What is BitTorrent?
BitTorrent (often abbreviated to 'BT') is a protocol (a set of rules and description of how to do things) allowing you to download files quickly by allowing people downloading the file to upload (distribute) parts of it at the same time. BitTorrent is often used for distribution of very large files, very popular files and files available for free, as it is a lot cheaper, faster and more efficient to distribute files using BitTorrent than a regular download.
What is a torrent?
A torrent is a file that is used by a program called a bittorrent client, which then uses the file to download the actual file you want. Basically, it's the middleman of the download process. You don't really need him, but still he remains.
What Is µTorrent?
µTorrent is a BitTorrent client. A 'client' in this case is a computer program that follows the rules of a protocol. For example, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the protocol used to download web pages and other content - like this page - and your HTTP client (or browser) is the program you use to get those web pages. Some popular browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera. To an extent, they all work the same way because they follow the same set of rules.
The first things you need to know about using Bit Torrent:
-- Bit Torrent is aimed at broadband users (or any connection better than dialup).
-- Sharing is highly appreciated, and sharing is what keeps bit torrent alive.
-- A bit torrent file (*.torrent) contains information about the piece structure of the download (more on this later)
-- The method of downloading is not your conventional type of download. Since downloads do not come in as one big chunk, you are able to download from many people at once, increasing your download speeds. There may be 100 "pieces" to a file, or 20,000+ pieces, all depending on what you're downloading. Pieces are usually small (under 200kb)
-- The speeds are based upon people sharing as they download, and seeders. Seeders are people who constantly share in order to keep torrents alive. Usually seeders are on fast connections (10mb or higher).
How do I download files using BitTorrent?
Just like you need a URL like 'www.google.com' to go to a web site and download content, you need a 'torrent file', a small file that tells the BitTorrent client the necessary info to download the content you want. This is generally obtained from a torrent website. Many websites offer torrents as one method of downloading files. For example, OpenOffice.org, a free alternative to Microsoft Office, can be downloaded using BitTorrent. Other sites, like legaltorrents.com, offer torrents of all kinds of things - these sites are just repositories of torrents and usually don't actually create any of the content available. They're known as indexes or trackers - there is a subtle difference between the two.
Once you've obtained the torrent file from wherever, you simply need to import it into µTorrent. There are several ways of doing this.
• Click File then Add Torrent in µTorrent (or press CTRL+O) and locate the torrent file.
• Double-click the torrent file. (Only works if you've associated .torrent files with µTorrent - µTorrent asks you if it should do this the first time you run it. If you clicked 'No', you can do this by going to Options, then Preferences in µTorrent, then clicking Associate with .torrent files under Windows Integration.)
• (advanced) Click File then Add Torrent from URL in µTorrent (or press CTRL+U), and enter a URL from which the .torrent file can be obtained.
Seeding is where you leave your BitTorrent client open after you've finished your download to help distribute it (you distribute the file while downloading, but it's even more helpful if you continue to distribute the full file even after you have finished downloading). Chances are that most of the data you got was from seeds, so help give back to the community! It doesn't require much - µTorrent will continue seeding until the torrent is removed (right click the torrent, then hit Remove). Proper practice is to seed until the ratio of upload:download is at least 1.00.
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