File Sharing (P2P) For Dummies: Learning & Using Bittorrent In 3 Easy Steps. Then On To Power User.

WARNING: There is almost nothing in the Bittorrent universe that costs money. The currency in the Bittorrent universe is "uploads" or the amount of information you share with other people. So if you find a site that wants to charge you for Bittorrent software, torrents, codecs, or downloads, RUN AWAY! At best, they are scammng you, and at worst, they will attempt to plant viruses and/or spyware into your computer.

The Bittorrent program I use for downloading is called uTorrent. I like it because it's small, fast, relatively easy to understand, and runs great! (And, of course, it's free.)

There are probably 15 or 20 other Bittorrent client programs and some of them have been around for longer than uTorrent. But uTorrent is the program I use and I've been very happy with it, so that's the one we'll cover in this article.

Use your browser to go to www.utorrent.com and download the uTorrent program. At the time I'm writing this article, the first thing you'll see when you go to the uTorrent site is a large green rectangle with "GET UTORRENT" written inside it. Click on the rectangle, download and save the file that the site will send to you, and then double click on the downloaded file. It should then begin installing uTorrent onto your computer.

Follow any prompts on your screen, answer any questions it asks, and you should end up with the uTorrent program installed on your computer. There should also be an icon on your desktop for starting uTorrent.

HINT #1: It would be a good idea to know your maximum internet connection speeds before you start this installation. You'll need to know those speeds for both uploading and downloading because, when I installed uTorrent, the installation routine asked for them.

HINT #2: If the installation routine asks whether or not you want to turn on "DHT", say yes. DHT stands for Distributed Hash Table, a name about as confusing as they could possibly have made it. Think of it as a safety net, though, that will make your downloads run faster and more reliably, and for now, that will be close enough.

HINT #3: If the installation routine asks whether or not you want to turn on encryption, say yes. Some ISP's and other people are hostile to Bittorrent, even if you are using it perfectly legally. By encrypting your data streams, uTorrent helps protect your privacy.

HINT #4 (The Big One): Your uTorrent installation program will also give you the opportunity to test uTorrent's internet connection. Part of the test will involve going to an internet site that will check whether or not your computer has opened the "ports" uTorrent needs to connect properly to the internet. Say a little prayer and ask for your connection to be up and running.

We're going to talk more about ports and connecting uTorrent to the internet further down in this article. For now, though, let's assume your prayer has been answered and uTorrent has found a workable connection to the internet.

If that is not the case, you will have to do a little problem solving to get uTorrent connected. The problem solving will be a lot easier, though, if uTorrent is trying to download something. Why? Because if uTorrent is trying to download something, it is easy to see whether the download is running and how fast it's running.

If the download is running, uTorrent is connected. You can check by looking at the small icon at the bottom center of the uTorrent screen. If it's a small green circle with a check inside, your connection is OK.

If the download is not running, though, uTorrent is probably not connected. You can check by looking at the small icon at the bottom center of your screen. It's probably red, and if you move your cursor over it, it will tell you there is a connection problem and other users cannot find you.

We're going to leave the thorny issue of connections aside for the moment, though, and move on to finding something you want uTorrent to download for you. This is the fun part. There is so much stuff out there it boggles the mind -- my mind, anyhow. Sometimes I'll sit for hours just looking through Bittorrent site indexes.

Here are a few torrents from the opening page (index) of one of the larger Bittorrent sites:

1. Movie: He's Just Not That In To You (DVDRip) Xvid 2009
2. TV: MSQUAD 137 The Woman From Paris (1957) Lee Marvin
3. Comics: Bloom County Newspaper Strips
4. WINRaR 3.80 Full~Cracked!
5. Music: Choke Discography (Punk)
6. Other: magic Brad Burt Card Flourishes Vol 1,2
7. Books: Hover Car Racer - Mathew Riley
8. Comics: X-Factor 044 (SaintsAngels)
9. TV: One Tree Hill S06E09.HDTV.XViD-Y esTV.avi
10. Music: HIlltop Hoods-State of the art
11. Other: Miscellaneous [Magic] Marc Paul - Mind 2 Mind
12. Music: Metal pack 13

Click on any torrent and you'll see another screen with more information about what's in it and how it was made. If you click on #12, for example, you find it contains 13 Metal albums including:

Athena - Twighlight of Days
Attacker - The Second Coming
Griffin - Flight of the Griffin
Guardians Of Time - Machines Of Mental Design
Plus 7 more....

Now this is just one Bittorrent site. It alone contains over 257,000 more items. And there are hundreds, maybe thousands, more Bittorrent sites! Can you start to see how much is out there just waiting for people who know how to use Bittorrent?

I've found all kinds of treasures including: Censored or banned books, records, and videos; all kinds of porn (of course); collectors' editions; out-of-print items; private collections; information on all kinds of obscure topics; bootleg and underground recordings; different cuts and mixes of songs or videos, some of which were never released, or were released only in a few markets; "sensitive" materials; educational materials including courses on everything from history to magic; "how to" manuals on hacking, programming, motorcycle maintenance, drawing, etc -- and lots more.

The variety of what's available to people who know how to use Bittorrent dwarfs the selection even at places like Amazon and Blockbuster, and thousands of new torrents are being added every day.

OK, so there's a lot of great stuff out there. Let's see about getting one of those .torrent files and starting your first download.

(Nag Notice: Remember to only use what you learn here to download stuff it's legal for you to download wherever you live! )

This subject could fill its own article. There is no one central index for all torrents, and they are scattered all over the internet. (Remember, each item that can be downloaded is called a "torrent".)

Most torrents are on public trackers and available to anyone. But many are on private trackers, hard to find, and restricted only to members of the private tracker. So finding torrents turns out to be part art and part science. Still, there are several good websites that index the bulk of the torrents out there, and we're going to start with one of the older and more popular ones. It's called Mininova.

(There's also my favorite indexing site. It's free and the only one I know about where members help each other avoid bad torrents. I'll tell you more about it later, but for now, let's continue with Mininova.)

Point your browser to www.mininova.org, and when you get to the Mininova home page you will see groups of torrents. The day I went to Mininova the groups were: "Featured Torrents", then "Anime", "Books", "Games", "Music", "Movies", etc. Each group should look something like the picture next to this text. The picture might be a little hard to read, but here's what it shows and what you need to look for:

Column 1: Tells you the date and/or time this item was uploaded (made available for download).

Column 2: Tells you the name of the item and also, sometimes, a little more information about it. For this article, we're going to select the torrent containing an album by The Black Eyed Peas called "The End". It appears to have 15 tracks + 2 bonus tracks. At least, that's how it's described in Column 2.

Column 3: Tells you that 19 people have already commented on this "torrent". These comments can be very helpful when you are trying to decide whether or not to download a torrent. Always read the comments before you commit to downloading a torrent. You do that by clicking on the little comment icon or by clicking on the torrent itself and reading the screen that opens up describing it.

Sometimes the comments will tell you:

A torrent is fake, passworded, or will not download properly; or,

There are better or faster torrents; or,

A program or game doesn't work well and suggest better choices with links to them; or.

Just "thanks" or "great upload".

Here's an example of how a comment helped me: I ran into a stone wall trying to clone a hard drive. I spent 3 days trying, then gave up and took it to the computer store. But the tech at the computer store couldn't do it either. So I took it home and started looking through different cloning program torrents. I read the comments, and in one of them I found a reference to an undocumented procedure. I followed up on the procedure and within a day the disk was cloned. That comment was the key.

So read the comments. You'll learn a lot and they'll save you a lot of grief.

Column 4: Is called "Size". In this case it shows you that you will have to download approximately 168 megabytes of material to complete this download. Once you start it running, uTorrent will use this information and the speed at which the torrent is downloading to compute an estimate of how long the download will take to complete. The estimate shows in one of the columns on the main page of uTorrent. You can also use size information to make sure you have enough room on your hard drive for this torrent to be able to complete.

Column 5: Is called "Seeds", and in this case it shows 1429 seeds. Seeds are important, because if you try to download a torrent without enough seeds, you will end up with an incomplete download which will probably not work. What are seeds? They are users who have the complete file (or set of files) you want to download on their computers, and they are making their copies available to you. In this case, 1429 users are showing as seeds, and that's plenty. In my experience, as long as there are at least 3 or 4 seeds, it's usually OK to begin downloading a torrent.

HINT: Keep seeding! After you have completed a download and have become a seed for the torrent you just downloaded, don't stop it and don't remove it from uTorrent. Keep it open and running for a while. That will give other users a chance to complete their downloads, too, and make sure nobody gets stuck at 98% or 99%. You will also be helping yourself, because once you are a seed, you will only be uploading, not downloading. Uploading is good. It helps your ratio and makes sure you will be able to continue downloading other torrents in the future. More on ratios below, but for now trust me and keep seeding.

Column 6: Is called "Leechers", also sometimes more politely called "Peers". Leechers or Peers are users who have IN-complete files (or sets of files) that you want to download on their computers, and they are usually in the process of downloading and sharing them, just as you will be soon if you choose to download this torrent. In this case, there 1293 Leechers. That's also plenty. So, in total, there is a "cloud" of almost 2500 users sharing this album from Black Eyed Peas. And if you decide to download it, you will become one of the Leechers, too.

So, as you start to download, approximately 2500 people will start sending you small pieces of this album. Your computer, in turn, will begin sending whatever pieces it has downloaded to other users in the cloud. A "tracker" site (discussed below) related to each torrent tracks and directs the data flow between and among all of the users' computers in the cloud and makes sure each computer gets and gives what everyone else in the cloud needs.

Everybody helps everybody, and that's how a large file can be downloaded so quickly among so many users using Bittorrent. Many of the Leechers will have almost all of this album already downloaded onto their computers, and they will be sharing their pieces with you, just as the seeds are sharing pieces with you. And as you get more and more of the album downloaded, you will be sharing your pieces with everyone else; and when you have all of the pieces, you will become a seed.

HINT: You can never complete your download with only Leechers. You've got to have at least ONE seed -- one person with a complete file or set of files -- in order for everyone to be able to complete their downloads. That's why it's important to check a torrent and be sure there are enough Seeds and Leechers before you start trying to download it.

I think you're safe starting a download with at least 3 or 4 Seeds and 2 or 3 Leechers. Anything less than that and you're taking a chance that your download will never complete. I've seen cases where 30 or 40 Leechers were all stuck at 98%+. In fact, for one of the torrents I've been trying to download, I've been one of those stranded Leechers for the last 10 days. There are almost 40 of us, we are all waiting for just one seed, and none of us can complete our downloads until he or she returns.

The moral of the story: Check the number of Seeds and Leechers before you start downloading. Then, when your download is complete, check them again. The information is in the columns on your uTorrent main screen. If there are still a lot of Leechers and only a few Seeds when your download finishes, leave your torrent open and running for a while.

As I said above, you will be doing well by doing good. Why?

1) You will be helping the other users (Leechers) complete their downloads; and,

2) By doing that, you will raise your ratio on the tracker site you are all using.

And a high ratio makes sure you will be able to continue using that tracker site for more things you want to download. It also helps you get into some of those private tracker sites, so maintaining a high ratio is important. There are several legitmate ways to do that, but for now, just remember to leave each torrent open for a while after it's complete. More on ratios below.

Let's say you decided to download the album by The Black Eyed Peas.

[Legal Notice: I've picked this album as an example for educational purposes only. Please do not download this album if it would be illegal for you to do so.]

To start the process, you would click on the description of the album in Column 2 on the Mininova page and you would get a screen that looks something like the screenshot (picture) next to this text. Actually, there was a lot more information on that screen than I was able to fit in my picture, including a listing of all the songs included in this torrent. But let's stay on track.

In the picture, notice where it says, "Download This Torrent"? It's in big blue letters on the computer screen, and you can just about see them in the top left corner of my screenshot.

Guess what you do next?

That's right. Click on "Download This Torrent" and then, someplace on your hard drive, save the small .torrent file that will be sent to you. You don't need uTorrent for this download. It's just a regular Windows download.

Hint: It would be a good idea to set aside a directory or subdirectory just for the .torrent files you are going to be downloading as you continue to use Bittorrent. I have also set aside another directory for the large files that I will be downloading with my uTorrent program.

Now start uTorrent by double clicking on uTorrent's desktop icon or by double clicking on the .torrent file you have just downloaded. On my system, double clicking on a .torrent file opens uTorrent automatically and loads the .torrent file into it. uTorrent will usually install itself to do that.

Once uTorrent is open, look at the uTorrent window and you should see the .torrent file you have just downloaded. If it is not there, click/drag it over to uTorrent and it should load. The .torrent file will show as one row on the uTorrent main screen.

Select your torrent for downloading, if necessary, by clicking on it and then press the "Start" icon at the top of the uTorrent window. "Start" is the little green arrow pointing to the right.

That's it! Your first torrent should now be downloading!

Just 3 steps!

And you're already downloading!

Did I keep my word? Were you able to go from "Dummy" to "Download" in 3 easy steps?

Yes? Great!

No? Wait!

What's that you say?

It's not working?

Nothing is downloading?

There's a red icon at the bottom middle of your uTorrent screen and it tells you you uTorrent doesn't have a good connection? And/or that other users can't find you?

Oh no! You have either a firewall problem (not a biggie) or else you have a .............

CONNECTION PROBLEM!

OK, enough drama. Most people do have connection problems when they are first getting started using Bittorrent and most people eventually solve it. I did. It took me almost a week to finally get my connection right. But if you read Part 1A below, I think we can speed things up for you -- maybe to a day or less.

Let's take a look --

(If you don't have a connection problem skip Part 1A, or skim it, and go on to Part 4. If uTorrent isn't downloading for you, though, continue on to Part 1A.)

If you are one of the lucky few, when you installed uTorrent, it found its way to the internet and connected with a clean, fast, stable connection. If so, there's no need for you to read this section. Just skip over it or skim it. That's why I labelled it "1A". If you are not one of the lucky few, though, read on.

Why are Bittorrent connections a problem? Because they are different from the connections most other programs use and not as user friendly. Most other programs connect to only a few outside sites (computers) at a time, and they use ports** that are usually open, or which they open easily. You never see them do it and you don't have to worry about it. They can also find their way through your firewall, or tell you that you need to open your firewall for them. Bittorrent programs, though, have different needs and are not as user friendly.

Bittorrent programs are not very good at finding their way through your firewall and they connect to hundreds of other sites (computers) at the same time. Neither Windows nor your usual internet connection settings were designed to do that. Windows usually can't, for example, keep enough files half open (whatever that means) to let uTorrent run properly.

There's a fix for the "files half open" problem, and it involves using a small utility program to patch a file called TCPIP.SYS -- one of the files that make up your Windows operating system. More on this below.

Bittorrent client programs use different ports to connect to the internet. uTorrent usually uses ports in the 30000 to 65000 range -- ports that are ignored by most other programs. Because of that, these ports are usually kept closed to help protect your computer from hackers. There's a fix for the "ports open" problem, too, but it's a little more involved.

So, to get a fast and stable connection, you are going to have to address three areas: 1) Your firewall; and, 2) Your ports; and, 3) Your Windows TCPIP.SYS file. Let's take them one at a time:

1. YOUR FIREWALL: Before you do anything else, make sure your firewall is not blocking the traffic (data) uTorrent is trying to send and receive. Check your firewall's help screens or documentation and find the way to tell your firewall to leave uTorrent traffic (data) alone.

For a quick test, turn off your firewall completely and see if uTorrent can connect. If it can, great! The problem was your firewall. Then turn your firewall back on again and make sure uTorrent can still connect. If it can you can skip or just skim the rest of this section.

If your firewall is off, though, and if uTorrent still can't connect, then keep reading. You are going to have to open one or more of your computer's ports that uTorrent needs to use. And that's what I'm going to help you do next -- open a port.

2. YOUR PORTS: If you have a relatively new computer, and if you connect to the internet through a relatively new router or modem/router, then UPnP**** (Universal Plug and Play) should be able to open the ports your uTorrent program needs without any help from you. Notice I said "should"?

So why didn't UPnP open those ports? Well, maybe it wasn't turned on. And it has to be turned on in at least 4 places --

First Place: Click on the Options|Preferences|Connection menus in uTorrent. In the small Connection window that should now be on your screen, look for "Enable UPnP Port Mapping" and make sure there is a check in the small box next to it. Then click "apply" and "OK".

Second and Third Places: Go to your Control Panel. Then click on Administrative Services|Services and make sure both the "SSDP Discovery Service" and "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" services are turned on. Then close the Administrative Services window.

Fourth Place: Access your router and make sure its UPnP is turned on. Google the manufacturer for documentation if you need it. Use it to find out how to access your router and how to turn on its UPnP service. Many routers can be accessed through your internet browser by telling it to go to IP address 192.168.1.1. You enter those numbers into your browser in the same place you usually enter the names of web sites you want to visit.

Now, close all of your programs, turn off your computer and router, and do a complete, cold reboot of your whole system. That means "turn everything off and then turn it back on again." When everything is up and running again, open uTorrent and tell it to start downloading that The Black Eyed Peas torrent.

Is it working? Yes? Great!

Not working? No? Read on.

If your firewall is off and your UPnP is turned on everywhere, and if uTorrent still can't connect to the interent, then it's probably a port problem and you are going to have to manually tell your router to open up the port(s) uTorrent is trying to use. I can get you halfway through the port opening process here, and I'll do the best I can to tell you how to get through the other half by yourself.

Let's start by opening uTorrent and telling it to use port 54000 all the time to connect to the internet. Open uTorrent and click on Options|Preferences|Connection". Or click on the yellow gear icon at the top of the screen and then on "Connection".

You will now be looking at the small "Connection" window, and near the top right of that window there is a very small window next to a radio button that says "Random Port". DO NOT PRESS THE RANDOM PORT BUTTON!

DO enter 54000 into the very little window. Then look below the very little window where you just entered 54000 and MAKE SURE THERE IS NO CHECK next to the "Randomize port each start" option. Finally, click "apply" and "OK". The Connection window should close and uTorrent is now set to use port 54000 every time it connects to the internet.

Now you know which port uTorrent is trying to use, so you also know which port you have to tell your router to open. 54000, right? In tech terms, you have to tell your router to "forward" port 54000 or set up a "port forwarding" rule.

If you were using my ZyXEL modem/router, you would access it through your browser by going to IP address 192.168.1.1. Then log into it using your name and password, just like when you log into other websites that use names and passwords. Then use the router's menu and go to Network|NAT|Port Forwarding. Then use the radio button called "Add" and click on it to start making a new port forwarding rule.

Follow the prompts. They will be different for each router, but here are a few hints: You want your rule to apply to "TCP" traffic. Don't worry about "UDP" or other options for now. For most routers you can type 54000 into both the "from" and the "to" spaces. If your router won't let you do that, type 53999 into the "from" blank or space and 54001 into the "to" blank or space. Name the new rule something like "uTorrent" and save it.

Once the rule is saved, study the screen and find a way to enable it, that is, turn it on and tell the router to use it. Then log out of the router. If you can't find a "log out" button or menu item, just close the browser window you have been using for accessing the router.

The process for most other routers will be similar but there are hundreds of different routers. I can't give detailed instructions for all of them here, but there are websites dedicated to giving instructions for most of the routers out there. Here's a link to one of them:

UTORRENT PORT FORWARDING GUIDE.

That link is from the bottom paragraph of the uTorrent Connection Setup Guide web page. Here's the link to that page:

UTORRENT CONNECTION GUIDE.

The uTorrent Connection Guide is a good reference area for connection problems and almost anything else related to uTorrent and Bittorrent. Over the years, the uTorrent people have done a lot of good work to help people and they offer great tutorials, FAQ pages and a forum for uTorrent users. It's worth going to their site and forum and spending some time there. I'm sure you'll learn a lot.

If this article and the uTorrent Connection Guide doesn't help, do a Google search for other articles on your router and port forwarding. Here are a few tutorials that looked good:

BOOTSTRIKE BITTORRENT CONNECTION GUIDE;

INDIA BROADBAND PORT FORWARDING GUIDE;

WHIRLPOOL FORUM GUIDE.

Squidoo also has a short article on port forwarding. Please see below.

But whatever you do, keep at it! If you get stuck, ask the kid who lives down the block for help. Or a computer teacher. Or find a consultant and pay him for an hour of his time. The local computer store is a good place to look. Or maybe Craigslist. It shouldn't take a good consultant more than an hour or so to get you connected.

(Since Squidoo limits the size of each section to 10000 words, I've had to split this section into two pieces. The second half is immediately below, and the footnotes are at the end of that section.)

(This is the second half of the section immediately above -- Part 1A: "Connecting To The Internet". Please keep reading.)

3. MODIFYING YOUR WINDOWS TCPIP.SYS FILE: Remember what we said above about Windows needing more half open files (whatever they are) for uTorrent to run properly? And Windows not having enough of them? OK, this is where you tell Windows to give uTorrent the extra half open files uTorrent needs.

If uTorrent is now connected and your downloads seem to be running quickly and your other programs are also running normally, then you can leave this step for later. But a lot of times when uTorrent starts to download several torrents, the rest of the programs on your computer seem to kind of grind to a halt. I think it has something to do with Windows not being able to maintain enough half open files (whatever they are).

I'm not sure about that, but on my system (which is almost 5 years old), once I patched TCPIP.SYS, uTorrent stopped interfering with the rest of my programs. Now, when uTorrent is running in the background, it can be working on 5 or 10 or even 20 torrents at the same time, and it doesn't seem to make any difference in the speed of my other programs. It affects how fast websites open in my browser, of course, because uTorrent is using most of my bandwidth, but other than that, the rest of my programs don't seem to even know uTorrent is there.

So if the consultant is already there and/or if you're feeling brave, and if you want uTorrent to download as fast as possible and not interfere with your other programs, let's do it!

Use one of the links below to download a utility and use that utility to change the Windows TCPIP.SYS file from 10 (the default maximum number of half open files) to 50. Again, I'm not sure what they are. I just know uTorrent needs around 50 of them, so that's the number I set when I patched my TCPIP.SYS file.

I used the utility program from the first link. I downloaded it and clicked on it to run it. When you do that it opens a DOS window and immediately shows you the maximum number of half open files your Windows installation can currently support. For most first time users, that number is usually 10.

Then the utility prompts you through the process of raising that number to 50. It takes longer to write about it than to do it. Just read the screens, follow the prompts, and say "yes" when it asks you whether you're sure you want to make the change.

HINT: Windows will complain and warn as you are exiting the utility program after making this change. Ignore the warnings.

ANOTHER HINT: Windows can be both stubborn and sneaky. From time to time, and without any warning or notice to you, Windows will un-patch TCPIP.SYS and change the maximum number of half open files back to 10. So from time to time, run that little utility again and check to make sure the maximum number of half open files is still at 50 -- especially if you notice your other programs starting to slow down when uTorrent is running. If Windows has set it back to 10, patch TCPIP.SYS again and set it back to 50.

After you have patched TCPIP.SYS, you need to tell uTorrent what you've done. Open uTorrent and go to Options|Preferences|Advanced. A window will open which is split vertically. In the part on the right, change "net.max_halfopen" to 45. (A little less than what you told TCPIP.SYS.)

Links: The first two are to utility programs you can download and use for modifying TCPIP.SYS. The third link is an article about it.

THE UTILITY I USE;
ANOTHER UTILITY;
AN ARTICLE ON MODIFYING TCPIP.SYS.

Congratulations! You are now connected, right? And the Black Eyed Peas is downloading?
Great! You are now past the most difficult part of using Bittorrent. From here on out it's all a lot easier and a lot more fun.

As I indicated above, there are MILLIONS of things you can download FOR FREE! It's like having a direct line into Blockbuster, Amazon and the Library of Congress only better! But remember, KEEP IT LEGAL!

So where do we go from here? Well, first let's talk a little more about how Bittorrent works and what is actually going on behind the screen when you are using Bittorrent. This litle "tech talk" will help you get the most out of Bittorrent and it will also help you decide whether you want to take a look at Bittorrent's two most popular competitors -- Usenet and eMule. All three file sharing systems have their own strengths and weaknesses, and you need to understand at least a little about how they work to figure out which one(s) you want to use. Maybe you'll want to use all 3 of them. I do.

So let's "raise the hood", take a look underneath, and learn a little more about how Bittorrent works.

-------------------- footnotes -------------------

[** What is a port? Well, think of it like a door. Windows computers have around 65000 of them and each time a Windows computer wants to connect to the internet, it opens a port and connects through it. Most browsing, for example, is done through port 80. Most of these 65000 ports, or doors, are kept closed most of the time. This helps keep out hackers and other unwanted visitors.]

[**** UPnP stands for "Universal Plug and Play". Theoretically UPnP means all of your hardware and software talk with each other and set themselves so that they work together properly, all by themselves. Just plug something in and it sets itself and plays. Great idea, right? Well, sometimes UPnP works and sometimes it doesn't. uTorrent will make the proper UPnP requests to your system and ask it to open the ports uTorrent needs. If they fail to open, though, you will have the "opportunity" to learn more about your computer system and open the ports yourself.

Each time you want to use Bittorrent to download something, you start the process by going to a tracker site and downloading a small file called a torrent file. In this section we'll talk about torrent files and tracker sites and how they work together to help you share and download the files you select. [Note: From now on, I will sometimes us "BT" as an abbreviation for "Bittorrent".]

THE TORRENT FILE: Let's start with the example of The Black Eyed Peas album. If you chose to download it, when you clicked on "Dowload This Torrent" neither the album nor any part of it was sent to you. All you got was a small file (15KB) named:

"Black_Eyed_Peas_-_THE_END_(Retail)_2009_CSM[Mininova].torrent"

And each time you choose something else to download, you'll always start off by downloading a similar "torrent" file. The format for naming these torrent files is: Some kind of name or words describing what you are going to downlaod and then ".torrent" at the end of the file name. That's why it's called a torrent file -- because the file name always ends with ".torrent".

[Legal Note: I'm referring to this material as an example and for educational purposes only. Please do not actually download this album unless it is legal for you to do so.]

INFORMATION IN THE TORRENT FILE NAME: Now take another look at the name of that torrent file. Like many torrent files, there's a lot of information about your download in the name. In this case, the name tells you you're going to download an album called "The End" by the Black Eyed Peas. It also tells you that it's the retail version of the album and apparently it was released in 2009. I'm not sure about "CSM". That might be the initials or ID of the person who made and uploaded the torrent. And "[mininova]" tells you where you found this torrent.

WHAT'S IN A TORRENT FILE? Usually torrent files are small text files that can be read with Notepad or any other text editor, and they contain a system of pointers to tell programs like uTorrent how to find and communicate with other computers that have the files you want to download or share.

TWO STEPS - TORRENT FILES AND TRACKERS: It's a two step process. First you download the small torrent file and save it. (Remember, always save them in the same folder. It will make life a lot easier.) Then you load that torrent file into your uTorrent client program. Your uTorrent client program then goes out onto the internet and finds another computer called a "tracker". Each torrent file points your computer to one or more trackers on the internet.

TRACKERS AND WHAT THEY DO: All trackers do the same job. They list the torrents they have available for download and then, when a user chooses a torrent to download, the tracker site helps your computer find and connect to other users' computers trying to share the same material. In this case the file being shared makes up a Black Eyed Peas album, and the tracker will help everyone find each other and form a "cloud" of computers across which everyone shares the album. That's why it's called "file sharing" or "P2P" technology. ("P2P" means "peer to peer". More on P2P below.)

PUBLIC VS PRIVATE TRACKERS: There are hundreds of trackers on the internet, but two of the more popular trackers are "The Pirate's Bay" and "Demonoid". The Pirate's Bay is a public tracker. That means anyone can use it to help share files. It's one of the largest tracker sites on the internet and it has a very wide selection of material. However, since anyone can use it, downloads might run relatively slowly. You will also find many of the torrents there without seeds. And remember what we said about seeds above? Without seeds you can't complete a download.

Demonoid, on the other hand, is a private tracker -- well, almost private. Sometimes, without warning, you can go to the Demonoid site and see a notice that they are open for new registrations. If you go there and see that notice, drop everything and register immediately! Demonoid is a great site. Right now it's my favorite site, and if you get the chance to join, do it!

Why do I like Demonoid so much? Because it has a huge selection of torrents which tend to download quickly, great comments attached to many of its torrents, very few torrents without seeds, relatively relaxed rules, a great user interface, and it allows users to communicate with each other by sending and receiving private messages. The result is a kind community among the users who help each another answer questions or solve problems. IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) Demonoid is just about the perfect Bittorrent tracker site.

If you've been reading this article closely, you will remember I mentioned a problem I was having trying to clone a hard drive. The drive would clone but then would not boot. I found the answer in one of the comments on the Demonoid site.

OK, so how do you get to join Demonoid? You can use it to a very limited extent even if you are not a member, but to get full privileges, you either have to hit it on a day when they are accepting open registrations or else someone who is already a member has to send you an invitation to join.

FILE SHARING AND P2P. WHAT DO THEY MEAN? File sharing I think is almost self explanatory and should be pretty clear to you by now. When a bunch of computers group together to share files, we call it "file sharing". And "P2P" means pretty much the same thing. P2P stands for "peer to peer" where each computer is called a "peer". So if we have 2500 computers all sharing The Black Eyed Peas album, and if we call each computer a "peer", then "peer to peer" or "P2P" is just another way of saying "file sharing".

SO HOW ARE WE DOING? Although this article has run to around 40,000 words, I've oversimplified to some extent and I've also left a lot of stuff out. But for your first introduction to Bittorrent, I hope it has been helpful. I think it does a pretty good job. I hope you do, too.

OK, great, now, what did I leave out?

How about some of the problems most Bittorrent users eventually face? Yes, there are some problems. No free lunches, right? But there are solutions to most of those problems. As you learn about them, your knowledge, confidence, and enjoyment using your computer are going to grow quickly.

So keep reading. This is where it gets interesting. :)

When it comes to downloading, there is no one perfect system. Each system -- Bittorrent, Usenet, and eMule -- comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. In this section we'll look a little more closely at the strengths and weaknesses of Bittorrent. Then, in the last section, I'll suggest things to do next.

GOOD THINGS ABOUT BITTORRENT:

1. FREE: Searching, downloading and even most programs are free. The currency of Bittorrent is sharing, not money.

2. BIG SELECTION: The selection of material you can download is HUGE and growing every day. If you can't find it using Bittorrent, you probably can't find it anywhere else.

3. TREASURES: You'll find things to download you never would have thought to look for. Browsing is a lot of fun.

4. COMMUNITY AND LEARNING: You'll be joining a community that can help you learn how to get the most from your computer.

PROBLEMS FOR BITTORENT USERS:

A. YOUR RATIO: The amount of information you give (upload) in gigabytes divided by the amount of information you take (download) in gigabytes is expressed as one number. That number is called your RATIO. Most tracker sites keep a running record of your ratio starting from the very first time you download something through them. On most sites, you will see it every time you log on again at the top of the first page you see when you enter the site.

If you upload at least as much as you download, your ratio will be 1.00 or more, and (provided you follow the site's other rules) you will be welcome to continue downloading at that site. Over time, though, if you download more than you upload, you will start getting warnings, and soon the site will ban you.

Example: You've uploaded 2 GB of material and downloaded 1 GB from the same tracker site over time. Your ratio = 2.00. (You've given 2X what you've taken.) But if you've uploaded 10 mb and downloaded 20 MB, your ratio = .50. You've TAKEN 2X what you've given. You'll soon be banned from that tracker. Moral of the story: Keep your ratio above 1.00.

[Solution: 9 ways I keep my ratios at 2.00 or better. My favorite FREE programs and FREE sites for analyzing torrents, "disappearing" copy protection, ripping, burning, and finding new material to share. Let other users screen your torrents and tell you which ones are infected, fake, poor quality, etc. Save time, bandwidth, and wasted downloads. Plus a few other secrets I haven't seen anywhere else. All in Part 6.]

B. FRAGMENTED UNIVERSE: The BT universe is fragmented. There is still no Google for torrents, but I have three work-arounds. With them, I can find almost anything.

[Solution: How to use Google and uTorrrent to search for torrents. PLUS a free website most BT power users know about but keep to themselves. They use it to quietly find and screen torrents for each other. I wouldn't call it SECRET, exactly, but it took me almost 3 years to find this site and now I use it all the time. Want the link? See Part 6.]

C. DOGGY TORRENTS: Some torrents you want to download might only have one or two seeds and no leechers. And those seeds might have slow upload speeds, which means your download is going to run slowly. That makes it important to find the material you want in the smallest possible files. Small files mean faster downloads and less damage to your ratio.

[Solution: 8 ways to make most torrent listings "talk to you". There's a lot there if you know what to look for. And the torrent sites to stay away from, even though they might come up first in your Google searches. See Part 6.]

D. DEAD TORRENTS: Torrents have limited lives. At the start, most torrents will have both seeds and leechers. But once everybody who wants it gets it, the seeds and leechers will move on to other torrents. Then that torrent is "dead" or "unseeded".

[Solution: How to bring a dead torrent back to life. Not many people know this one. It's kind of a secret. See Part 6.]

E. ARCHIVED DOWNLOADS: For reasons best known only to the people who do it, many downloads come in as a number of files ending with ".rar", "uif", "001, 002", etc". And some of these "archived" downloads are locked with passwords.

[Solution: I'll tell you about my favorite FREE un-archving programs. They check and repair your downloads and leave you with a file you can play. There's also one kind of archive you NEVER want to mess with. If you see it, delete it. All in Part 6.]

F. DIFFERENT FILE FORMATS AND "CODEC CUSTODY": (Another biggie.) The files you download using Bittorrent come compressed using many small programs called "codecs". Then they are sometimes compressed again (or "archived") using several other programs.

You've never had to worry about compression or archiving before. That's because you used commercially available material, so Windows Media Player (WMP) and/or your DVD player always played it, right?

But WMP is a weak player, very limited in what it can play. And many DVD players are purposely crippled so they, too, are limited. Both play mostly commercial, copy protected, material. That material is difficult to back up; takes up a lot of disk space; can be locked to one region, nags at you with warnings, advertisements, and trailers, won't let you fast forward past them;and makes you buy lots of CD's and DVD's you don't need.

But once you start using BT, these locks and limits go away or you can make them go away. Songs and movies come in smaller files without region locking, copy protection, or annoying warnings, adverts, and trailers. They play almost as well as the commercial versions -- sometimes better. But not on WMP, and maybe not on your expensive DVD player.

How can this be? What's going on? The answer is one word: "Codecs".

[Solution: These are some of the Big Secrets that Big Entertainment doesn't want you to know. Learn them and you will never have to spend another dime on CD's or DVD's unless you want to. Rip any CD or DVD. Make copy protection disappear. Play any music on any portable player, and any movie on your computer, TV, iPod or PDA.

Make as many backup copies as you'd like of your music and movies. Make all of your songs play at the same volume. Add or delete movie subtitles. Fix movie soundtracks. Muzzle volume blasts and boost the quiet parts. Use a thumb drive to play movies on your Hi-Def TV. Burn 6 or 7 movies onto one DVD-5. My favorite FREE ripping, burning, editing and conversion programs. And lots more you won't find anywhere else. See Part 6.]

G. PRIVATE TRACKER SITES: Some torrents -- or at least the one you sometimes want -- might be available only on a private tracker site and visible only to members of that site.

[Solution: If you want to become a member at private trackers, learn about forums, IRC chatrooms and how to maintain the right kind of user profile. Also a neat little utility program that can be a big help and which most people don't know about. It watches for you and tells you when any particular private site opens for new registrations. More on wangling invitations to private trackers in Part 6.]

H. HOSTILITY FROM BIG ENTERTAINMENT: Many owners of copyrighted material are hostile to Bittorrent, and they blame file sharing for the decline in sales many of them are experiencing. They refuse to consider other causes like the quality of the material they are producing and/or the growing variety of channels and choices available to consumers today. Declaring war on filesharing is easier and avoids more challenging questions. So war it is, and they are attacking in a number of ways:

One favorite is uploading fake torrents that can take a long time to download, put a crimp in your ratio, and leave you with a file containing junk or worse. (Some torrents contain malware. I don't know who puts it there.) Several tracker sites and even a few individual users have been sued, and some ISP's (Internet Service Providers) are being pressured to discourage BT users.

[Solution: My favorite FREE cloaking program and 3 other Golden Rules for protecting yourself and your privacy. See Part 6.]

I. HOSTILE ISP'S: As I said above, many ISP's discourage BT users now in a number of ways:

Some ISP's only advertise download speeds. Then after you sign up you find your upload speed is only 1/10th or 1/20th of your download speed. Why is that a problem? Remember ratios? Over time, you have to upload at least as much as you download, and if your upload speed is only 1/20th of your download speed...... See the problem?

Some ISP's are worse, "sniffing" for Bittorrent users and then restricting their download speeds, capping the amount of data they can download, or even closing their accounts.

[Solution: My favorite way to make sure you're getting the speeds you're paying for. And what to do if you're not. See Part 6.]

J. VIRUSES, ROOTKITS, AND SPYWARE: Let's just call them "malware". After 5 years of using my computer almost every day, I've found a few viruses and spyware programs, but only when I ran full scans. Until then, I didn't know they were there, and none were serious.

Of course I also get about 100 emails a day, lots of attachments, and I surf a lot with a Firefox browser. But I'd guess at least a few times the malware came from file sharing. Five years, hundreds of gigabytes, one or two pieces of malware that I removed easily. Not too bad.

[Solution: A few simple safe computing practices and my favorite FREE firewall, IP blocker, anti-virus, anti-spyware, backup and registry cleaner programs. All in Part 6.]

OK, so there are a few issues, but there are answers, too. Good answers. Millions of people around the world use Bittorrent every day without problems. You can too, if --

1. You're smart about the way you use Bittorrent; and,

2. You get that way as quickly as possible.

I'll tell you how in Part 6.

If you're still reading this, you've come a long way.

You started out knowing nothing about BT. Now you're up, running, connected and downloading. You also know about 10 things that can bite you, you know you need to learn what to do about them, and you know you need to learn it quickly.

What's the best way to do that?

Order my special 30 page report and read it.

It was written by me, and it reads just like the rest of this article. I call it "How To Become A Bittorrent Top Gun Quickly", or just "Top Gun". It covers all the [Solutions] from Part 5, and it will take you step by step the rest of the way through what you still need to learn.

Here's my sales pitch in 4 paragraphs:

--------------------------

1. CLICK HERE, send me $14.95 through Ebay, and I'll I'll send you Top Gun by email along with a link and password to my private website. From there, you will be able to download the 25 programs. I'll also send you, as a bonus, my P2P newsletter.

2. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: I'm offering Top Gun with a 90 day 100% money back guarantee. Read Top Gun. Try out all of the programs. Then, if for any reason or no reason you want a refund, just send me an email and ask for it. I'll return your money immediately.

3. LIMITED TIME OFFER: For reasons while will become clear below, this is probably going to be a limited time offer. Until now, some of the information in this report has never been made public. Only a small group of Power User insiders knew about it. And some of it could be used improperly to break the law. Of course even a kitchen knife can be used improperly to hurt someone. That's why I think it should be OK to offer Top Gun to you - or anyone else who wants it. But other people might not see it that way, so I don't know how long I'm going to be able to extend this offer. All I can say is, "If Top Gun sounds interesting, get it while you still can." If I have to stop selling it, I probably won't be able to give much warning. So please -

4. YOU CAN'T LOSE: I don't want either you or me to be disappointed. And remember, the risk is all mine. If you don't like it, I'll refund your money, and you still get to keep Top Gun plus any programs you've already downloaded. You have nothing to lose except maybe the chance to buy Top Gun.

------------------------

READY TO ORDER NOW? CLICK HERE. This link will take you directly to my Ebay auction area where you can buy Top Gun for $14.95.

If you're not convinced, you might find what comes next interesting.

Why is some of the information in Top Gun so sensitive? Why do I say I might have to stop selling it? Well, here are some of the other names my friends suggested after they read it:

"TOP SECRET: The Insider's Guide To Bittorrent"

"Top Secret: Confessions Of A P2P Power User"

"Bittorrent Secrets"

"The Little Black Book Of Bittorrent"

"The Pirate's Guide To Bittorrent"

"The Underground Guide To Bittorrent"

"P2P Secrets - Everything They Don't Want You To Know About File Sharing"

"Everything They Never Told You -- And Never Will -- About Bittorrent"

"A Power User Tells All About P2P And File Sharing"

"Confessions Of A Bittorrent Junkie"

"The Bittorrent Insider's Manual, Bible, and Reference Guide"

"File Sharing: Everything You Always Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask"

"File Sharing: Everything You Always Wanted To Know But Didn't Know To Ask"

One of my friends was joking around and said it could have been called:

"How Some People Use Bittorrent To Steal Music, Movies, Books, Games, Programs & Almost Everything Else -- And Not Get Caught",

That offended me, and I reminded him that even large entertainment companies were now starting to use BT to legally distribute their products. I also reminded him that I had warnings throughout imploring people to use what they were learning only legally. And I reminded him my offer here included a request from each customer use Top Gun legally.

"OK", he said, "You're right. I'm sorry."

But I think you get the idea. If you live in a country with strict laws, you might not be able to use some of what you learn in Top Gun. In another place, you might be able to use more. All I'm doing is taking some information which insiders have kept to themselves for a long time and finally sharing it with everyone else. I'm leveling the playing field.

Why am I willing to do this?

1. I've never liked "in crowds" and their secrets very much; and.

2. I think gathering a lot of information like this into one place is valuable. That's why reference manuals are valuable, and that's another reason Top Gun is valuable; and

3. You are promising now to use what you learn in Top Gun only in ways which are legal. If you cannot make that committment, please do not order it; and,

4. Your purchase will help me support myself and my family; and

5. I can save you a lot of time and aggravation, teaching you everything you need to learn about BT as quickly as you can read Top Gun. And you can help me by buying Top Gun. You need the information and I need the money. Simple, no?

So are you READY TO ORDER NOW? Great! TO ORDER NOW CLICK HERE. This link will take you directly to my Ebay auction area where you can buy Top Gun for $14.95.

No? OK, give me one last chance to tempt you. Please take a look at the 25 questions in the following section and see if you can answer them.

Remember reading Part 5 above? Were you curious about those [Solutions]? Did you want to know more about them? Well, it's all there in Top Gun. Everything you wanted to know.

And here are 25 questions (below). If you can answer them, you don't need Top Gun. If you can't answer them, you do.

1. What is the SINGLE WORST MISTAKE some new BT users make? Hint: It's easy to avoid and avoiding it can save you time, money, and aggravation. Paragraph HI-2.

2. How do some BT users extend the trial periods of some programs indefinitely? This is illegal. It is included for educational purposes only. Paragraph A-10.

3. What is the FIRST THING to do, ALWAYS, when starting up BT? Paragraph HI-3.

4. Name a small utility program that makes all copy protection disappear on your computer, making it easy to back up your library with almost any copy program. Paragraph A-7.

5. What is the BEST INDEXING SITE for BT users? This site is not widely known. I've never seen it in the lists of indexing sites that circulate from time to time, and it took me 3 years to find it. The members all check out torrents for each other and then tell each other whether each torrent is OK. This is a great site and right now you can still become a member. Paragraph A-4b.

5. How can you back up any copy-protected commercial CD or VCD simply by renaming one file? Paragraph A-9

7. Name the single best program for RECOVERING DATA from a damaged or otherwise UNREADABLE disk. Paragraph E-10.

8. How do some people use BT to find programs that are not available to most other users? The list includes programs that reveal Win-XP's passwords, unlock CMOS passwords, reset windows' product keys, and clone primary hard drives. These programs should only be used legally to recover data in the event of problems with your own computer. They should never be used in ways which might be illegal where you live. Section A.

9. How can you burn 8-10 hours of movies onto a standard 4.7 GB DVD-5 when you are backing up your library? Paragraph F-22.

10. What is the best free program for backing up a DVD-9 to a DVD-5? Paragraphs E-8 and E-9.

11. What is the single easiest way to legally maintain a high BT ratio? You can even do it in your sleep. Give up? Paragraph A-1.

12. What is the best ripping, burning, and converting program? It can copy, clone, merge, split, re-author, and even convert your favorite movies to they will play on your iPod. And no, it's not Nero! Paragraph A-8.

13. List 9 things to look for in a torrent listing when you are deciding whether to download it or not. Section CD.

14. How can you download the same movie six times faster? Paragraph CD-3.

15. Which 3 letters in the name of a torrent mean "stay away" and "don't download this one"? Paragraph CD-6.

16. How can you bring a dead torrent back to life? A torrent that is dead for everyone else can come back to life for you if you know this trick. Paragraph CD-9.

17. What are the two best programs for splitting and joining audio and video files? Paragraph E-12.

18. Why do some AVI files play on your DVD player and some not? How can you fix the ones that won't play? Paragraphs F8 & F9 & F21.

19. What is the biggest single secret that Big Entertainment has been keeping from all of us? Hint: It's been costing you a lot of money for a long time. Paragraph F-11.

20. Which are the two best software players? Hint: They are both free and they both put Windows Media Player to shame. Paragraph F-15.

21. Which is the best hardware DVD player for BT Power Users? This one even "upscales" your files, which means they will look good on your HI-DEF TV if you have one. Paragraph F-16.

22. How can you fix the soundtrack on your favorite movie so you can hear what they're saying and not get blown out of your chair by the loud music and/or special audio effects? Paragraph F-21.

23. How can you burn large clear subtitles into your favorite movie? Or get rid of them if you want to? Paragraphs F26-29.

24. What's the best way and best program to keep nosy snoops out of your computer? Paragraph HI-5.

25. What is the easiest way to make sure your ISP is giving you the upload and download speeds you are paying for? Paragraph HI-6.

--------------------------

Can you start to see? There's still a lot of stuff you need to learn -- things Power Users have known about all along. But BT Power Users are a little like members of a SECRET SOCIETY. They've paid their dues and they usually keep what they know to themselves.

Until now.

Order Top Gun. It will teach you everything you need to know about BT as quickly as you can read it. That's everything about the [Solutions] from Part 5, the answers to all 25 questions, and lots more.

When you finish Top Gun, you'll be a Power User, too. And remember, it comes with a 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. You get to keep everything even if you ask for a refund and get your money back!

My friends told me it was silly to make this kind of offer, but I told them I had faith in Top Gun and faith in my customers. So you've got nothing to lose except maybe this opportunity to buy Top Gun.

READY TO ORDER NOW? If and when I have to stop selling it, it will be gone, and probably without much warning. So please, if Top Gun sounds good, get your order in now while I can still accept it. TO ORDER NOW CLICK HERE. Go to my Ebay auction area and buy it for $14.95.

Thanks, and I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.

Greg711
paradan@gmail.com