How to download using torrents

Many of us would have heard about the torrent downloads. Hey, how did you get this.. I downloaded it in a torrent site, this and that. So, let's see how to download contents that are distributed via torrents.

Few words about bittorrent technology: BitTorrent is a protocol which distributes the sharing of files across all users who have downloaded or are in the process of downloading a file. Because BitTorrent breaks up and distributes files in hundreds of small chunks, you don't even need to have downloaded the whole file before you start sharing. As soon as you have even a piece of the file, you can start sharing that piece with other users. That's what makes BitTorrent so fast; your BitTorrent client starts sharing as soon as it downloads one chunk of the file (instead of waiting until the entire download has been completed).

How to find and download a file with BitTorrent

Now that you've got a better idea of the terminology and process behind BitTorrent, let's jump right into using BitTorrent.

First you need to download a BitTorrent client (the program that manages your BitTorrent downloads). I'd recommend uTorrent for Windows.

I will give you a guide of downloading stuff using utorrent in a easy three steps:

Step 1: Increase the TCP connection limit

In Windows XP, the number of possible TCP connection attempts per second is limited to 10. In order for you to get the best speed in torrent downloading, you ought to increase that limit.

To change or remove the limit, you can use the following program:

Event ID 4226 Patcher - A patching program for removing or changing the limit imposed on connection attempts in SP2. The patcher has the ability to restore tcpip.sys back to the original. Download the patcher from the link and run it. When asked, enter the new half-open connections limit to 100 (default is 10).

Step 2: Install uTorrent application

Download the uTorrent application from here, and install it.

Step 3: Download the .torrent file from the site

Website which host the .torrent file for the content you want to download is called "Tracker". Go to the torrent tracker website where the file you want to download (for e.g. www.legaltorrents.com) is and download the .torrent file. When you downloaded the file, it will open with uTorrent application you have installed.

Select the place where you want to save the content and the download will start. Bingo! that's it.

Configure to use free night usage provided by ISP:

In INDIA, our broadband ISPs like BSNL, Airtel offer free usage during midnight. So we can configure our system to use that free slot to download the files we need and keep the chargeable net usage unchanged. Let's see how we can configure our system to achieve.

Let's take an example of BSNL. BSNL offers free net usage during 2am to 8am. Follow the steps below to configure to download the torrent during that time. (other broadband users, change the time according to their free usage times)

--scchedule utorrent download between 2 am ~ 8am and alter utorrent settings

--open notepad and add the below line and save it as connect.bat. (replace username and pwd with your BSNL connection username and password; In the below line, "BSNL" is the name of the PPOE connection name.. change accordingly if you have different connection name)

RASDIAL "BSNL" username pwd

--open notepad and add the below line and save it as disconnect.bat. (replace username and pwd with your BSNL connection username and password)

RASDIAL "BSNL" /disconnect

--use the windows Task Scheduler (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled Tasks) to run connect.bat at 2:05am and disconnect.bat at 7:55am daily (the reason for that 5mins cap is in case BSNL is clock is running slow, we don't want to get charged for the downloads on that time period). This will connect the net at 2:05am and disconnect at 7:55am.

For better speed results, change utorrent settings as below.

Set maximun upload rate to 80% of your upload speed (for BSNL it would be 160). Also, check the "Automatic" checkbox (screenshot is missing that)