How To Use BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a file-sharing protocol that lets you download content directly from other groups of people. Unlike HTTP, the download speeds vary, because you aren’t receiving data from a dedicated server, instead you’re downloading from other users’ computers.
The next obvious question would be, “how do I connect to other BitTorrent users to download files?”
Here’s a simple 3-step guide:
1. Get a BitTorrent client
First you need a BitTorrent client, a program that will enable you to connect to other users (or peers) and thereby download the files you want to. Our favourites are: Windows – uTorrent, Mac – Azureus, Linux – BitTorrent. Click through one of the links and download and install the client.
2. Find a torrent
Now that you have a BitTorrent client installed, you’ll want to find torrents you like and download them. For that you have to visit a BitTorrent directory or use a BitTorrent search engine like Torrentz.
For example, open www.torrentz.com in your browser and search for anything (linux for example). If you see something you like, click on one of the ‘Download Locations’ and download the .torrent file from the site.
3. Start the download
Once downloaded, double-click the file and it will open and start downloading in your BitTorrent client. Some clients like Azureus will ask you to specify a location to save the file.
That’s all. You’re using BitTorrent! Not too complicated, is it?
Here are a couple of tutorials that may help you further.
