Guide BitTorrent 101 (Beginners Guide)

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BitTorrent

This is going to be simple guide containing some information about Bittorrent and how to use it

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Table of Content

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1. Intro
   
2. Clients
   
3. µTorrent Guide
   
4. Other Guides
   

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Intro

Before you start there are some terminologies that are used when dealing with torrents you don't have to memorize them or anything but its good to know what you're dealing with.

What is Bittorrent ?

BitTorrent is a P2P system that makes transfering large files (or groups of files) amongst a large group of people easy, fast and efficient. The BitTorrent network is set up in a way that is a little different than a normal P2P network. With this network, you really don't do any searching for files that the other users have using the client as you would with traditional clients like Kazaa. Rather, you go to websites that have lists of recently released files.

What are indexing sites ?

The websites listing the torrents are called indexing sites and have become very popular. Their popularity has come at a cost however, with the MPAA and law enforcement agencies shutting them down. There are no shortage of sites to go to so long as you know which are currently being used, as they come and go so quickly these days. The files that you get all come as a package called an archive, and to receive them you must first get a .torrent file (don't worry, that's what you went to these websites for). Once you have downloaded the .torrent file, your BitTorrent client will kick in and connect to a managing computer that then connects you to others who have the files.

What is a Tracker ?

A tracker is a server on the Internet that acts to coordinate the action of BitTorrent clients. When you open a torrent, your machine contacts the tracker and asks for a list of peers to contact. Periodically throughout the transfer, your machine will check in with the tracker, telling it how much you've downloaded and uploaded, how much you have left before finishing, and the state you're in (starting, finished download, stopping.) If a tracker is down and you try to open a torrent, you will be unable to connect. If a tracker goes down during a torrent (i.e., you have already connected at some point and are already talking to peers), you will be able to continue transferring with those peers, but no new peers will be able to contact you. Often tracker errors are temporary, so the best thing to do is just wait and leave the client open to continue trying.

BitTorrent is a P2P system that uses a central location to manage users' downloads. The central location is a tracker that is connected to when you download and launch a .torrent file. The tracker keeps track of all the people who have the file (both partially and completely) and connects users to each other for downloading and uploading.

The BitTorrent network is impressive mostly for the speed and reliability with which you get files that have been recently released. As long as a .torrent file has enough people sharing then you can be assured that it will start quickly and maintain a good download speed. This is what makes browsing through recently released .torrents so much fun. Whatever catches your eye can be yours in no time. Most indexing sites have a system of listing the number of Seeders and Leechers for a particular archive.


What is a seeder?

A seed(er) is a client on the BT network that has a complete copy of a particular archive. For any archive to work, there must be at least one seed to download from originally. Sometimes under certain circumstances, there may be no one seeder but enough people with all the parts to make up the whole archive, this is called a distributed copy. It is HIGHLY recommended that once you have gotten an archive you leave the BT client running for at least the amount of time that it took you to download the archive to help ensure that others will also be able to get it. Share and Share alike!

What is a Leecher ?

A leech(er) is a client on the BT network that does not have a complete copy of a particular archive yet. When any new client begins downloading an archive, they are a leecher until they have finished downloading the entire archive and then become a seeder. The name 'leecher' here is an unfortunate use that has become too commonly used even though it is really not applicable to what the meaning is. A leecher normally means someone who downloads without uploading (takes but does not give.) But here, a leecher is part of the network and is uploading as well, many times more KB than they download. But hey, it's worth the new meaning once you appreciate the vast resources that BT brings to you.

What is a .torrent file ?

To download something with BitTorrent, you must have a .torrent file. This file contains in it a location that tells the BitTorrent client where to go to find the tracker that manages the uploading and downloading of the archive. An archive is a complete set for downloading which may include one file or many files. The one .torrent file contains the archive information also. To download on this network it is simply a matter of clicking on the .torrent file in your web browser, then the BitTorrent client kicks in and asks where you'd like to save the archive. That's it, from there you just sit back and watch the client work it's magic.

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Clients

The are a majority of Bittorrent clients out there which one you choose is up to you depending on your needs and requirements however there are some clients who have a certain amount of popularity over other clients such as Azureus, Bitlord, Bitcomet and uTorrent to name a few below you will find a simple guide on how to use the uTorrent client which is considered to have a simple and easy user interface.

Azureus

BitLord

µTorrent

Bitcomet

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µTorrent Guide

Currently, the most popular client server program is uTorrent . It's simple, effective, and even better typically uses less than 6MB of memory. To begin, downlaod uTorrent and open it.
Now you need to configure it to work properly and at a maximized setting based on your PC’s capability and internet's connection speed.
First click on "folder options" and choose a directory to put both your torrent trackers and downloads in. Then click on "ok" to save your settings.
Then back in the main window select "Speed Guide" as you will need to find out what your internet capabilities are so you can maximize uTorrent's potential based on your invidual capabilities.
So first you're gonna do a test to find out your internet's connection speed.
As you can see, in this case the maximum upload speed is 482 kbps. This is the result you will use to configure uTorrrent's connection type with. Scroll down Connection Type and select your speed result.
The next step is to make sure you ports are forwarded properly. If you aren't using a router then of course this doesn't apply to you, but for those of you who are check the last post of this thread.
If all is well you should receive this message in your internet browser.
So granting you received this message you're good to go. Finish up here by clicking Used Selected Settings to save all the changes we've made.
Now you ’re ready to begin finding stuff to download. There are a wide variety of sites to choose from and each fall into a basic category of either "private" which is members only, or "open" which means membership is not required. We will start with one of the more popular "open" sites called Pirate Bay . After opening the Pirate Bay website, type a search query in the box and press ENTER. We'll use the ever talented Clay Aiken as our test case
You'll see a variety of Clay Aiken material to choose from. We'll select Clay Aiken Clips.
This will bring to you where the tracker download is located. The tracker is what will help the client server keep track of the seeders and leechers in the swarm and thus download the file or files. So click on "Download This Torrent,"
After downloading the tracker you should see it appear in the main client server window. This means it has successfully been loaded and ready to go. After a few minutes of connecting to other seeders and leechers in the swarm it should begin downloading successfully.

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Guides

Below you can find some useful guides regarding the other recommended Bittorent clients



External Links


Guide to using Azureus

Guide to using Bitlord

Guide to using Bitcomet