Torrents ... what are they and what do you do with them?

[Mr. Laz]

several people have ask so i thought i would post something.

this is just me rattling off some general info so don't think i'm a teacher or anything.


General:

Torrent - just another name for any file that is shared via a peer-to-peer application.

peer-to-peer application - an application that allows 2 computers to transfer files back and forth.

Bittorent - the general name of the programs that the computers used to share the files.

uttorrent - just a specific Brand of Bittorent program (other names are: Azureus,ABC,TurboBT,BitComet, The Original BitTorrent)

Peer network - more than 2 computers can connect at once. In fact, the more computers there are the faster the download times. A peer network is when a bunch of computers are connected.

Peer - one computer in the network

Seed - a computer(Peer) in the network that has already downloaded the Torrent file completely. Once you download 100% ... you computer starts "seeding" with all the others. A "seeder" is just uploading the file ..... not downloading that particular file.

Upload - information is going out from you computer. like when you attach a file to an email.

Download - information is coming into you computer. like when you get an attachment from an email you received.





How to:


first things first ..... to download/upload a Torrent, you need a bittorrent program that i listed above.

links to programs:

uttorrent (my favorite ... simple,quick and easy)

azureus

TurboBT

google and you can find others


so download your bittorrent program to your desktop and install it by double clicking on the .exe file. You might need to unzip it using a program like winzip you can get here (Winzip 10 )

it's pretty basic and does most of the install by itself. just follow the instructions and click yes etc where necessary)

you should also go to the website that made the program. They will usually have FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) to help you use the program.


now you need to find the file you want to download/upload. you can do a google search for websites that list Torrent files to download ... but here's a few to start with:

http://www.mininova.org/
http://www.thepiratebay.org/
http://www.demonoid.com/
http://www.torrentspy.com/

general search engine sites that allow you to search multiple torrent websites at the same time (like a google for torrents)

http://www.torrents.to/
http://torrentscan.com/




now onto the files themselves:

all sorts of files are shared ... pictures,games,music,movies,utility files etc.


when you search the internet for a torrent be careful of a few things.

1. is what your downloading legal?

i'm not judging .... but the music and movie industry is pretty touchy about people sharing their stuff and can take you to court with a lawsuit of sorts.

2. viruses .... never download anything from the internet without a anti virus program running. you also should have a firewall.

3. read the description on the website to makes sure it's really what you want. you will also see feedback from fellow file downloads to see if the file is good or broken etc.



so you found the file you wanted ... read the details etc. You will see a button/link that says something like "download this torrent now" or "download via Bittorrent" etc.

click it

now one of two things will happen

1. the bittorrent program you installed will open and ask you whether you want to download that program or not. It will also show each individual file. You can check or uncheck each one to download the complete torrent or download just part of it. This is particularly good for a music torrent. The file may include the whole album or multiple albums. Often you can pick and choose to download just the songs you want ..... saving yourself valuable download time.


or

2. you get a popup, you computer doesn't know what to do what that type of file. It's asking where you want to "open" or "Save to disk"

this is the most common mistake made

you want to "open with" ...

you MUST let the bittorrent client download and save it. You cannot just save it to disk.

It's asking you what program you want to use to open/download it. It might have options listed right there and you can just pick the bittorrent program you have or you might have to find it yourself.



2a. to find program click "open with" and then click the tab next to it ... should be called "browse" or something. Now a windows folder explorer will open and you need to find the program you installed. It should be in something like C:\Program Files\utorrent by default depending on which program you installed. Point in to the main bittorrent program and click ok. You can also check "do this by default from now on" AFTER you make sure it opens correctly.


your bittorrent client will open up and you will see the file you just chose listed.

it will look something like this:






you'll notice the number of peers and seeds listed... this is important because the more seeds/peers the faster your download.

beware a file with no Seeds ..... because you might download 50% of it and then be stuck with an incomplete (worthless) file.


you should explore your bittorrent program by click on the tabs to see what options you have. You can usually change which folder you want the files download to etc.

The bittorrent host website will also have "speed tweaks" for that particular program to make the downloads go faster.



Troubleshooting:

there is really only a few real problems usually.

1. when the computer asked what you want to do with the file you click download instead of "open with"

2. you try and download a torrent without a bittorrent program to control the download.

3. your bittorrent program gets blocked by a firewall or router.

4. your downloads rate suck because windows xp has a cap on the number of connections you can have at once. That cap can be changed with this is program( http://www.lvllord.de/?lang=en&url=downloads#4226patch )


Associated program:

remember what i said about companies being ticked about you sharing their products? Well this program can help block their snooping little eyes by blocking known websites that try and catch you.

just open it and run it anytime you have your bittorrent program running. Don't forget to run the update on it regularly. It updates like a anti virus program ... just hit the update button.

Peer block - http://www.peerblock.com/releases