Speed up Bitcomet and uTorrent

In a previous post we advised to raise the maximum amount of half-open tcp connections to speed up your torrents. On itself this is a great trick, however I recently discovered that 90% off all people use the default settings on their client, and that?s a problem.

Both Bitcomet and uTorrent (and probably other clients) limit half-open tcp connections by default. This means even if you hack the max half-open tcp connections in windows xp, your speed will still be limited. So this is what you need to do:

First of all, read this post that gives you some tips and tricks how to speed up your torrents and test your download and upload speed.

1. Hack the max half-open TCP connections

Update: this tweak is NOT recommended if you use uTorrent >1.7, it may lead to unstable behavior.

If you?re on XP sp2, your TCP connections are limited to a maximum of 10. This seriously hurts your downloading speed because it wont let you connect to a high amount of ip numbers. It is supposed to slow down viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect to a high amount of ip numbers, but it also cripples your torrent downloads.
A nice way to fix this is to download this patch, it allows you to set the maximum allowed connections to any number you want. Any number between 50 and 100 is ok (more is NOT always better).

2. Configure your torrent client to allow 50-100 max half-open TCP connections

uTorrent: Options > Preferences > Advanced options > net.max_halfopen



Bitcomet: Options > Preferences > Connection > max half-open TCP



Now you?re ready to go?

 

A third point of interest is that some ?windows updates? revert your tweaked tcp connections back to 10. So it?s wise to check this every now and then. You can check this by going to (in windows xp) Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > System? Look for event 4226 (sort by event).



If there are a lot of daily occurrences it?s likely that the max amount of half-open tcp connections was set back to 10. Or you?re infected with some nasty spyware?

If you?re done, you might want to try the torrent settings optimizer to check if all setting are correct

How to create a torrent?

Torrents are great, they are the best way to share large files with your friends, or even with people you don?t know at all. But surprisingly enough, not many people create torrents when they need to share something. I have ?a lot of? friends who know how to download torrents, but when they need to send me their latest 200MB vacation picture collection, they ask me to ?get on msn?.

It?s not that I have anything against msn (although the file transfer sucks), but why don?t just use BitTorrent? Especially if you want to send something to more than one person, or if you want to share high quality HDTV files, because then you can share the bandwidth.

So how do you do this? Well it?s very simple. Open your favorite BitTorrent client and do the magic trick:

file > create torrent

That?s all? Well almost. All you need to do now is put in the tracker info and tick some boxes. This can differ somewhat from client to client but it all comes down to the same thing.
uTorrent



1. File > Create new Torrent (or CTRL + N)
2. Select the files and or directories

3. Trackers: This is probably the hard part for most people. But it?s pretty easy, just put in one of the popular public trackers. You can use one or more trackers, but in general one is enough.

Here are some good trackers you can use:

http://open.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce

http://www.torrent-downloads.to:2710/announce

http://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce

udp://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce

http://www.sumotracker.com/announce

Put one of these in the tracker box

4. Do NOT tick the private torrent box (unless you?re using a private tracker)

5. Save the torrent and send it to your friends

Bitcomet



1. File > Create Torrent (or CTRL + M)

2. Select the files and or directories

3. Select ?enable public DHT network? from the dropdown box
This way you can be your own tracker if the public tracker goes down.

4. Tracker server and DHT node list
Again, This is probably the hard part for most people. But it?s pretty easy, just put in one of the popular public trackers. You can use one or more trackers, but in general one is enough.

Here are some of the most popular trackers at the moment:

http://open.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce

http://www.torrent-downloads.to:2710/announce

http://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce

udp://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce

http://www.sumotracker.com/announce

Put one of these in the tracker box

5. Save the torrent and send it to your friends

Azureus



1. File > New Torrent (or CTRL + N)

2. Tick ?use an external tracker?.
And again, This is probably the hard part for most people. But it?s pretty easy, just put in one of the popular public trackers.

Here are some of the most popular trackers at the moment:

http://tracker.prq.to/announce

http://inferno.demonoid.com:3389/announce

http://tracker.bt-chat.com/announce

http://tracker.zerotracker.com:2710/announce

Put one of these in the tracker box

3. Select single file or dicectory, click NEXT and point to the file or directory you want to share, and click NEXT

4. Do NOT tick ?private torrent?

5. Do tick ?allow decentralized tracking?

6. Save the torrent and send it to your friends

Happy sharing. Note that you don?t need to upload the torrent to a website or a tracker. This means you control who gets the file and who doesn?t, and it won?t be visible to others!.

Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed

BitTorrent can be fun, as long as you get decent speeds. Not satisfied with your current speeds? These suggestions might help to optimize your download pleasure

Tip: Want to download Torrents anonymously? Try BTguard, a great way to download torrents securely.

1. Hack the max half-open TCP connections

If you?re on XP sp2, your TCP connections are limited to a maximum of 10. This might hurt your downloading speed because it wont let you connect to as much peers as you want. It is supposed to slow down viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect to a high amount of ip numbers, but it could cripple your torrent downloads.

A nice way to fix this is to download this patch.

Note: Some people report that their antivir reports the patch to be a Virus, This is not the case. Check out http://www.lvllord.de/ for more details on this

The patch allows you to set the maximum allowed connections to any number you want. Any number between 50 and 100 is ok (more is NOT always better).

Next you need to configure your torrent client to allow 50-100 max half-open TCP connections

uTorrent: Options > Preferences > Advanced options > net.max_halfopen



Bitcomet: Options > Preferences > Connection > max half-open TCP



Now you?re ready to go?

A third point of interest is that some ?windows updates? revert your tweaked tcp connections back to 10. So it?s wise to check this every now and then. You can check this by going to (in windows xp) Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > System? Look for event 4226 (sort by event).



For more details about Windows XP SP2 and Event ID 4226 read David Kaspar?s excellent post

If there are a lot of daily occurences it?s likely that the max amount of half-open tcp connections was set back to 10. Or you?re infected with some nasty spyware?

2. Torrent Client Configuration

In order to apply these tips you need to know your maximum up- and download speed. You can test your bandwidth over here (stop all download activity while testing). Also make sure that you applied the tips provided in our previous posts.

Note that there?s a difference between kb/s (kilobits/second) and kB/s (kilobytes/second). To be precise, kB/s = kb/s divided by 8. In this tutorial we use kB/s (like most torrent clients do). This means that you might need to calculate your max speed in kB/s yourself if the speedtest only gives you the results in kb\s (so divide by 8 then).

Settings 1-4 can be found in the options, settings or preference tab of most torrent clients.

1. Maximum upload speed

Probably the most important setting there is. Your connection is (sort of) like a pipeline, if you use you maximum upload speed there?s not enough space left for the files you are downloading. So you have to cap your upload speed.

Use the following formula to determine your optimal upload speed?

80% of your maximum upload speed

so if your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the optimal upload rate is 32kB/s

But keep seeding!

2. Maximum download speed

Although setting your maximum download speed to unlimited may sound interesting, in reality it will only hurt your connection. If you still want to be able to browse properly, set your maximum download speed to:

95% of your maximum download speed

so if your maximum download speed is 400 kB/s, the optimal download speed is 380kB/s

3. Maximum connected peers per torrent

Yet another setting that you don?t want to max out. I experimented quite a lot with the max connected peers settings and came to the conclusion that both high and low number hurt the download speed of a torrent. The following setting worked best for me.

upload speed * 1.3

so if your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the optimal amount of connected peers per torrent is

40 * 1.3 = 52

I didn?t noticed a difference for fast or slow connections here.

4. Maximum upload slots

1 + (upload speed / 6)

so if your maximum upload speed is 30 kB/s, the optimal number of upload slots is

1 + (30 / 6) = 6

 

3. More Tips

Check seeds and peers
A simple tip, but very important. Always look for torrents with the best seed/peer ratio. The more seeds (compared to peers) the better (in general). So 50 seeds and 50 peers is better than 500 seeds and 1000 peers. So, be selective.

Change the default port.
By default, BitTorrent uses a port 6881-6999. BitTorrent generates a lot traffic (1/3), so isp?s like to limit the connection offered on the these ports. So, you should change these to another range. Good clients allow you to do this, just choose anything you like. If you?re behind a router, make sure you have your ports forwarded (portforward.com) or UPnP enabled.

Disable Windows Firewall
It sucks. Windows Firewall hates P2P and often leads a life of it?s own. So disable it and get yourself a decent (free) firewall, Kerio or Zone Alarm for example.

Turn on Encryption
Encrypting your torrents will prevent throttling ISP?s from limiting your BitTorrent traffic. Check out how to enable encryption in Azureus, uTorrent, and Bitcomet, the three most popular torrent clients.

Optimize your internet connection
The TCP optimizer is a freeware utility that optimizes your internet connection. I found it very useful and it helped speeding up my connection for regular internet activity and for downloading torrents. Just download it, and move the slidebar to your maximum download rate (note that it?s in kb/s). Don?t try to set it higher because that will hurt your download speeds!

Last but not least

how to use bitorrent

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.

Tip: Want to download Torrents anonymously? Try BTguard, a great way to download torrents securely.

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.

• How to create a torrent


• How to optimize your BitTorrent Client settings


• How to improve your BitTorrent download speed

10 Tips to make your Laptop Battery last longer

Computer Laptop Battery Care and Usage Tips for getting more from a notebook battery.

1. Turn off Wi-Fi and BlueTooth - Most laptops have shortcut keys to instantly disable wireless networking.

2. Don't play computer games, music or DVD movies - Multimedia activities drain laptop batteries.

3. Disconnect all external device like PC Card modems, Firewire, USB devices and optical drives. Use the notebook touchpad instead of an external mouse.

4. Adjust your screen brightness - Dimming your display saves battery power.

5. Tweak Windows Power Options - Choose a Laptop power scheme that turns off the notebook monitor and hard disk after 10 minutes of inactivity.

6. Decrease or mute the Laptop Speaker Volume.

7. Turn off all scheduled tasks.

8. Turn off Auto-save features in Microsoft Office and other applications.

9. If your PC has a built-in wireless card, turn it off or disable it when not in use.

10. Programs that are run from a CD or DVD can be copied to and run from the hard drive, which typically consumes less power than an optical drive.

Looking for the longest battery life laptop ? Actually, many factors affect the amount of time that a laptop battery can deliver power before it must be recharged.

How to extend laptop battery life? Here are some more tips to improve your notebook's battery life:

1. If you do not use your laptop for extended periods of time (a week or more), remove the battery pack from the laptop.

2. Do not expose the battery to high heat or freezing temperatures. Do not leave your battery in your car in the summer. Hot batteries discharge very quickly, and cold ones can't create as much power.

3. Make sure to plug your laptop charger adapter into a UPS and not directly into a power outlet or surge protector.

4. If you have a nickel-metal hydride battery, completely drain and recharge the battery once a month to maximize its capacity to hold a charge.

5. Fully charge new battery packs before use. New pack needs to be fully charged and discharged (cycled) a few times before it can condition to full capacity.

6. For laptops that work as Desktop Replacement, the battery should be re-installed every 3-4 weeks and allowed to fully discharge.

7. Leaving a battery in a laptop while using an electrical outlet for long periods of time will keep the battery in a constant state of charging up and that will reduce the life cycle of the battery.

Battery-saving sleep modes: Should I use Stand By or Hibernate

Standby mode
Use standby to save power when you will be away from the computer for a short time while working - your monitor and hard disks turn off, all applications and open files are stored in RAM. When you want to use the computer again, it comes out of standby quickly, and your desktop is restored exactly as you left it.

Hibernation Mode
Use hibernation to save power when you will be away from the computer for an extended time while working - your computer shuts down to save power but first saves everything in memory on your hard disk. When you restart the computer, your desktop is restored exactly as you left it.

When you choose Start, Turn Off Computer in Windows XP, your options are Stand By, Turn Off, and Restart. To Hibernate, place the cursor over Stand By, then hold down Shift and click.

Improve Battery Life of Your Tablet or Laptop Computer

You may have a very high-end laptop with lots of RAM, latest processor chip and an extremely powerful graphics card but still the battery inside your laptop computer or Tablet PC remains the weakest link – the average battery life is anywhere between three and four hours for most notebook models.
Whether we are traveling on the road or waiting in the airport lounge or taking a long flight (where there are no power plugs to recharge the battery), our most common wish is that the laptop battery should last as long as possible so that we remain connected, informed and productive.
Here are some simple yet effective tips that will help you extract the maximum juice out of your laptop batter per charge (though nothing substitutes carrying a spare full-charged battery):
Dim the Bright LCD Screen – Turn down the brightness level of your laptop screen to the lowest value possible. Similarly, lower the screen resolution and color depth as they again put stress on the display card and therefore consume additional power of your battery.
Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Scanning - If you are using the laptop for offline work, like composing emails or giving final touches to that PowerPoint presentation, there’s no point checking for Wi-Fi network in your area when you are not going to use it anyway. Most laptops have shortcut keys to instantly disable wireless networking.
Disable Background Processes – You could have several maintenance related processes running on your hard-drive which can be turned off temporarily. Examples include the desktop search software that’s configured to index new files on the fly or any IM clients sitting in the system tray or any scheduled tasks that auto-run at pre-defined intervals.
Defragment the Hard Disk – Defragmenting will try to put all the piece of a file in a sequence so it will take less effort to see a file. You may notice a marginal jump in computing speed after defragmentation plus it also helps in extending the very precious life of your battery.
Turn off the Auto-save document feature of Microsoft Office and other applications. Programs that are run from a CD or DVD can be copied to and run from the hard drive, which typically consumes less power than an optical drive.
Also remember to fully charge a new battery pack before carrying it with you on an important business trip. New batteries should be fully charged and discharged a few times before they work to their maximum capacity.

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