Feb 25 2006

uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading

  • Written by soulxtc
  • 14 Comments

Easy step-by-step guide that will help you start downloading movies, music, TV shows, and more in no time at all.

For most people getting started with the whole “BitTorrent downloading thing” can be pretty intimidating. Sure maybe some of you had practice with Napster or KaZaA back in the day, but times have changed. Now it’s “trackers” and “clients,” and the list of new terminology goes on and on. So exactly how and where to begin can be a daunting and intimidating proposition.

So for those of you looking for an easy way to find the path to downloading enlightenment, I present to you an easy quick-step guide to get you up and downloading in no time at all.

The first thing we need to do is acquire a BitTorrent client.. This is the program that will do the actual downloading for you. There are many to choose from and each has their own positives and negatives, so it’s up to you decide which best suits your needs and PC capabilities.

Currently, the most popular client server program is uTorrent because it’s relatively simple, effective, and most importantly lightweight. It’s small memory footprint consumes only 6MB of memory.

Now the guide below will take you through the uTorrent setup process and beyond.

INSTALLATION & SETUP

To begin, download uTorrent and install it.

Now we need to configure it to work properly and at a maximized setting based on your PCs internet connection speed.

1. Select “Speed Guide” from the Options Menu as shown below.

2. Run a “Speed Test” and note your upload connection speed.

3. Select your the connection speed determined above in the drop down menu as shown.

4. Choose a port number between 49512 and 65535(the recommended range). Also, the selected port must be forwarded if operating behind a router. As you can see in the picture, I went ahead and used port 49789 and then TESTED it.

….this is the message you should then see in your browser

5. Lastly, it asks if you want to “Enable Encryption.” The reason for this is that many ISPs block or throttle BitTorrent connection speeds and this setting helps mask it. To test if your ISP throttles BitTorrent traffic CLICK HERE.

6. Click “Use Selected Settings”

PREFERENCES

There’s a number of different features and options, but the only we’ll concern ourselves with is where you want your downloads to go. You’d be surprised at how many people have trouble locating where their downloads are at.

1. Select “Preferences” from the Options Menu.

2. Here simply enter the folder location for where you want your downloads to be put in.

That’s it. You’re finished. Congratulations.

I’m All Set Up, Now What Do I Do?

Check out our extensive list of BitTorrent tracker sites for the latest and greatest in download sites. Also, I suggest reading our story on Private versus Public Tracker Sites to get an idea of what to expect from each.

So How Do I Download Stuff?

First you need to find what’s called a BitTorrent tracker site, it’s a site which has the actual torrent files that allow users to connect with one another and share data (CLICK HERE FOR TERMINOLOGY).

In the picture below I use the LegalTorrents site since I show actual downloading and wish to of course comply with copyright laws. As shown I selected the download arrow in order to download the torrent file and thus the corresponding content.

324

The files should then appear in uTorrent and begin downloading.

For a more honest representation, here’s how it would look if you wanted to download content from The Pirate Bay, the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker site.

Using “Star Wars” as the search query, I selected a Star Wars e-Book to download.

432432432

Then simply select the file and then DOWNLOAD THIS TORRENT.

32432432

Easy enough right?

Related Posts

  1. uTorrent – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
  2. Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
  3. Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
  4. Vuze 4.0 – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent
  5. Auto Download Movies, Music, and TV Shows with uTorrent
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Comments

  1. khalied133

    thats good here well done

  2. Luar

    I’m a new mwmbwr that don’t anything about this subject but I thihg this information very very goog
    Luar

  3. rapamum

    perfect for a beginner…but what if the port forwrded shows and error

  4. corey93

    awesome for some newbies at this and and if it shows an error on port foward just remove it and pick a different open port

  5. sempi

    Definitely stinks uTorrent AKA BitTorrent Inc. AKA Paramount 20th Century Fox MTV and Warner Brothers is dead. And I just started p2p sharing a couple of days ago. Which p2p software was the first one I unknowingly stumbled across and began foolishly using? You guessed it the well advertised uTorrent. I actually thought I was using a hip program!

    Then after a few days I began discovering the truth when stumbling across things like the post below – I spent hours reading though. There are probably tens of thousands of new uTorrent users every day like me but that don’t spend a few hours reading.

    Anyone can easily confirm that uTorrent is in bed with those that are against the free sharing of files by merely going to the uTorrent site and looking at their [url=http://utorrent.com/privacy.php]Privacy Policy[/url] which states that uTorrnet is “…owned and operated by BitTorrent Inc. its affiliates and subsidiaries…” If you go to http://www.bittorrent.com you will see at the bottom of the page that some of BitTorrent’s affiliates and subsidiaries include; 20th Century Fox Comedy Central Lionsgate Films MTV Networks Paramount Spike and Warner Bros.

    How more obvious can you get? [b]No proof of monitoring is needed.[/b]

    uTorrent should no longer be recommended for file sharing. In fact it should be avoided at all costs. Only those that have a bias interest in it will say otherwise.

    ———————————————————–

    “The fact is… utorrent was bought out by anti-p2p interests after version 1.6.1 came out. Everything after that is highly suspect. There’s not a chance in hell that an anti-p2p entity is going to buy out a client and NOT eventually incorporate some form of DRM into it. To think otherwise would be incredibly naive.

    A lot of people recommend sticking to 1.6.1 but I’m not even sure that’s a good idea. What would stop utorrents owners from swapping out the version of 1.6.1 on their site with a spyware version? If you own 1.6.1 from before the takeover sure or if you can get it from a reliable source fine but I wouldn’t download anything from utorrent.com. Not at this point.

    I love 1.6.1 and never want to let it go but the cold hard reality is that it’s days are numbered. The moment anti-p2p interests got their grubby little hands on it utorrent’s fate was sealed.

    Btw I’m seeing a lot of people using 1.7x in private trackers. This is of tremendous concern to me. You can make it as hard as you want for members to join but if you’ve got existing members using a client that’s reporting outside the tracker… your members are screwed.”

    http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=498317&postcount=5

  6. sempi

    Definitely stinks uTorrent AKA BitTorrent Inc. AKA Paramount 20th Century Fox MTV and Warner Brothers is dead. And I just started p2p sharing a couple of days ago. Which p2p software was the first one I unknowingly stumbled across and began foolishly using? You guessed it the well advertised uTorrent. I actually thought I was using a hip program!

    Then after a few days I began discovering the truth when stumbling across things like the post below – I spent hours reading though. There are probably tens of thousands of new uTorrent users every day like me but that don’t spend a few hours reading.

    Anyone can easily confirm that uTorrent is in bed with those that are against the free sharing of files by merely going to the uTorrent site and looking at their [url=http://utorrent.com/privacy.php]Privacy Policy[/url] which states that uTorrnet is “…owned and operated by BitTorrent Inc. its affiliates and subsidiaries…” If you go to http://www.bittorrent.com you will see at the bottom of the page that some of BitTorrent’s affiliates and subsidiaries include; 20th Century Fox Comedy Central Lionsgate Films MTV Networks Paramount Spike and Warner Bros.

    How more obvious can you get? [b]No proof of monitoring is needed.[/b]

    uTorrent should no longer be recommended for file sharing. In fact it should be avoided at all costs. Only those that have a bias interest in it will say otherwise.

    ———————————————————–

    “The fact is… utorrent was bought out by anti-p2p interests after version 1.6.1 came out. Everything after that is highly suspect. There’s not a chance in hell that an anti-p2p entity is going to buy out a client and NOT eventually incorporate some form of DRM into it. To think otherwise would be incredibly naive.

    A lot of people recommend sticking to 1.6.1 but I’m not even sure that’s a good idea. What would stop utorrents owners from swapping out the version of 1.6.1 on their site with a spyware version? If you own 1.6.1 from before the takeover sure or if you can get it from a reliable source fine but I wouldn’t download anything from utorrent.com. Not at this point.

    I love 1.6.1 and never want to let it go but the cold hard reality is that it’s days are numbered. The moment anti-p2p interests got their grubby little hands on it utorrent’s fate was sealed.

    Btw I’m seeing a lot of people using 1.7x in private trackers. This is of tremendous concern to me. You can make it as hard as you want for members to join but if you’ve got existing members using a client that’s reporting outside the tracker… your members are screwed.”

    http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=498317&postcount=5

  7. sempi

    Definitely stinks uTorrent AKA BitTorrent Inc. AKA Paramount 20th Century Fox MTV and Warner Brothers is dead. And I just started p2p sharing a couple of days ago. Which p2p software was the first one I unknowingly stumbled across and began foolishly using? You guessed it the well advertised uTorrent. I actually thought I was using a hip program!

    Then after a few days I began discovering the truth when stumbling across things like the post below – I spent hours reading though. There are probably tens of thousands of new uTorrent users every day like me but that don’t spend a few hours reading.

    Anyone can easily confirm that uTorrent is in bed with those that are against the free sharing of files by merely going to the uTorrent site and looking at their [url=http://utorrent.com/privacy.php]Privacy Policy[/url] which states that uTorrnet is “…owned and operated by BitTorrent Inc. its affiliates and subsidiaries…” If you go to http://www.bittorrent.com you will see at the bottom of the page that some of BitTorrent’s affiliates and subsidiaries include; 20th Century Fox Comedy Central Lionsgate Films MTV Networks Paramount Spike and Warner Bros.

    How more obvious can you get? [b]No proof of monitoring is needed.[/b]

    uTorrent should no longer be recommended for file sharing. In fact it should be avoided at all costs. Only those that have a bias interest in it will say otherwise.

    ———————————————————–

    “The fact is… utorrent was bought out by anti-p2p interests after version 1.6.1 came out. Everything after that is highly suspect. There’s not a chance in hell that an anti-p2p entity is going to buy out a client and NOT eventually incorporate some form of DRM into it. To think otherwise would be incredibly naive.

    A lot of people recommend sticking to 1.6.1 but I’m not even sure that’s a good idea. What would stop utorrents owners from swapping out the version of 1.6.1 on their site with a spyware version? If you own 1.6.1 from before the takeover sure or if you can get it from a reliable source fine but I wouldn’t download anything from utorrent.com. Not at this point.

    I love 1.6.1 and never want to let it go but the cold hard reality is that it’s days are numbered. The moment anti-p2p interests got their grubby little hands on it utorrent’s fate was sealed.

    Btw I’m seeing a lot of people using 1.7x in private trackers. This is of tremendous concern to me. You can make it as hard as you want for members to join but if you’ve got existing members using a client that’s reporting outside the tracker… your members are screwed.”

    http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=498317&postcount=5

  8. ali

    Thanks…

  9. FiendFace

    If That’s The Case What Do They Have To Gain.I Don’t Completely Understand What The Deal Is,What’s To Gain?

  10. Matthew

    all i got to say is utorrent is far more stable than Bitcomet.

    I used Bitcomet for a few years, constantly upgrading versions, and with each version came its own unique problem. I got fed up when my memory useage for it skyrocketed to like… 500 megs, and would freeze. i said the hell with it, and opted for utorrent.

    sure, its slower, but its more stable, and doesnt tax my memory. besides, you have to be exceptionally impatient if you bitch that it takes an overnight download to get a movie.

    - Matthew

  11. SHIULI

    bt hw do we watch downloaded movies ???

  12. Anon

    There’s something that is called “Plan B”…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_clients

    Just check out what’s available to you. Besides, µTorrent is may still be under the company, but not all of it will be forced onto the programmers.

    1. NEVER USE BitComet (or BitComet Derived). It is a bad program. It eats out your hard drive as well as your RAM.

    2. BitTheif and BitTyrant are highly not recommended unless you want to get banned from trackers.

    3. Check out the Operating System that you are using. Some may not be to your liking (except µTorrent 1.6.1 for some), but at least it works.

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