Hi Saga,

Bit Torrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, unlike a normal download, Bit-Torrent does not rely on a single source and network, instead it uses simultaneous uploads and downloads from many users. In Bit Torrent a file is divided into a number of pieces. Someone uploads a file which is shared between many users.

If you restrict upload then your download will get affected. Some of the ways to increase download speed is to keep on uploading files.

When you go to a torrent site and download, first a torrent file is downloaded which contains the information of number of pieces, users who have those pieces, and other data, this is called as metadata. Only using these metadata your torrent client is able to download files from various users and allow you to act as a source for other users.

Coming to your question of your privacy, torrent can't even share the folder used to store all your downloads unless these are being "Seeded" in the torrent client.
To check if there are connections open command terminal as an administrator and then type netstat -a -b. Look for the ports that run with the path field having the name of your [torrentclient].exe
That could be used to check if the program is pushing / pulling data.

Here are some of the best torrent clients availabe over Internet which are reliable and fast:

1. µTorrent
µTorrent (or uTorrent) is one of the most popular BitTorrent clients, and has enjoyed broad use partially because it’s fast. . It has all of the features you would expect from a good BitTorrent client, including the ability to resume stopped downloads, download things in sequential order, support for encrypted files, support for remote control via mobile apps, download scheduling, port forwarding, and more.

2. qBittorrent
Built as a free-software, open source alternative and feature equivalent to µTorrent, qBittorrent is cross-platform, lightweight, well polished, and free. qBittorrent can be configured to send email when your downloads are complete, you can search for files (even by category) inside of the app instead of digging around for reliable downloads, supports web-based remote control, port forwarding, IP filtering, and more.

3. Deluge
Deluge is one of the oldest BitTorrent clients available, but also one of the most lightweight. It’s completely free, cross-platform, and supports things like encrypted downloads, private torrents, password protection, bandwidth scheduling and throttling, remote management via a web-based of console-based interface, proxy support, and third-party plugins.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Lokesh

Hi Nilsson,

Torrents are safe, but be careful which ones you use. They won't hurt your computer, but if you have a torrent running, it usually kills your ability to do anything else internet-wise. They are legal, but a lot of torrents download programs and data that is copyrighted.

Peers - The number of people/computers that have completely downloaded the file(s) that you want and are now hosting the data for the rest of the net to get. Try to get torrents with high numbers of peers.

Seeds - The number of computers on that network trying to get the file(s) that the torrent is for. Whatever parts of the data these peers have (and you have), are hosted for the other peers to download. Again, the more the merrier.

I hope this helps. If you have questions, please feel free to ask.

Regards,


Ryan