How to Download With uTorrent

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uTorrent is a highly functional BitTorrent client with a very small memory footprint. It can help you download a huge variety of music and movies, and it is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. This article will teach you how to get and use uTorrent.

Edit Steps

Installing and Setting Up the uTorrent Client

1. 1
   Download µTorrent at here. If you are using GNU/linux, Try Transmission or Ktorrent. uTorrent is what's called a BitTorrent client. Your client is a piece of software that communicates with lots of other computers via a server on the internet. In order to download torrent files, you'll need a BitTorrent client.
   
   
   
   • uTorrent is only one of dozens of BitTorrent clients. They can be used in more or less the same way, with subtle differences. Some other popular clients include:
     
     
     
     
   • BitLord
     
     
     
   • Vuze (Azureus)
     
     
     
   • ZipTorrent
     
     
     
   • Tomato Torrent
     
     
     
   • Frostwire
     
     
     
2. 2
   Open your newly-downloaded client and perform a speed test. Go to Options → Speed Guide → Perform Speed Test. Note what your connection speed ends up as.
   
   
   
3. 3
   In the Speed Guide, select the speed that best corresponds to the number you retrieved in your speed test. If your computer is running on a slower connection, such as a 56k dial-up, expect your download speeds to be significantly slower.
   
   
   
4. 4
   Choose a port number somewhere in the acceptable range. The acceptable port range is between 49512 and 65535. Type in an arbitrary number somewhere in between the two and test your port number.
   
   
   
5. 5
   Enable encryption. Encryption is the process by which your client disguises your connection speed in order to keep ISPs from throttling it. If an ISP recognizes a client downloading a bunch of data, it may choose to throttle it in order to keep it from monopolizing the connection. If you want to download files faster, enable encryption by clicking on the appropriate box and then selecting "Use Selected Settings."
   
   
   
6. 6
   Navigate to Preferences and select where you want your downloaded files to end up. Go to Options → Preferences → Downloads and browse the folder location you want completed files to end up in.
   
   
   
7. 7
   Speed up µTorrent by setting up port-forwarding. You can enable uPnP (Universal Plug-n-Play) on uTorrent and your router and that will automatically port-forward the ports for you when you start uTorrent.
   
   
   

Downloading Torrent Files

1. 1
   Go to a torrent search site. There are many torrent sites. (Remember, these are different from the BitTorrent client websites.) The five most popular torrent sites, as of 2013, include:^[1]
   
   
   
   • ISOhunt
     
     
     
   • ThePirateBay
     
     
     
   • Torrentz
     
     
     
   • ExtraTorrent
     
     
     
   • TorrentReactor
     
     
     
2. 2
   Type the name of the files you want to download in the search box.
   
   
   
   • If you press search, another page opens. The first torrent site that opens is mininova. The black bar on top of the page gives you links to other torrent searching engines if you can't find the file you are looking for at mininova.
3. 3
   Take a look at seeders and leechers. On the right of the page you can see the seeders and leechers. Seeders are people who have completely downloaded the file and are sharing it with others. Leechers are people who are currently downloading the file and thus share only a fraction of the file. Always select the torrent with the most Leechers and seeders.
   
   
   
4. 4
   Always check the comments on the torrent. Some torrents may contain viruses or corrupt files. If the file seems to check out, you can go ahead without worrying about viruses or other compromising factors.
   
   
   
5. 5
   Find the download button somewhere on the torrent page. If you click on the torrent you want to download a window like this appears.
   
   
   
6. 6
   Know that µTorrent will now display a box allowing you to choose which files to download. In this box, the files of the torrent you selected are displayed. You can select or deselect the files you wish to download and click OK.
   
   
   
7. 7
   Wait for the file to start downloading.
   
   
   

Edit Video

You can download music, videos, or any number of files you might need on your computer by using uTorrent.

Edit Tips

• This bandwidth intensive activity is frowned upon by some ISPs who will try to throttle BitTorrent traffic. You can enable Traffic Encryption, which may or may not speed up your downloads.
• You'll need Winrar or 7zip to extract any compressed archives you download.
• If you are an advanced user, and you want to speed up µTorrent, you can do this by forwarding your µTorrent port on your router.
• A high speed internet connection will allow you to download faster, but beware of any bandwidth limits (e.g. 90 GB/mth) imposed by your ISP.

Edit Warnings

• Do NOT install uTorrent - instead, create "uTorrent" folder in any drive's "Program Files", and MOVE your freshly downloaded uTorrent executable there, thus preventing uTorrent from inflicting malware. (uTorrent crew found a workaround for this trick, no longer works now)
• Be sure to check comments of the file you are downloading to avoid downloading infected/fake files.
• Downloading pirated software/music/movies will put you at risk of getting caught and having copyright infringement charges pressed on you.