Torrent files are one of the most popular forms of file sharing on the internet, but they can scare newbies. Once you learn how to use them, however, you will have access to virtually every file you can imagine. Using a torrent client is not illegal, as long as you have the rights to download, use and distribute (share) a file. Always make sure you have the legal right to use the files you download. Read on to learn how to use the BitTorrent client.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Install BitTorrent
Step 1. Visit the BitTorrent website
You can download the client for free from the official website. You will find the link in the center of the home page. If you need an installer for a different operating system, click the "Other Platforms" link under the "Download BitTorrent" button.
Step 2. Download and install the client
You will be prompted to choose between the free version or BitTorrent Plus. Most users don't need the plus version, because the free version allows you to download and open all torrents anyway.
Download the BitTorrent client only from the official website. There are other clients, but you should only download BitTorrent from the developer site
Step 3. Make sure you associate the files correctly
If you want to make BitTorrent the default program for opening a torrent, make sure it is associated with.torrent (.tor) files and Magnet URIs. You can make sure these boxes are checked during installation. If you don't check this setting, when you download a torrent it will only be saved on your computer and the program will not open automatically. If the BitTorrent program will instead be associated with.tor files, it will open by itself when downloaded. Once opened, it will use the torrent file to locate the file you want to download and start the download.
BitTorrent will offer you to download free music and adware during installation. Make sure you disable these options before continuing with the installation
Step 4. Configure the firewall so as not to block BitTorrent
When you run BitTorrent for the first time, you will probably be asked if you want to allow internet access to the program. If you want to download torrents, you will need to make sure that the program can get through the firewall. If you don't see the automatic message, you will need to unlock the program manually.
Step 5. Set your preferences
Once BitTorrent is installed, open it so you can set your preferences before starting. In the main window, click Options> Preferences. You should check several options before downloading torrents:
- Click on the Folders item. This page will allow you to decide where to save new downloads. You can also decide to move the downloads to a different folder after the download is complete.
- Click on Connections. You will be able to set maximum upload and download limits, a useful option if you have a data traffic limit. If you set these items to "0", transfers will take place at the maximum speed allowed by your connection.
- Click on the Queue item. You can decide how many torrent files to download and upload at the same time. This setting can allow you to focus on one download at a time, or to download more than one at the same time. You can also set your own seeding goals, i.e. decide how long to share the file.
Part 2 of 4: Download Torrent Files
Step 1. Find a website that indexes torrents
There are many on the internet. Some are more reliable than others. There are two main types of torrent trackers: public and private trackers.
- Public trackers are available to everyone. These are the sites you will find when you search the internet for trackers. Due to its public nature, many torrents are tracked by whoever owns the copyrights of the files you download and you will risk actions from your ISP.
- Private trackers require invitations. These sites are not accessible unless you have been invited by another member. They often require payment for access or maintaining a good download-to-upload ratio. Private trackers are unlikely to get you in trouble.
Step 2. Browse for the file you want to download
On public trackers, you'll find most of the new TV shows, movies, music albums, and games, as well as older but popular content.
Use popular abbreviations to find the files you want. For example, if you want to find the third episode of the fifth season of "CSI" in HD format, search for: "CSI s05e03 720p" or "CSI s05e03 1080p"
Step 3. Download a torrent that has many seeders
The download speed of a torrent is determined by many variables. The fastest torrents will be those with a high number of seeders and a low number of leechers. These two values determine how fast you can download a file. The other variables in the game are beyond your control - they are your connection speed and the connection speed of the seeders.
- Most of the sites that index torrents allow you to sort the results of your searches by the number of seeders. Look for the files that have the most. You will be able to download them faster and it will be less likely that they are fakes or viruses.
- The number of leechers also affects the download speed. A leecher is a user who is downloading but not sharing the file. It will become a seeder once the entire file is downloaded. If there are many more leechers than seeders, the bandwidth reserved for you will be less and the download will be slower.
Step 4. Find the balance between size and quality
This is especially important for videos. Often, you will find the same movie or tv show in many different dimensions. The difference in size depends on how the audio and video are encoded. In general, the larger a file, the better the quality. Look for qualified torrent providers. Some sites add tags or icons next to the name of the person who uploaded the torrent. Click on these icons to get to know them.
- Downloading a larger file will take longer, which also depends on your connection.
- Read as many comments as possible to understand if the file is of quality and worth your time. Some trackers have a rating system that allows users to rate a file positively or negatively.
Step 5. Download a magnet link if available
Link magnets are not a real file, but a short string of text. This unique string will allow the torrent to locate the files to download. Magnet files allow you to skip a step of the download operation and reduce the risk of downloading corrupt torrent files.
Step 6. Open the torrent file with BitTorrent
If you have associated the program with.torrent files, it should automatically open when you open a torrent file. The download will start as soon as you are connected to the first seeder.
- It can take a while to connect to seeders, especially if your connection isn't good and if you're downloading an unpopular torrent.
- You can check your downloads in the main BitTorrent window. Each file will have a progress bar next to it.
Step 7. Download a good program for playing video files
You can use torrents to transfer files of any type, however many of the popular movie formats are not supported by Windows Media Player and QuickTime. You will need a program that supports a wider variety of codecs and formats.
- VLC Player is a free and open-source multimedia player that can play virtually any downloaded multimedia file. It is a highly recommended program if you download video files of many different formats.
- ISO files are disk images and must be written to or mounted to a virtual drive to run. They are usually direct copies of disks or folder structures.
- If you want to play the media file on another device, you may want to convert it to a compatible format.
Step 8. Watch out for viruses
Since torrents are rarely legal, there is no control over which files are made available. This means that hackers can insert viruses into torrents with the hope that it will spread among users. Often they are included in the most popular files, to reach as many victims as possible.
- Scan all files you download for viruses.
- Try to download files that have been released by trusted members of the community.
- Always check the comments and ratings to see if any viruses have been found within the torrent.
Part 3 of 4: Sharing a Torrent File (Seeding)
Step 1. Leave the torrent for sharing (seeding) after finishing the download
Once you have finished downloading a torrent's content, you will become a seeder. This means that you are allowing data to be downloaded to clients connected to the tracker.
Seeding is what allows the torrent community to thrive. Without seeders, no one could download the file
Step 2. Maintain a good download and upload ratio
If you are using a private community, you will probably need to maintain a good relationship between downloading and sharing. To do this you will have to leave the file in upload for the time necessary to return the data you have downloaded to the community.
Step 3. Leave the client running in the background
Most of the internet services offered by the providers provide for an upload bandwidth lower than the download band. This means that to allow the upload of an amount of data equivalent to the one downloaded, it will take much more time than the download time. Leave the torrent program running in the background while you go about your daily tasks and you will see the amount of data uploaded soar.
Leaving the torrent client running shouldn't have a significant impact on the use of web browsers or word processing programs. Instead, you should close the torrent application if you want to use programs that engage the system more, such as video streaming or video games
Step 4. Set the ratio limit
BitTorrent allows you to share a torrent until a certain ratio is reached. In the Queue section of the Preferences menu, you can set this limit. If you are using a private tracker, you should set it to at least 200%. This means that you will share a 300 MB torrent until you have distributed 600 MB uploads.
Part 4 of 4: Open Downloaded Files from BitTorrent
Step 1. Many of the downloaded files will be compressed or in a format that does not allow immediate opening
Basically, they require another program to use. Applications and other non-multimedia files are often compressed in.zip,.rar,.001,.002, etc. formats, while many movies are in "container" formats such as.mkz and.qt which may require installation of a particular codec to be played. Fortunately, you will often find popular codec packages that are easy to download and install, such as the KLite package (www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm). WinRAR can handle.zip,.rar,.001,.002,.ecc formats instead.
Step 2. Create a new folder and move the downloaded files into it
You can minimize the damage done by infected programs you download if you create this folder on a partition or hard drive that does not contain any important information or data. Run the program needed to open the file and extract its contents. Check the extracted files carefully for suspicious ones (an audio or video file should not have the extension.exe or.com and in that case it could be a virus).
Step 3. Scan the folder with an antivirus
Don't skip this step! Evaluate the results to decide whether to move forward.
Step 4. Play or open the file
Once you have extracted the contents of a file and viewed the individual files of a program or video in a recognizable and expected format (.avi,.mp3,.mkz,.exe,.com etc.), you can open them with a player multimedia, run or install applications.
Advice
- Install a security program to prevent snoopers from knowing what you download. The best are PeerBlock or Peer Guardian. They are like firewalls, but with more extensive protection when you use p2p programs.
- It is difficult for a virus to move from one disk to another on its own. If you are the one copying an infected file from one drive to another, you could infect BOTH. Therefore it is a good idea to dedicate a small partition solely to verifying downloaded files. By moving and working on downloaded files on these partitions, a virus can infect only that part of the disk. This will allow you to protect the operating system and personal files. When you are certain that the file is not a threat, you can copy it, move it and run it from the main disk and delete it from the "test" disk.
- You can download a torrent without a seed but with many leechers, but without a seed, the entire file may not exist.
- If you want an alternative to BitTorrent, you can use uTorrent, but you will have to be careful not to download viruses to get it.
Warnings
- Typically, you'll get in trouble if you share a copyrighted file. Problems don't usually arise from owning the files. If, on the other hand, you decide to share a protected file via torrent, you could risk fines or imprisonment if discovered. With the BitTorrent client it is impossible to download a torrent without sharing it at the same time. You will notice this if you set the upload ratio to 0; the download will stop. For this reason, you need to understand that when you download a file you are also sharing it.
- It is possible to download and upload torrents anonymously, in order not to be discovered, using a VPN. Ask about the service, to be sure that it allows the use of BitTorrent and that the line speed is not too low.
