For all of those who enjoy the art of Anime watching, Music downloading, and *cough*pirating*cough*, there exists a program to suit all those needs. If you are reading this, it is assumed that you are new to it or want to gain a broader insight into this program.

Bittorrent is a Peer-to-Peer system in which users transfers large files amongst a network of people in a fast and efficient manner. It is a program designed by Bram Cohen which addresses the transition of society into the digitalized twenty-first century. Since 2001 there have been a number of clients that have spawned from the original program and will be covered in this guide.

1.1 Simple Definitions
1.2 Recommended Clients
1.3 Increase your Download Speeds!</strong>

1.1 Simple Definitions

Seeder – A seeder is a client on a network who supplies the file in demand.

Leecher – A leecher is an individual who is currently downloading the file on the network as well as sharing his/her blocks of data with others.

.torrent file – A file which contains information about the network and file in demand.

Encryption – a method of securing peer-to-peer packets to bypass ISP bandwidth limiting technology.

Ports – channels in which data packets exit and come in to and from.

1.2 Recommended Clients!

For Windows ~

uTorrent –http://www.utorrent.com/
An efficient, feature filled client which uses very little memory and space while retaining the functionality of other competing clients. <i>*Supports Protocol Encryption*</i>

BitComet –http://www.bitcomet.com/
A mediocre client which is on the hate list by some trackers; advertised to use less memory. Feature filled and is able to achieve high speeds on giant files. <i>*Does support Protocol Encryption*</i>

ABC –http://pingpong-abc.sourceforge.net/
A decent yet outdated client which has a very stable core and easy to use interface <i>*Does NOT support Protocol Encryption*</i>

For OSX & Windows ~

Azureus –http://azureus.sourceforge.net/
A fast, feature filled, plug-in supported client which uses java. It has a user-friendly interface and many functions for the advanced users. Not recommended for those who dislike Java. <i>*Supports Protocol Encryption*</i>

1.3 Increase your Download Speeds!

First of all before anything, share, share, share! A bittorrent network is based on the concept of peer to peer without your part in sharing there would be fewer files available for potential seeders. And as life dictates, there’s always a cost when receiving something. (Or at least on the most part)

To summarize try sharing as I have experimented and it shows clearly that your speeds *will* increase.

Now going down to business, if you are behind a firewall or a router then continue reading. If you aren’t then… you should really get one but go to 1.42. If you are behind a firewall you should ensure the ports are open, else you will be unable to receive or send any data.

1.31 How to Open your Ports!

http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm  

Select your Router and then the Bittorrent Program. Follow all steps!

Then go to http://www.grc.com/port_0.htm

This is a secure website in which you can input your port and check to see if it is open. Type in the port number and click the teal button (Probe this Port!).

If the results and status are Open! Then you’ve opened the port congratulations!

1.32 Improve your Speeds through Encryption

If you’ve absolutely tried everything and your speeds still are abysmal, you might want to check if your ISP is ‘traffic shaping’. Traffic shaping is process in which your ISP throttles Bittorrent traffic; through throttling your download speeds decrease thus making anyone angry. As media-demand on the internet increases more bandwidth is demanded leading ISPs to throttle your internet experience.

Luckily enough Azureus, one of the leading programs in bypassing this speed cap, has provided a chart for users to identify if their provider has indeed joined the horrible movement of traffic shaping.

http://azureus.aelitis.com/wiki/index.php/Bad_ISPs 

1.321 What does encryption do?

Now before I tell you how, its best for you to know what you’re doing first. Encryption is a method in securing your data so that the ISP is not able to identify it as Bittorrent packets. There are two types of encryption.

Plain Encryption – Removing the header or information of the data.

RC4 Encryption – encrypting the entire header and stream, making it difficult for ISPs to detect the traffic flow to and from your computer.

RC4 is indeed better but uses more CPU Resources

1.32 Improve Speeds

Now that you are aware we can get to business. There are three known clients who support encryption at this very moment and they are Azureus, Bitcomet and Utorrent! Hurrah for the developers!

Step 01 – Go under the Menu: Tools > Options > Connection > Transport Encryption
Step 02 – Check ‘required encrypted transport’ box
Step 03 – Choose RC4 or Plain in the ‘minimum encryption’ dropdown box.
Step 04 – Check ‘Allow non-encrypted incoming connections’.

Step 01 – Go under Options > Preferences > Advanced > Connection
Step 02 – ‘Go to Protocol Encryption’
Step 03 – Select the option ‘Auto Detect’

If your speeds still remain the same change it to ‘Always’

Step 01 – Go under Options > Preferences > Network
Step 02 – Go to ‘Protocol Encrpytion’
Step 03 – Choose ‘Enabled’

If your speeds still remain abysmal change to ‘Forced’

Step 04 – Check ‘Allow legacy incoming connections’

If your speeds still falter uncheck step 4.

Happy BTing!

There will be an upcoming guide on downloading Anime and J-Music, the best places to find the latest and greatest things =)

As this is the first technical writing here at AS, all comments are welcomed =o and although I’m not an expert I’m open to any questions you might have about increasing your speeds because I’ve been through it before *Shakes Fist at ISP*

We do not encourage you to pirate, the information presented is only meant to give you knowledge about bittorent. ^__^

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 29th, 2006 at 10:32 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.