I use torrent downloads all the time when I am looking for something I can find at the local market. VPN hmm. At times they work and sometimes they get blocked. Sometime they just get sick and slow so you stop using them.
http://www.witopia.net/welcome.php a bit pricy and cumbersome to get working. The gov blocked it within days of me installing it. good online support. Servers all over the world. now the gov allows it to work intermittently but I dont use it much.
http://www.expressvpn.com/?refID=131&gclid=CJeMgoahnKoCFRJ6gwodqQtjyQ. Works most of the time but is sometime slow. No online support and only a handfull of servers to pick from.
Most of the time you will not need VPN here unless you frequent y o u t u b e or FB.
The internet police here like to mess with the DNS lookup tables here. That is how they do most of their blocking. So you should change your DS server setting from Automatic to one that resides on US soil. => Service provider:Dnsadvantage free dns server:156.154.70.1 /156.154.71.1
Service provider:OpenDNS free dns server list / IP address: 208.67.222.222 / 208.67.220.220
As far as the Gov barking at you for using torrents. 90% of the software/books/movies in China are pirated and they dont do anything. I wouldnt' sweat it. If it makes you feel better make a donation to the author or your favorite charity.
As far as them being safe here. Watch out for anything you find online here. They are as safe here as in the states. Most of them have some sort of virus or trojan tagging along . Get a good anti virus program installed before you download anything in china. I use symantics and rising (BOTH). Rising is cheap. about 20 bucks. Usually catches it before it can do anything bad. I also have a keyboard scrambler installed incase there is a keystroke trojan hiding somewhere. I do this to keep my passwords safe from unknow bandits. try keyscrambler professional from qfx software.
