Any Private Internet Access (PIA) user here?

On Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:05:08 -0400, Caver1 wrote:

Yes I do. I try not to use it but some links that I click on in Firefox
always opens in IE even though IE is disabled and Firefox is set as
default.

Can you provide one or more links? What I suspect is happening is that you
simply have a misconfiguration, i.e., the easiest explanation is usually the
most likely. It's also possible, however, that the sites are written just
that poorly, although I've never run into anything like that.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

BTW, I still have some doubts whether it's a good idea to use port
forwarding and I've also read somewhere that it was less secure. Less
secure than what? The other option I can think of would be UPNP, but
I've also read somewhere that UPNP can also be used by black-hat hackers
to penetrate a system from outside. So I wonder what the opinion is here
about that?

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

Now that I'm being nit picky, it's also not correct to say that your IP
after exiting the VPN tunnel isn't "real". It's real, valid, and routable.
It just isn't the IP that your ISP assigned to you. It's assigned to your
VPN provider, and they might not be amused to hear that their IP's aren't
real.


BTW, I still have some doubts whether it's a good idea to use port
forwarding and I've also read somewhere that it was less secure. Less
secure than what? The other option I can think of would be UPNP, but
I've also read somewhere that UPNP can also be used by black-hat hackers
to penetrate a system from outside. So I wonder what the opinion is here
about that?

If you really need port forwarding, and I don't know that you do because I
haven't followed that part of your thread, you should only open the minimum
number of ports that are required to make your application work. Don't put
the target PC into your router's DMZ, as that usually means all ports are
forwarded. I share your concern about uPNP, but that's based on things I
read at grc.com many years ago. He can be a bit of a scare monger, so
perhaps take it with a grain of salt.

On 09/17/2014 11:57 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

As I said using a fake proxy only hides your real IP so that most sites
don't see it. You seem to miss that point.
I go to http://www.canyouseeme.org/ which;
" This is a free utility for remotely verifying if a port is open or
closed. It is useful to users who wish to verify port forwarding and
check to see if a server is running or a firewall or ISP is blocking
certain ports."

In doing so http://www.canyouseeme.org/ also shows the IP that you are
"using". Right now http://www.canyouseeme.org/ shows mine as
103.156.147.163 my real IP is 74.140.xxx.xxx.
I still get everything that I request from any site.

http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ sees my real IP
http://www.ip-address.org/find-ip/check-my-ip.php sees it as
225.245.219.68 the second time it sees it as 254.123.197.26 as my fake
or hidden IP changes with every HTTP request.
http://www.ip-address.org/find-ip/check-my-ip.php sees my real IP as a
transparent proxy.
I use no web proxies.

http://mxtoolbox.com/WhatIsMyIP/ sees my IP as
1.1 67.100.55.248

http://www.howtochangeipaddress.com/hideip.php Quote;
"Hiding your IP address will help you use or surf the internet as an
anonymous person (People/Companies will be unable to pinpoint your
location and computer info). Hiding our IP address online helps us to
ensure that our personal information does not reach any outsider. We can
do so by installing software on our devices which helps to hide IP
addresses. Hiding IP address is not considered illegal for proper
reason. Our internet privacy is safeguarded as a result of hiding.

Even though many internet proxy servers provide anonymous web browsing,
it is not so effective and reliable as there are always certain
limitations to the anonym using proxies. It is better to rely on local
software which can be downloaded rather than external servers. Although
hiding IP address completely is not possible as it helps to communicate
with other devices online and hiding it completely would render it
useless. The proxy server acts as an intermediary for the world wide
internet and the home network. Our own IP address is hidden in case we
use anonymous proxy server and the proxy IP address will be shown
instead of ours."



--
Caver1

On Thu, 18 Sep 2014 07:39:00 -0400, Caver1 wrote:

On 09/17/2014 11:57 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

As I said

Oh hi, there you are.

using a fake proxy only hides your real IP so that most sites
don't see it. You seem to miss that point.

I still have your last 4 posts available in the other group. I didn't bother
correcting the multitude of fallacies because you exhausted me.

Anyway, to reiterate, terms such as "hidden IP" and "fake IP" are dumbed
down to appeal to a non-technical crowd. They aren't useful and don't belong
in a technical discussion.

I go to http://www.canyouseeme.org/ which;
" This is a free utility for remotely verifying if a port is open or
closed. It is useful to users who wish to verify port forwarding and
check to see if a server is running or a firewall or ISP is blocking
certain ports."

In doing so http://www.canyouseeme.org/ also shows the IP that you are
"using". Right now http://www.canyouseeme.org/ shows mine as
103.156.147.163 my real IP is 74.140.xxx.xxx.
I still get everything that I request from any site.

http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ sees my real IP
http://www.ip-address.org/find-ip/check-my-ip.php sees it as
225.245.219.68 the second time it sees it as 254.123.197.26 as my fake
or hidden IP changes with every HTTP request.
http://www.ip-address.org/find-ip/check-my-ip.php sees my real IP as a
transparent proxy.
I use no web proxies.

http://mxtoolbox.com/WhatIsMyIP/ sees my IP as
1.1 67.100.55.248

http://www.howtochangeipaddress.com/hideip.php Quote;
"Hiding your IP address will help you use or surf the internet as an
anonymous person (People/Companies will be unable to pinpoint your
location and computer info). Hiding our IP address online helps us to
ensure that our personal information does not reach any outsider. We can
do so by installing software on our devices which helps to hide IP
addresses. Hiding IP address is not considered illegal for proper
reason. Our internet privacy is safeguarded as a result of hiding.

Even though many internet proxy servers provide anonymous web browsing,
it is not so effective and reliable as there are always certain
limitations to the anonym using proxies. It is better to rely on local
software which can be downloaded rather than external servers. Although
hiding IP address completely is not possible as it helps to communicate
with other devices online and hiding it completely would render it
useless. The proxy server acts as an intermediary for the world wide
internet and the home network. Our own IP address is hidden in case we
use anonymous proxy server and the proxy IP address will be shown
instead of ours."

You realize, of course, that those last two paragraphs above are total
hogwash, right? I would be VERY wary of using anything from an outfit that
makes such claims. The poor grammar is an easy clue, but from a technical
standpoint, it's just total bunk.

Regular troll...

--
Char Jackson none none.invalid wrote:

Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01 .blueworldhosting.com!peer01.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!post01.iad.highwinds-media.com!fx10.iad.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Char Jackson none none.invalid
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-8
Subject: Any Private Internet Access (PIA) user here?
Message-ID: tbbm1apmnrgrig51i6u7334rsu7avjnnv5 4ax.com
References: lv89jr$cvm$1 dont-email.me 73df1attp8hq27qascll6mifp76ab3orj7 4ax.com stef1a1fbgaq942sc80adve521209bkdlg 4ax.com lv9u32$7ah$1 dont-email.me jm5h1alini716k13tutfda7oth5uf34p6t 4ax.com lvcg9s$cnp$1 dont-email.me od0k1alnvomc71cua7feri7bj3mhhu1jkm 4ax.com lvd4bm$2sk$1 dont-email.me 5elk1atjptd7ign9b5196edmp7rhlsdf1t 4ax.com lveg8m$lk1$1 dont-email.me
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Lines: 92
X-Complaints-To: abuse easynews.com
Organization: Easynews - www.easynews.com
X-Complaints-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly.
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:15:20 -0500
X-Received-Bytes: 5578
X-Received-Body-CRC: 1856322007
Xref: news.eternal-september.org alt.comp.os.windows-8:18459

On Thu, 18 Sep 2014 07:39:00 -0400, Caver1 Caver1 inthemud.org wrote:

On 09/17/2014 11:57 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo cameo unreal.invalid wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo cameo unreal.invalid wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

As I said

Oh hi, there you are.

using a fake proxy only hides your real IP so that most sites
don't see it. You seem to miss that point.

I still have your last 4 posts available in the other group. I didn't bother
correcting the multitude of fallacies because you exhausted me.

Anyway, to reiterate, terms such as "hidden IP" and "fake IP" are dumbed
down to appeal to a non-technical crowd. They aren't useful and don't belong
in a technical discussion.

I go to http://www.canyouseeme.org/ which;
" This is a free utility for remotely verifying if a port is open or
closed. It is useful to users who wish to verify port forwarding and
check to see if a server is running or a firewall or ISP is blocking
certain ports."

In doing so http://www.canyouseeme.org/ also shows the IP that you are
"using". Right now http://www.canyouseeme.org/ shows mine as
103.156.147.163 my real IP is 74.140.xxx.xxx.
I still get everything that I request from any site.

http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ sees my real IP
http://www.ip-address.org/find-ip/check-my-ip.php sees it as
225.245.219.68 the second time it sees it as 254.123.197.26 as my fake
or hidden IP changes with every HTTP request.
http://www.ip-address.org/find-ip/check-my-ip.php sees my real IP as a
transparent proxy.
I use no web proxies.

http://mxtoolbox.com/WhatIsMyIP/ sees my IP as
1.1 67.100.55.248

http://www.howtochangeipaddress.com/hideip.php Quote;
"Hiding your IP address will help you use or surf the internet as an
anonymous person (People/Companies will be unable to pinpoint your
location and computer info). Hiding our IP address online helps us to
ensure that our personal information does not reach any outsider. We can
do so by installing software on our devices which helps to hide IP
addresses. Hiding IP address is not considered illegal for proper
reason. Our internet privacy is safeguarded as a result of hiding.

Even though many internet proxy servers provide anonymous web browsing,
it is not so effective and reliable as there are always certain
limitations to the anonym using proxies. It is better to rely on local
software which can be downloaded rather than external servers. Although
hiding IP address completely is not possible as it helps to communicate
with other devices online and hiding it completely would render it
useless. The proxy server acts as an intermediary for the world wide
internet and the home network. Our own IP address is hidden in case we
use anonymous proxy server and the proxy IP address will be shown
instead of ours."

You realize, of course, that those last two paragraphs above are total
hogwash, right? I would be VERY wary of using anything from an outfit that
makes such claims. The poor grammar is an easy clue, but from a technical
standpoint, it's just total bunk.

On 9/17/2014 11:28 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:57:55 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

Now that I'm being nit picky, it's also not correct to say that your IP
after exiting the VPN tunnel isn't "real". It's real, valid, and routable.
It just isn't the IP that your ISP assigned to you. It's assigned to your
VPN provider, and they might not be amused to hear that their IP's aren't
real.


BTW, I still have some doubts whether it's a good idea to use port
forwarding and I've also read somewhere that it was less secure. Less
secure than what? The other option I can think of would be UPNP, but
I've also read somewhere that PNPU can also be used by black-hat hackers
to penetrate a system from outside. So I wonder what the opinion is here
about that?

If you really need port forwarding, and I don't know that you do because I
haven't followed that part of your thread, you should only open the minimum
number of ports that are required to make your application work. Don't put
the target PC into your router's DMZ, as that usually means all ports are
forwarded. I share your concern about uPNP, but that's based on things I
read at grc.com many years ago. He can be a bit of a scare monger, so
perhaps take it with a grain of salt.

I didn't do any port forwarding, it is not needed. The PIA installer
makes any necessary changes AFAIK. The whole process is easy, install
PIA and enter username/password. That's it, done.

The OP missed the PIA installer download and unsuccessfully tried the
manual method. I think that's where the port forwarding confusion may
be coming from. The OP does not need uPNP to set up PIA.

The whole thing is quite simple but the OP *made* it hard by not
reading the PIA webpage. The PIA installer downlod icon is fairly easy
to spot. Funny how simple things can become so complex.

I am the OP and I can now confirm that port forwarding is indeed not
needed. I guess PIA uses the same Port 80 that the web browsers use as a
default. Thanks for setting me straight.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:24:14 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 11:28 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:57:55 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

Now that I'm being nit picky, it's also not correct to say that your IP
after exiting the VPN tunnel isn't "real". It's real, valid, and routable.
It just isn't the IP that your ISP assigned to you. It's assigned to your
VPN provider, and they might not be amused to hear that their IP's aren't
real.


BTW, I still have some doubts whether it's a good idea to use port
forwarding and I've also read somewhere that it was less secure. Less
secure than what? The other option I can think of would be UPNP, but
I've also read somewhere that PNPU can also be used by black-hat hackers
to penetrate a system from outside. So I wonder what the opinion is here
about that?

If you really need port forwarding, and I don't know that you do because I
haven't followed that part of your thread, you should only open the minimum
number of ports that are required to make your application work. Don't put
the target PC into your router's DMZ, as that usually means all ports are
forwarded. I share your concern about uPNP, but that's based on things I
read at grc.com many years ago. He can be a bit of a scare monger, so
perhaps take it with a grain of salt.

I didn't do any port forwarding, it is not needed. The PIA installer
makes any necessary changes AFAIK. The whole process is easy, install
PIA and enter username/password. That's it, done.

The OP missed the PIA installer download and unsuccessfully tried the
manual method. I think that's where the port forwarding confusion may
be coming from. The OP does not need uPNP to set up PIA.

The whole thing is quite simple but the OP *made* it hard by not
reading the PIA webpage. The PIA installer downlod icon is fairly easy
to spot. Funny how simple things can become so complex.

I am the OP and I can now confirm that port forwarding is indeed not
needed. I guess PIA uses the same Port 80 that the web browsers use as a
default. Thanks for setting me straight.

Not quite. When you have an application that's magically able to make
inbound connections to your PC without you having to do any port forwarding,
it usually simply means that the application has proactively made an
*outbound* connection to a server on the Internet, and once that outbound
connection is established the distant server is free to use it in an inbound
direction.

Lots of applications do this to relieve the burden of port forwarding, such
as Teamviewer and Logmein.

On 9/19/2014 7:05 AM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:24:14 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 11:28 PM, Justin Tyme wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:57:55 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:11:05 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/17/2014 2:52 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:28:46 -0700, cameo wrote:

OK, I uninstalled PIA from my Win7 notebook and went back to install it
again on my Win8 laptop, mainly because I don't have Gmail installed
there in my mail client.
The installation seemed to work as the www.whatismyip.com gave me
different (a fake California) IP address when PIA was connected from the
real Seattle area IP address.

For the record, it's not a fake IP since that wouldn't do you any good. With
a fake IP, return traffic wouldn't be able to get back to you. From what I
see above, my assumption is that the near end of the VPN tunnel is in
Seattle and the distant end of the tunnel is in California.

OK, that's probably the case. I just didn't want to elaborate. It was
fake only in the sense that it was not my real IP.

No problem, I knew what you meant, but only about a week ago I had a back
and forth with a guy who swore up and down that there is such a thing as a
fake IP, and well, it didn't end well for him. There *is* such a thing as a
fake or spoofed (source) IP, but it can't actually be used for any practical
purpose, except perhaps DoS'ing someone, because the distant endpoint can't
reply to you.

Now that I'm being nit picky, it's also not correct to say that your IP
after exiting the VPN tunnel isn't "real". It's real, valid, and routable.
It just isn't the IP that your ISP assigned to you. It's assigned to your
VPN provider, and they might not be amused to hear that their IP's aren't
real.


BTW, I still have some doubts whether it's a good idea to use port
forwarding and I've also read somewhere that it was less secure. Less
secure than what? The other option I can think of would be UPNP, but
I've also read somewhere that PNPU can also be used by black-hat hackers
to penetrate a system from outside. So I wonder what the opinion is here
about that?

If you really need port forwarding, and I don't know that you do because I
haven't followed that part of your thread, you should only open the minimum
number of ports that are required to make your application work. Don't put
the target PC into your router's DMZ, as that usually means all ports are
forwarded. I share your concern about uPNP, but that's based on things I
read at grc.com many years ago. He can be a bit of a scare monger, so
perhaps take it with a grain of salt.

I didn't do any port forwarding, it is not needed. The PIA installer
makes any necessary changes AFAIK. The whole process is easy, install
PIA and enter username/password. That's it, done.

The OP missed the PIA installer download and unsuccessfully tried the
manual method. I think that's where the port forwarding confusion may
be coming from. The OP does not need uPNP to set up PIA.

The whole thing is quite simple but the OP *made* it hard by not
reading the PIA webpage. The PIA installer downlod icon is fairly easy
to spot. Funny how simple things can become so complex.

I am the OP and I can now confirm that port forwarding is indeed not
needed. I guess PIA uses the same Port 80 that the web browsers use as a
default. Thanks for setting me straight.

Not quite. When you have an application that's magically able to make
inbound connections to your PC without you having to do any port forwarding,
it usually simply means that the application has proactively made an
*outbound* connection to a server on the Internet, and once that outbound
connection is established the distant server is free to use it in an inbound
direction.

Lots of applications do this to relieve the burden of port forwarding, such
as Teamviewer and Logmein.

OK, but isn't UPNP working pretty much the same way?

On Fri, 19 Sep 2014 09:56:27 -0700, cameo wrote:

On 9/19/2014 7:05 AM, Char Jackson wrote:

Lots of applications do this to relieve the burden of port forwarding, such
as Teamviewer and Logmein.

OK, but isn't UPNP working pretty much the same way?

Completely different method, but the resulting behavior is similar, yes.