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How BitTorrent Clients Slow Down Windows

In general BitTorrent clients are not the most “resource using” applications. But how do they actually affect, and slow down Windows? Thepcspy compared the three most popular BitTorrent clients. And it seems that uTorrent is indeed entitled to be called “the lightweight client”. The mean boot time of Azureus, Bitcomet and uTorrent were compared on [...]

In general BitTorrent clients are not the most “resource using” applications. But how do they actually affect, and slow down Windows?

Thepcspy compared the three most popular BitTorrent clients. And it seems that uTorrent is indeed entitled to be called “the lightweight client”.

The mean boot time of Azureus, Bitcomet and uTorrent were compared on a Windows XP Pro clean install.

  • Azureus 2.5.0.0 (+ Java Runtime) was slowing windows down the most. The test revealed a delay in the average boot time of 4.44%.
  • Bitcomet came in second with an average delay of 1.67 seconds, that is a slowdown of 2.22%.
  • uTorrent is the winner of these three BitTorrent clients, adding 1.33 seconds to Windows’ average boot time. A 1.78% slowdown, almost three times less than Azureus.

    • However, to put things into perspective, Norton Internet Security 2006 caused a 57.78% slowdown.

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    • Ken

      Wow, not only was utorrent the fastes loading bittorrent client, it was also the fastest loading out of all the programs tested–that’s impressive. For common compression apps 7-zip came out the fastest which makes me even more happy I am using it. Small apps are great when your comp has limited RAM.

    • Al

      true, true. I am a tried and tested open source/freeware user, for obvious reasons. and when they’re fast as well, it’s just an added bonus. For windows users, go to getpaint.net for a fast, open source image editing app that’s really full-featured.

    • http://quantumthinking.wordpress.com Smaran

      It’s the same on the Mac. Azureus is the fattest bugger on the block. Sadly, he’s also the smartest and most talented of them all. Can’t wait till the slim genius, Xtorrent moves in.

    • David Kaspar

      I don’t see how affecting the boot time of 1.78% vs 4.44% is relevant when, just like you say, NIS causes a nearly 60% slow down.

      A BitTorrent client does not have to be started together with Windows while AV has to.

      Wonder how they achieved such a small margin of error that justifies 4 significant digits. I recently tried to benchmark my old amd64 3500 vs a new amd64 x2 4800 and had a hard time achieving 2 significant digits :-)

    • Oli

      The times you see for BT clients DO NOT include their load with windows. These times are purely the effect of their install and 1 run.

      Only messenger and security software were measured based on their startup time with windows because that is deemed as “typical usage”

    • Knight17

      Azureus sucks because it is coded in Java.I hate applications coded in Java.µTorrent Rocks, it is the best torrent client out there.

    • davis

      uTorrent is fast easy to use and uses way less resources than the others I have tried most & on my system its the only one that works well

    • soundguytroy

      I’ve been using utorrent successfully for months but in the last week I have to shut it off in order to get online.
      any help or ideas would be appreciated.
      Thanx

    • DakE_FeatH

      uTorrent is by far my favourite of all the BitTorent clients out there. Small, fast and reliable.

    • hubz

      Am I missing the point here. Who cares about start up time. That is insignificant compared to overall download performance. What are the stats for that?

      These figures are meaningless.

    • Dieter Schmitz

      Nice comparison. I don’t think it makes much sense to compare start-up times of the programs though. Everyones computer will be on most times anyways. More important is how many resources the the torrent client occupies when for example downloading a motorcycle stunts movie. I tried several and the client with the least resource usage was uTorrent and barely has any weight.

    • jacob

      honestly, these stats are meaningless. the author does not address pc running performance while torrent clients are active or even network performance under load. he doesnt address ram usage or cpu utilization either. if this was put together by a 8 year old, then Good Work! if not, this should be unpublished and buried.

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