BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer network based on the idea that many people sharing a single file is more productive than a single host for a single file. It was not designed as a haven for pirates and copyright violation.

The network is based on the idea that everyone shares 100%, that means that if you download something, you stay connected to it until you’ve shared 100% of the bandwidth you’ve downloaded. The more people who are sharing (seeding) a file, the faster it goes for everyone.

Before you can do much with .torrent files, (the files that point you to the spot on the network where everyone’s grabbing the file) you need a client…

A. Common Clients

A BitTorrent client is a piece of software that acts as the vehicle between your computer and the bittorrent network. There are dozens of choices, among them;

1. Shad0w’s original client/BitTornado – ***** Probably the fastest overall client., but has the fewest features. Not really good if you want to download more than 1 file, or if you need to schedule your downloads.

2. ABC – ****  It doesn’t have UPnP capability, which I will discuss later. You may need to reconfigure your router to use it, so if you’re not comfortable editing the settings, this software isn’t for you.

Uses C++ instead of java, so it’s stable and doesn’t need a powerful system.

3. Azureus –  ***** Excellent program, but is a resource hog.  Supports UPnP, NAT traversal, scheduling, and it’s very very easy to start a torrent and seed it yourself. This client uses the Java VM, and as such it’s available to just about every computer platform (Linux, Windows, Mac), but the java VM has a nasty habit of bloating the longer it runs. It WILL slow down your computer after extended downloading/uploading.

4. BitSpirit – A very rare client. It has just about all the functionality of Azureus, but uses C++ instead of java. It’s really a very nice client, but starting a seed isn’t really easy, there’s no support (unless you read Korean) and some torrent sites don’t support it.

5. BitComet – ***** Probably the most popular client.  It uses a variation on the original client that was never intended: multi-tracker announcing. Think of it like this: A torrent is hosted by a tracker. The tracker keeps track of everybody uploading and downloading the file and their information. Trackers can have hundreds of thousands of users at one time. This client announces you across every tracker connected to the torrent, as an attempt to get you more speed. The issue is you run a much greater chance of getting busted with a multi-tracker-announcing client than you do otherwise. Other than that it’s a solid client, has scheduling and UPnP support, doesn’t use JAVA.

6. BitLord – I don’t know who made this client, but they were morons. They used the BitComet core, added some ads onto it, made it crash routers, made the interface ugly, and spammed it all over torrent sites everywhere. Use it only if the rest of the Internet has disappeared.

B. Tweaking your Client

Probably the most common question asked is “how can I speed up my downloads?”, and it’s probably also the most answered question.  There are 5 basic ways to speed up your connection. Here they are;  

1. Change your default port.
2. Set up port forwarding/UPnP
3. Cap your upload speed.
4. Buy a faster connection.
5. Disable the windows firewall.

1. By default, bittorrent uses a series of about 7-10 ports. Bittorrent traffic accounts for approximately 1/3 of all internet traffic. Therefore, ISP’s like to throttle (limit the connection) offered on the default port. Within your client, somewhere, there will be a place to set up your default port. Pick a range between 16000 and 68000 (limit it to about 10 ports, say 1860-1870) and you’re done, the client does the rest.

2. If you have a router, you have some work to do before you get the best speeds. Routers like to think they’re firewalls, and so they disallow connections they don’t like. If you have a broadband connection but don’t see speeds over 20k/s, this is your problem. The easiest solution is UPnP enabling, which is only available to people using windows XP.

To set up UPnP, you need 2 things: 1, a client that uses it, and 2, a router that allows it. You’ll need to log-into your router via Firefox, Linksys routers use the address: 192.168.1.1, and I think D-Link routers use 192.168.1.100 to log into the router. Linksys login is blank, default password is “admin”. D-link is the same I think, check your router documentation to be sure. somewhere within the setup will be a place to “enable” UPnP. On The Linksys WRT54G it looks like this:

Now you have to go into the settings for your client and enable UPnP. Azureus automatically detects and configures UPnP after version 2.2. BitSpirit and I believe BitComet do as well. Some clients don’t support UPnP at all.
Basically, UPnP allows the program to tell the router “Hey, I want traffic on this port, gimmie”, and the router will let it happen. If you can’t use UPnP, then you have to use port forwarding, which is a hassle, especially if you’re on a local network and won’t always have the same local IP address.
To use port forwarding, you have to access the settings in your router and find the section called “port forwarding”. On the Linksys WRT54G, that screen looks like this:

Here, you label the “application” whatever you want, the “Start” and “end” settings to whatever range you want to use, set protocol to “both”, since some new clients can use UDP and TCP for their protocols. In IP address, you put in the value for your local IP address.

Now click on the “Support tab”. The number that’s circled here is what goes in the “IP” box on your port forwarding.
Please note that this number can change any time you restart your computer if there are other computers on your network. You might have to change this setting within your router every time you restart your computer, this is why UPnP is so much more handy. Please also note that the ports you assign in the router must match the ports you’ve told your client to use or you won’t have good results.

3. Cap your upload speed. I can’t stress this enough. I’m glad you want to share, but do it intelligently.

4. Buy a faster connection.
Broadband is expensive, faster broadband is more expensive. Your connection can only be as fast as your account, so especially if you use DSL, buy a faster pipe.

5. Disable the windows firewall.
It’s really crappy. Anyone who really wanted access to your computer could do it with the firewall running, it’s more for your peace of mind than anything else. If you’ve downloaded Zone Alarm like I told you to, you won’t have any problems, as windows lets it become the default firewall. It doesn’t like p2p, and it has a nasty habit of nagging the hell out of you when it’s disabled and randomly reasserting itself.

Tags | General, Networking, Windows Vista, Windows XP