BTGuard Review

I tried, uTorrent, BitTorrent BitComet and could not get any of these working w/BTGuard — even after finding the setup screens on their web site. There are many other people out there that cannot get BTGuard to work with these programs, so I don’t feel so bad. I was about to give up on the FIFTH day of wasting time, but I decided to try a couple more things. I actually stumbled onto a combination of settings that worked. Trial and Error my friends. Too bad there is absolutely no support from the web site.

It would get top marks across the board if it didn’t constantly drop it’s service all the time without notification. It gives a false sense of security.

Like you I found the default set-up slowing lately but followed your advice and setup a PPTP connection to the EU server, speeds up to 1mb for P2p good enough for me

After signing up for and paying for a whole year’s use [big mistake], I soon found that I could get no connection using the protocol of my choice. Furthermore, my outgoing SMTP email from Thunderbird was blocked. To enable outgoing email meant turning off BTGuard. Except that there was no apparent way to turn it off – not anywhere except using Task Manager. Even then, outgoing email was still disabled until a reboot.

Having searched the FAQs and finding no answers, I put these problems to their support line. Two days later I received an email with nothing more than “For answers to personal technical support please visit: btguard/support”. This was their FAQ page and the place where you fill in the support request form. I replied that I had already done this and the relevant answers were not in the FAQs. Another two days later I received exactly the same reply. I told them that their replies were not technical support and that I was asking for a resolution to my problems otherwise I would be seeking a refund. No reply.

I then put my case for a refund to Paypal. Within a few hours I received an email from BTGuard telling me that my monthly subscription payment had not been received, and that my account had been locked out. Remember – I had already paid a year up front. Anyway, a week later I received notification from Paypal that my money had been returned. As much as people complain about Paypal, I have to say, their performance here was outstanding.

I think that it’s obvious here that I recommend people stay away from this service. Well away.

BTGuard give exactly what they say. Anonymity for unlimited torrent downloads.The prices are quite simply very competitive. I’ve tried every trick in the book and I can’t find my own IP address or exact location anywhere.

I took a month’s subscription as a try out first. After a month BTGuard has never dropped the connection once, day or night. Speeds, from the Netherlands and using the EU servers, are near what my IP provider provides. I don’t need any support desk, so I can’t give any opinion. PPTP seems to give higher speeds than the OpenVPN GUI.