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Helpful Hints to Improve Download Speeds

Although this guide applies to all bit torrent clients, the examples are for Azureus only. If you're not using μTorrent or Azureus, and you're a beginner, or even and intermediate user and want to utilize this guide, please switch to Azureus or μTorrent.

  1. Make Sure You're Running the Latest and Greatest

    Go into Help, and then About, and find out what version you're currently running, then go to your clients website and find out their latest – stable! – version is, and if it's newer, upgrade and reboot.

  2. Port Change, Port Change!

    Some ISPs limit download speeds controlled by the default torrent ports, which are 6881-6999. To change this, simply pick a numbers at random from 50,000 to 60,000 and use those as your ports! All torrent users should stop using default ports, because you're probably not getting all you could out of your computer. Make sure you update it everywhere, though, or things could get thrown way out of whack.

  3. Configure It, Baby

    If you're using a router, hardware firewall, or software firewall, you have to configure it to forward the torrent connections to ports specific to your computer, or else things will really slow down.

  4. Fix Your Speed

    If you have dialup, or DSL, try limiting your upload speed when downloading. If a torrent is uploading too much at one time, your download speed will be hampered.

    Slyck.com explains:

    "It might seem strange to hear that your upload speed can directly affect your download speed, but it can, and quite dramatically. The reason behind it is based on the way the Internet works. When you download a file (or in this case, chunks of a file), your computer sends a tiny message back to the source computer, called an ACKnowledgement packet. These ACK packets tell the source computer that chunk #1 has arrived OK, please send #2. When #2 is down, it sends another, and so on. The source computer will not send #3 until it gets the ACK from #2. It uses a small amount of your upload bandwidth to do this. This works fine when downloading files off the Internet, but with P2P, you tend to upload as well"

    This is truer with torrents then anything else, because you upload while you're downloading.

    The best way to solve problems with upload/downloading is to limit your uploading bandwidth – about 80% is usually recommended.

    1. Determine your true maximum upload speed by conducting an upload test (Many websites have these), but make sure not to taint the results by downloading or uploading something else at the same time.
    2. Change the upload speed setting for your client to 80% of the test results – see www.axureus.aelitis.com/wiki/index.php/good_settings, as it's a great example. This is written for Azureus, but the calculations are the same for any client..

    You should also limit your download speed to 80%, so you need that extra 20 to send requests, and for your client itself.

    Also, pay close attention to speeds – the difference between Mbps and MBps is huge.

    2 Mbps (Mega bits per second) = 0.25 MBps (Mega bytes per second) = 256 KBps (Kilo bytes per second = 2048 Kbps (Kilo bytes per second).

  5. How to Remove the Limit of TCP Connections in Your Version of Windows XP SP2

    Microsoft introduced a limitation to the number of TCP/IP connections per second that can be established by your client, or anything else. This can seriously restrict your download since you need a bunch of seeds to have a great, fast download.

    But never fear! There is hope, a way to combat the evils of Microsoft.

    Simply download, extract, and run this patch, and the limits will be gone! The patch doesn't do any harm to your computer, but you're downloading it at your own risk.

    Also, if you had downloaded the patch more then a month or two ago, you need to re-apply it as Windows Update now "fixes" this "problem".

    A NAT Error

    Some people jump to conclusions – that they have a NAT error when something else is causing their problems.

    To figure it out, run a simple test.

    Note: This example is for Azureus

    Start a healthy torrent, and leave it running for at least twenty minutes. This needs to be the only thing you're downloading/uploading. Check the health column to see what color is showing.

    Green means that the NAT us just fine, and your download problems lie elsewhere.

    If it is yellow or red, stop the torrent and re-start it, and wait another twenty minutes. If it still isn't green, run this test:

    Remember that Azureus can provide a false NAT error if you're running something like PeerGuardian or Protowall, so disable anything like that before continuing.

    In your client, select 'Tools', 'NAT/Firewall Test', and make sure you have the correct port listed before pressing 'test'. If the results come back normal, then it's something else. However, you have a NAT Error, please continue!

    Torrents sort of... work on a credit system. You upload parts of a file for someone, you can download someone else's bit. However, if you have a NAT error (Network Address Translation), you won't get your due credit for anything you upload!

    You need to configure, or re configure, your computer and network to accept incoming Torrent port connections, which is quite simple really – the tracker port is 6969, and if it isn't correctly figured, then your torrent won't even open.

    In Azureus, take off UPnP. Universal Play and Play is a feature that Azureus has, and it works with the compatible routers to open the ports needed – however, some routers have a problem with this, so you need to shut it down if you're experiencing NAT errors.

    Go to 'Tools', 'Options', expand 'Plugins', which is found on the left hand tree, click on 'UPnP', and deselect Enable. Simple!

    Configure That Nasty CP Firewall of Yours

    Step-by-step guide to configure in SP1:

    1. Open Network Connections, right click your Internet Connection or LAN, and select Properties from the bottom.
    2. Select the Advanced tag (Don't be afraid, I'm here, you can handle the advanced tab).
    3. If the "Internet Connection Firewall" isn't marked, this isn't your problem – if it is, read on.
    4. Click Settings, the Services tab, press Add. In the description of service, write Torrent, and in the Name or IP address of the computer hosting this service on your network, put 127.0.0.1 (This means the local machine).
    5. Put external and internal port numbers, select TCP, and press okay.

    Then, you simply go into Azureus and make sure that under Tools, Options, Connection, Incoming TCP listen Port, it's the right port that you put in your firewall.

    Configure It In SP2

    Open your Windows Control Panel, and select the Security Center.

    Scroll to the Manage Security Settings For, and select Firewall. Choose if you want to keep the firewall on or off, and base it on more then just good marketing from Microsoft.

    If you choose to turn it off, do so and continue with the next section. If not, read on.

    Select the Exceptions tab, then Add Port, and for the name put Torrent (Or client. Or Bananna. Whatever), and put the port number of your choice. Make sure it's TCP, and hit OK. Ensure that under Tools, Options, Connection, Incoming TCP Listen Port is what you put in your firewall.

  6. More Then One Torrent User on a Network?

    Sometimes, on the same network, more then one person will be using it, and the same port can't be forwarded to different computers. Decide what ports = what computer, and set up your router to forward the ports to the chosen computer.

    Then, set up your client. Go to Tools, Options, Connections, Incoming TCP Listening Port, and enter the specific port number that's being transferred to that computer. Do this for all the users on the network.

  7. Torrent Freezing...

    The symptoms of torrent freezing are:
    The torrent starts out well, happy, healthy, and it's hitting great speeds. But the speeds drop down to zero, and your client, or your computer, freezes, or you lose your internet!

    The Doctor Says:

    This happens a lot with ZoneAlarm 5, and just turning it off usually doesn't help. Try switching to version 6.

    Norton Anti Virus likes to scan the chunks that make up the files you're downloading sometimes, screwing everything up. Dump that crap program, and get something good like AVG, which is free.

    You may need to limit the number of peer connections, something along the lines of sixty. Go into Tools, Configurations, Connection, and Set The Maximum Number of Connections per Torrent to 60.