All About Bit Torrent
Welcome we have posted this information, after receiving many requests from our web site FAQ page for more detailed information about Bit Torrent. The following is written in simple easy to follow language and makes no attempt to be technical or scholarly regarding the Bit Torrent protocol. This information is presented for people who may not have ever used Bit Torrent and may not understand completely how and why to use it. Read through the questions and answers and you should be able to set up your computer and be able to use bit torrent files without problems. Also take a look at the resources page there you will find helpful links if you still have questions. Two things to keep in mind: 1.) Bit Torrent is a free speech tool and is legal to use. 2.)Using Bit Torrent to download copyrighted material without permission is illegal under the millennium copyright act and other copyright laws. For more on the legal issues click here. NEW VIDEO TUTORIALS ARE AVAILABLE
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What is Bit Torrent .? How Does Bit Torrent Work?
Is it legal to use Bit Torrent ? Where can I find files to download? Is my IP address visible when I download torrent files? Can the authorities catch me? How do I set up my computer to use Bit Torrent ? Where do I find Torrent search engines ?
Can I download torrent files anonymously? How do I install a bit torrent client software? What are leeches, seeders, a swarm and trackers and why do I need to know what they mean? What are the TOP Bit TORRENT SOFTWARE CLIENTS? How do I unlock rar .bin and .cue files? What media player or players do I need to play bit torrent files? What are Codecs and where can I find the ones I need?
Where can I find a directory of more bit torrent resources?
What is Bit Torrent ... ?
Bit Torrent is an open source protocol that is free for anyone to use. It is designed to allow anyone to publish to or download from the web large files, such as video, music, software and or games without using a great amount of bandwidth, which is costly. Also the speed of the downloads can be faster because the file, that is being downloaded, is in small pieces which many people upload and download simultaneously. Bram Cohen invented this application and he calls it a free speech tool. Because it allows people who would previously not have been able to publish, listen to, read or use certain large files can now do so. It further expands sharing of information with the world. Bit Torrent is also free of spy ware ,ad ware and pop-ups. Bit Torrent also screens out incomplete or damaged files. Other P2P (Peer to Peer) networks are plagued by these two problems. Bit Torrent rewards users who upload as much as they download by giving them faster download speeds. So Bit Torrent is basically a better form of P2P file sharing for large files. It uses a minimum of resources and it rewards others who share rather than those who hoard files and it is free from commercial ads and tracking spy ware.
Bit Torrent unlike ,Kazak , Lime wire, or other P2P networks, needs a piece of special software in order to find and use the Bit Torrent files. In fact bit torrent files have a special extension, it is .torrent, this software is free and is called bit torrent client software. You can get this from Bit Torrent. com, Bram Cohen's site. There are also other versions of Bit Torrent client software. Some of these have added features that make using and working with torrent files easier. For a first time user of torrent files these added features can make the whole experience easier. Some of the most popular bit torrent client software is Azureus, ABC, utorrent, Bit Comment ,Bit Tornado and the original Bit Torrent client Bram Cohen's version. Once you have downloaded and installed the client software you are able to use special search engines, called trackers to find torrent files to download. To see a diagram that illustrates the bit torrent file sharing processclick here
back to topIs it Legal to use Bit Torrent? Yes. Bit torrent is merely an application that allows large files to be transferred over the internet using a minimum of bandwidth.back to top
Back to top Where Can I find Torrent files to download? To find torrent files you need to use special search engines, called trackers. Some of the most popular ones are, Isohunt.com, Piratebay.com, tvtorrent.com, bitoogle.com and legal torrents.com. This last one has a selection of files that are all legal to download.
Back to top Is my IP address visible when I am downloading torrent files? Yes. It is possible for other people to see your IP address.
Back to top Yes you can be caught directly or in directly. Directly because your IP address is not hidden when you are downloading, unless you take measures to hide it. Indirectly you can be caught when your ISP (internet service provider) releases the records of your bandwidth usage. The MPAA (Motion Picture association of America) and RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) are employing various monitoring programs on the internet to catch pirates. Bandwidth usage is a way to single out potential pirates. When they decide your downloading activity is violating copyright law they can get your ISP to release your name and address. If you live somewhere in China they may not choose to track you down. P2P file sharing is legal, with some restrictions in Canada and as of February 2006 also in France.
Back to top Where do I find torrent search engines?
These are available on the Web. Some of the most popular are: Isohunt.com, Piratebay.com, tvtorrent.com,bitoogle.com, bittorrent.com, torrentz.com and legaltorrents. com. The last one has a list of legal files to download there are games, videos, music and movies. Back to the top CAN I download torrent files anonymously? You can try. There are several software products that you can buy or pay a fee for. Steganos is a product that has had good reviews. It is free to try and then costs about $49.95 In the area of free products The EFF (the electronic frontier foundation) ,a non profit group that is dedicated to privacy online has developed a two part application. A software program called Privoy and a network called Tor. Together they work to keep your IP address masked by sending your signal through several different routers. This system is not fool proof. You still can be visible to others when you are downloading, but it makes it difficult to track you. Nothing is totally fool proof so keep that in mind. The EFF.ORG web site is a good place to visit for more details and information. WHAT ARE THE TOP BIT TORRENT SOFTWARE CLIENTS? Azureus
uTorrent ABC Bit Comet BitTorrent You can find downloads for almost all of these clients at Sourceforge.net which is a resource portal for open source developers. Be careful that the download site does not ask for payment all these software clients are free. Download. COM is also a reliable source for downloading or finding a mirror. Back to top
How To Install A bit torrent software client ... ?
To install the Bit Torrent client software decide which version of the software you would like to use. The original Bit Torrent, or one of the popular added features versions of the client software, like the ones we have listed above. Go to the web site of the client software, such as Bit torrent. COM, Azureus.com, ABC.com, or utorrent.com, Find the download or download mirror web site and click on it. Many of the clients will have the download originating from Sourceforge.Net. Sourceforge.net is a collaborative open source software developers site and resource center. By downloading from there you are assured to get a clean download, one that is free of adds and other nasty things. So choose the client you want select your operating system, such as windows, Mac or Linux and start your download. It is best to download and save the software to your desk top so you can easily find it when it is time is install it. Once it is on the desk top, click on the file to start the installation. When the software is installed, you will receive a message, installation complete. Click the ok or finish button and you are all set. Your client software is now ready to handle torrent files. This little software program will wait in your computer until you start searching for torrent files to download and then you will activate it or it will automatically active , depending on which client you are using and it will handle the download process for you.
Back to topWhat are leeches, seeders, a swarm and trackers and why do I need to know what they mean? These are all terms that are used when downloading bit torrent files, you should know what they mean so you can understand the bit torrent P2P process. Leeches are people who download but do not upload or allow sharing of their files. Seeders or seeds are people who are sharing their files as they download news ones. A swarm is a group of people who all have parts of a torrent file or an entire file on their computer and are sharing; using a simultaneous upload download process. A tracker is a server that manages the bit torrent file transfer process.
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Here are the steps: - Install the Bit Torrent client software
- Configure your firewall and if necessary your router to receive torrent files
- Find the files you want to download using special search engines
- Download and open the torrent pointer file (the client software does it for you)
- Bit torrent client software downloads and uploads the parts of file you want
- Client software stays connected to the internet allowing the sharing (seeding) of your torrent files with others
- Add any necessary codecs.
- Open and enjoy your torrent files
In order to download and use bit torrent files you need to do some preparation work. Here are the things you need to do to prepare to download and use Bit Torrent files. Step by step instructions for some of the items are included just click to get to them. 1. You will need to download Bit Torrent client software. This small application handles all the details of the upload/download, P2P process. These are free and available on the web. Take a look at the most popular ones below and the brief notes about each one. Bit Torrent.Com The original client software. Most popular with programmer geeks and Mac users. Azuerus Loaded with extras some of which you may not really need demanding on the CPU. Utorrent Very popular because it uses very few of your computer's resources but has lots of features that make your downloading easier. ABC (another bit torrent client) Includes features like controlling multiple downloads from a single window, automatic seeding and queuing. Bit Comet Is a small and fast client it also uses very few computer resources. For Macs OSX clients are: Tomato Torrent Very customizable, supports Apple script and a user interface for starting a tracker. Bits on Wheels Impressive, and completely written for the Mac. 2. If you are using a software firewall, like Zone Alarm, Panda, Kerio ,AVG etc. and or the windows XP fire wall you will need to configure them to accept bit torrent files. For windows XP the steps are simple.Click here to follow the steps
If you are using a router ,like linksys, belkin, netgear etc., to share your DSL or Cable internet connection with other computers at your location you will need to configure it to accept bit torrent files. This is not hard it just takes a few minutes. click here for step by step instructions
3. Search for Torrent files to download. A good place to start, and to test your system setup and make sure everything is working properly, is Legal Torrents .com. All the torrents on the site are legal down loads. One that we recommend is Blue, a short video but there are lots more to choose from. If you are using Azuerus or most of the other clients you will not even need to start the client. Once you click on the torrent file at Legal Torrents.com your software will start automatically and do all the preliminary work. It will start and open a screen with your download/upload process. If you want to expand your search then use one of the following special torrent search engines listed below. These search engines you will locate a wide range of files. Games, TV shows, animations, videos, music and movies. Isohunt.com PirateBay.com Tvtorrents.com Torrentmatrix.com Torrentspy.com Legal Torrents.com Bit Torrent.com (A tip if you are using Firefox as your browser, Firefox offers a plug-in for the Isohunt.com search engineClick here and also the VLC (videolan client ) a cross platform media playerclick here 4. When you find the files you want you are directed to click on them or select them. 5. Your client software will take over and do all the necessary prep work Getting the pointer file locating a swarm (a group of people who have the pieces of the file you want) and will start the download/ upload or p2p sharing sequence. 6.Your client software will show you on the screen when your file has completely downloaded. You should then leave your client running and it will seed parts of your file back to the P2P swarm. the longer you allow your files to seed the better download speed you will receive in the future. Remember the principle of bit torrent more sharing equals better sharing. 7. Enjoy your torrent files!. Some files may need a special codec (a software that compresses a video or audio file so that it can be transmitted and save bandwidth) for them to play on your windows media player QuickTime or VLP player. A few steps again to find what you need. - First try to play your file in your player of choice. If you are using windows media player it will automatically tell you if it needs a special codec and if you let it it will go to microsoft.com codec page and find the codec it needs and then point you toward the place to get it. Windows may not have it but once you know what you need you can find it by just googling the codec. When you find it be careful to only download what you need. Some sites are stuffed with extra things. All you need is the codec. Still having trouble videoinspector is a program that can help. Also Microsoft has a codec page.
- Next download codec and install it. Then restart your computer, don't forget this step or you will be frustrated.
- Now try to play your file in the your media player of choice. All should work fine.
Next issue to enjoying your files might be properly decompressing the format that they downloaded in. Movies might come in .rar .bin/cue or .dat compression formats. In order to play them you need to decompress them. Read the answer below for help with this. Back to top How do I play or use .bin, .rar and .cue files? In order to play files with the above extensions you need a software program that will decompress the files. The files are compressed in order to make their transfer over the internet faster. Winrar is a program that can compress and decompress large files. In order to play a torrent file you have downloaded that is in .rar format your need to use winrar to decompress it. Winrar is free to try and the it costs $29.00 you can get it here. Another application that is used for compressing and decompressing is Stuffit. It comes standard with Apple computers. Still another alternative to Winrar is 7Zip, it is completely free. You can get it at Sourcefordge.netclick here Next you will need to install a virtual cd/dvd emulator on your computer. This a piece of software that acts as if it is an actual cd/dvd/ dvdrom optical hardware drive to play the files. Daemon tools, is an advanced emulation program which allows you to emulate optical drives and play movies. This is a free application and can be downloaded here. Once you have installed the virtual drive you are ready to proceed. The next step is to find your main .rar. file and decompress it. To do this click on the start menu, then click my computer. Look in your main hard drive for your files. You will find a list of .rar. files and the main file will be recognizable by a stack of three mini books. Right click on that file and a menu will come up select "extract to". It is a good idea to put that folder on your desk top, or somewhere easy to find later. Then click yes and winrar will start extracting. When winrar has done its work you will have a .bin and a .cue file. Now you need to setup your optical cd/dvd drive and mount the file. To do that follow these steps.
1. Right click on Daemon tools in your quick launch tray at the bottom of your screen. The icon will be a lightning bolt. 2. Choose a virtual cd/dvd-rom letter with no device listed. This means it is available to become your new virtual drive. 3. Next select mount image and choose a drive letter. 4.Browse to find your .cue file that you extracted with winrar. 5.After a pause a dialog box will open and ask you what to do with the file. Select open folder to view files. 6.After a short pause another dialog box will open showing folders with ext, meg and vcd. Open the mpeg folder and you should see the movie in avi. ..dat or mpeg format. 7.In this folder look for the main movie file. It will be about 500,000kb or larger and will avi, .dat or .bin after the name. Double click and see if it will open in windows media player. If not try to pen it in the Divx player. 8. If the movie still won't play try the Videolan player, VLC this player reads files avi formatted that are from Europe. What media players do I need to play bit torrent files? The three all purpose players that should handle any files are; Windows media player, VLC player and Divx player. You can download these at the following locations. VLC click here Divx click here Windows Media Playerclick here What are codecs and where can I find the ones I need? Codecs are software used to compress and or decompress large digital media files. You can search on the web for codecs that you might need. If you are using windows media player you can find codec plugins at microsoft's web site. Fourcc.org is a web site where you can search for what you need also. Still having trouble? you can try videoinspector from kcsoftware.com and if you are not sure what codec you need you can go to www.codeccorner.com for help. Where can I find a directory of Bit Torrent Resources? Here are some helpful web sites and resources that should provide everything you need and answer any unanswered questions. A Directory of helpful resources: Brian's FAQ www.btfaq.com Vladd.44 www.vlad44.com Bit Torrent.Com www.bittorrent.com Sourceforge.net www.sourceforge.net eff.org www.eff.org Videoinspector can determine which codec you need and kcsoftware.com is another good source for codec help. Microsoft Windows codec page can be foundhere Free-Codecs.com Hackaday.com Ipchicken.com Filext.com/index.php is helpful if you find something you have never heard of, such as m4a or.daa Testmy.net, is a helpful web site for testing your connection once you have your software client setup.
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