Does anybody in the forum knows anything about bit torrent , how to use it in downloading stuffs and how to set a good download/upload speeds for it?

bit torrent like other p2p softwares is a very easy means of downloading & uploading files and enough viruses.There are many torrent clients out there but i recommend shareaza, just download th torrent link and shareaza wud do the rest. also hope u have a good anti virus that you have actually seen it work cause using things like torrent u sure need an anti virus

The bittorrent protocol was originally designed and created by programmer Bram Cohen, and is now maintained by BitTorrent Inc. BitTorrent is designed to distribute large amounts of data widely without incurring the corresponding consumption in costly server and bandwidth resources. CableLabs, the research organization of the North American cable industry, believes that BitTorrent represents 55% of the upstream traffic on the cable companies' access network. CacheLogic puts that number at roughly 35% of all traffic on the Internet,although there are dissenting opinions on the methodology to measure P2P traffic on the Internet.

The original BitTorrent client was written in Python. Its source code, as of version 4.0, has been released under the BitTorrent Open Source License, which is a modified version of the Jabber Open Source License. There are numerous compatible clients, written in a variety of programming languages, and running on a variety of computing platforms.
To share a file or group of files through BitTorrent, clients first create a “torrent”. This is a small file which contains metadata about the files to be shared, and about the host computer that coordinates the file distribution. The exact information contained in the torrent file depends on the version of the BitTorrent protocol. However, a torrent file always has the suffix .torrent. Torrent files contain an “announce” section, which specifies the URL of the tracker, and an “info” section which contains (suggested) names for the files, their lengths, the piece length used, and a SHA-1 hash code for each piece, which clients should use to verify the integrity of the data they receive. Clients who have finished downloading the file may also choose to act as seeders, providing a complete copy of the file. After the torrent file is created, a link to it is placed on a website or elsewhere, and it is registered with a tracker. BitTorrent trackers maintain lists of the clients currently participating in the torrent.The computer with the initial copy of the file is referred to as the initial seeder. There is also a trackerless system available, this trackerless, decentralized or distributed tracking essentially treats every peer in the swarm as a tracker. BitTorrent, µTorrent, BitComet and KTorrent offer decentralized tracking through the DHT method. Azureus also supports a trackerless method but it is incompatible with the DHT offered by all other supporting clients.

BitTorrent greatly reduces the load on seeders, because clients generally download the file from each other. After the initial pieces transfer from the seed, the pieces are individually transferred from client to client. This demonstrates how the original seeder only needs to send out one copy of the file for all the clients to receive a copy.

BitTorrent clients are programs which implement the BitTorrent protocol. Each BitTorrent client is capable of preparing, requesting, and transmitting any type of computer file over a network using the BitTorrent protocol.

Using a web browser, users navigate to the site listing the torrent, download it, and open it in a BitTorrent client. After opening the torrent, the BitTorrent client connects to the tracker, which provides it with a list of clients currently downloading the file or files. A group of peers on a BitTorrent or P2P connected with each other to share a particular torrent is generally referred to as a swarm.

Initially, there may be no other peers in the swarm, in which case the client connects directly to the initial seeder and begins to request pieces. The BitTorrent protocol breaks down files into a number of much smaller pieces, typically a quarter of a megabyte (256 kB) in size. Larger file sizes typically have larger pieces. For example, a 4.37-GB file may have a piece size of 4 MB (4096 kB). Pieces are checked as they are received using a hash algorithm to ensure that they are error-free.

As peers enter the swarm, they begin trading pieces with one another, instead of downloading directly from the seeder. Clients incorporate mechanisms to optimize their download and upload rates, for example using a tit for tat scheme. Peers download pieces in a random order, to increase the opportunity to exchange data, which is only possible if two peers have a different subset of the file.

The effectiveness of the peer-to-peer data exchange depends largely on the policies used by clients to determine to whom to send data. Clients will prefer to send data to peers that send data back to them, which encourages fair trading, but strict policies often result in suboptimal situations, where newly joined peers are unable to receive any data (because they don't have any pieces yet to trade themselves) and two peers with a good connection between them do not exchange data simply because neither of them wants to take the initiative. To counter these effects, the official BitTorrent client uses a mechanism called “optimistic unchoking”, where the client will reserve a portion of its available bandwidth for sending pieces to random peers (not necessarily known-good partners, so called preferred peers), in hopes of discovering even better partners and to ensure newcomers get a chance to join the swarm.



from wikipedia

incase you need a torrent client opera browser for windows comes with an inbuilt bittorent client.

Apart,from other BT client,do you know something about utorrent and how to improve download/upload speeds and how to resolve a NAT problem?,Thanks to Neoteny an Adeso, Pls can yu help me with that cos i can get a green tick its always yellow sometimes red exclaim. mark.Can yu help me with that?

well i myselfhardly use torrent clients cos most of the stuff i want not always seeded, and since i no longer download Binaries even BT has no use for me. here's something about tweaking UT speed i found .hope it helps.

Some of the settings mentioned below are optimized for 256k connection. If you want to calculate the optimal settings for your connection, check at the end of this tutorial. But I suggest you to read the entire tutorial for guidance on other settings.

First go to Options>Preferences>Network
Under ‘Port used for incomming connections‘ enter any port number. It is best to use a port number above 10000. I use 45682.
Randomize port each time µtorrent starts: UNCHECKED

I leave this unchecked because I have a router. If you do not have a router or a firewall, and want extra security,check this option.
Enable UPnP port mapping (Windows Xp or later only): UNCHECKED

I leave this unchecked because I have experienced it slowing down speeds. It is not needed if you manually port forward.
Add µtorrent to Windows Firewall exceptions (Windows XP SP2 or later only): UNCHECKED (do this only if you have windows firewall disabled)
Global Maximum upload rate (kb/s): [0: unlimited]: 22 (for 256k connection)
Protocol Encryption: ENABLED

I would recommend everyone to enable this. This can help increase speeds with many ISPs.
Allow incoming Legacy Connections: CHECKED



Options>Preferences>Torrents
Global Maximum Number of Connections: 130 (for 256k connection)

This number should not be set too low or the number of connections made to your torrents will be limited. Setting it too high may cause too much bandwidth to be used and can cause slowdowns.
Maximum Number of connected peers per torrent: 70 (for 256k connection)

If you see that the peers connected to a specific torrent are exactly this number, or very close, increase this number to improve speeds.
Number of upload slots per torrent: 3 (for 256k connection)

This depends on how much you want to upload to other users. Do not set too low or it may affect download speeds.
Use additional upload slots if upload speed <90%: CHECKED
Maximum number of active torrents: 2 (for 256k connection)
Maximum number of active downloads: 1 (for 256k connection)
Enable DHT Network: CHECKED

This is recommended to be checked to improve speeds. More people will be available for sharing if this is checked.
Enable DHT for new torrents: CHECKED
Enable Peer Exchange: CHECKED
Enable scrapping: CHECKED
Pre-allocate all files: CHECKED
Append .!ut to incomplete files: UNCHECKED

check http://www.johntp.com/2006/04/19/how-to-increase-download-speeds-of-utorrent/

YOu've bin taught how to Use torrents for downloading ryt!

To get the Torrent files, use www.toorgle.com

the safest torrent sites are mininova, thepiratebay and isohunt.
use utorrent or azureus client others aint safe.

i use bitlord but my torrent sites are Mininova, isohunt, torrentspy, torrentfive, Usabits

Bit torrent is good for file sharing but not as good as Warez.
You get little or no Virus and it's kind of fast while downloading, no need to search and download torrent files before you start your initial download.