Run>>cmd

then type "ipconfig" (without quotes) and write in your IPv4 address. For example, mine is 192.168.1.2

[ynnekkenny]

ynnekkenny surely you could say how you done it?


open uTorrent
click options and select speed guide
click on "Test if port is forwarded properly"
if it says no click on the portforward.com link
it will bring up a page where you need to select the type and model of router
scroll down until where it says "Utorrent's Port for incoming connections" and enter in a port such as 55555.
next enter in your static IP address it can be found by doing the steps above
then you'll have to open you router home page. with netgear routers this can be found by typing 192.168.0.1 in the address bar but i dunno about other routers.
basically from here you need to follow the instructions for your own router but remember to open both the TCP and UDP protocols
once all this is done go back to uTorrent and enter in the port that you forwarded by clicking options/preferences/connection also click enable NAT-PMP port mapping

i dont pretend to understand this fully i just followed the instructions

[The Grim Reaper]

seriously, that website is SO easy to follow
Exactly what i was thinking?
Select the router, select the application and follow the instructions?

Anyway, setting up a static IP may help if you have multiple computers, as DHCP might change it.

[Hydralisk]

open uTorrent
click options and select speed guide
click on "Test if port is forwarded properly"
if it says no click on the portforward.com link
it will bring up a page where you need to select the type and model of router
scroll down until where it says "Utorrent's Port for incoming connections" and enter in a port such as 55555.
next enter in your static IP address it can be found by doing the steps above
then you'll have to open you router home page. with netgear routers this can be found by typing 192.168.0.1 in the address bar but i dunno about other routers.
basically from here you need to follow the instructions for your own router but remember to open both the TCP and UDP protocols
once all this is done go back to uTorrent and enter in the port that you forwarded by clicking options/preferences/connection also click enable NAT-PMP port mapping

i dont pretend to understand this fully i just followed the instructions

This list was very bloody useful, thanks a lot! :D

The only reason I hated that website before was because I read the "how to find your IP address" guide, then I had to click on another guide, then I ended up basically going in circles. Anyway, thanks a lot guys! Forwarding successful. :)

[Kanden]

I've opened port 55555 on mine, and it says it's open but my downloads are still slow :( Thanks though, it should speed up in time.

[ynnekkenny]

I've opened port 55555 on mine, and it says it's open but my downloads are still slow :( Thanks though, it should speed up in time.

if the port is open and there is a green tick along the bottom then its working fine. torrents use popularity so the more popular a download ie the more people sharing the faster the download will be.

glad i could help

[Kanden]

I stand corrected, it was going at 90kb/s a little while ago. This has saved a lot of time!

ETA: I just saw it at 205kb/s if anyone hasn't opened their ports yet do it, it's so worth the time.