What is Bittorrent?
Bittorrent is a decentralized peer to peer (P2P) distribution of content which uses the upload bandwidth of each individual who is downloading the content, and those who have downloaded, to transfer the content. Click on the header above for more information.- No central server
- Content is distributed by active users
- Transferred content is an exact copy of the original
- Content associated with a torrent can not be altered
- Downloads may be stopped and re-started
Best Free Bittorrent Client
To get started in torrents, you first need to have a bittorrent client. Click on the header above for a selection of the best free bittorrent clients.Optimizing Bittorrent Clients for Speed
After you have chosen a bittorrent client, there are a few steps to set it up properly to be able to communicate to the other active users and to get the best speeds. Click on the header above for guides for all the bittorrent clients that are (and have been) suggested here at Gizmo's Freeware.Finding Content
There is over 20 million torrents and over 25 PetaBytes of content available through those torrents. Torrent search sites offer the best way to filter results to find the clean and real content that you want. Since the content associated with a torrent can not be altered, comments and ratings may be used to make sure that what you are getting is the quality you want.Bittorrent is a decentralized protocol, so the content offered is not from the bittorrent clients, but from independent torrent search sites on the web. There are two pages here at Gizmo's Freeware with information on where to find the free content you are looking for.
Searching for Torrents (Best Free Torrent Search Sites)
- over 20 million torrents in their listings
- over 25 PetaBytes of content
- although there is a great deal of legal content at these sites, there is also content at these sites that is copyrighted and not legal to distribute.
- over 3 million torrents in their listings
- all the content offered at these sites is legal to distribute
Additional Help
In addition to the setup guides, above, there are other pages here at Gizmo's Freeware to help with additional features of the bittorrent clients. If there is a feature that you would like help with on a particular client, you may post here or on the help page for that client and I will try to put a guide togetherµTorrent & BitTorrent Help - Contains the help articles below and support links
These two clients are identical, so the help pages will work for either.- Installing µTorrent (or BitTorrent) Without Toolbar and Ads
- Optimizing µTorrent (or BitTorrent) For Speed
- µTorrent Help: Using µTorrent's Torrent Search
- µTorrent Help: Selecting Files To Download
- µTorrent Help: How To Hide & Lock µTorrent
- µTorrent Help: Dealing With ISP Interference
- µTorrent Help: Moving Downloads Into Category Folders
- µTorrent Help: Additional µTorrent Settings
Vuze Help - Contains the help articles below and support links
- Installing Vuze Without Toolbar
- Optimizing Vuze (formerly Azureus) for Speed
- Vuze Help: Installing The Mainline DHT Plugin
- Vuze Help: Adding Search Sites To Vuze Meta Search
- Vuze Help: Dealing with ISP Interference
- Vuze Help: Additional Vuze Settings
qBittorrent Help - Contains the help articles below and support links
- Optimizing qBittorrent For Speed
- qBittorrent Help: The Main Window
- qBittorrent Help: Using the qBittorrent Torrent Search Engine
- qBittorrent Additional Help and Information
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide has helped in getting you started in bittorrent.If you have questions or corrections on any of the features listed here, please post in the comments below or at the Internet, Webware & Networking section of Gizmo's Freeware Forums.