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Compact BitTorrent free client with expansive capabilities
uTorrent is one of the most popular free BitTorrent clients out there for several reasons: it's fast, lightweight, easy to use and very efficient. It's also available for Android, Mac and it has a portable version.
A Deeper Dive
Want to know more about uTorrent before downloading? Read on for our deeper dive into the product.
Features of uTorrent
uTorrent includes everything you would expect from a complete, reliable torrent downloader: highly detailed stats, support for RSS feeds, automatic shutdown, download scheduler and more. There are a couple things that uTorrent is missing though: a full torrent search tool and a built-in player to preview your downloads.
uTorrent 3 lets you play media in streaming as you download, rate and comment torrent files, drag and drop files to share them, and disable the UDP tracker.
Ideal for all user levels
Since version 3 uTorrent has sported a totally redesigned interface: more usable, easier to use and a perfect match for uTorrent’s web interface.
Just like previous versions, uTorrent 3 is easy enough to use for everyone no matter what their level of computer expertise is, but it also includes dozens of configuration settings that will please the most tech-savvy users. Also, this new version includes several beginner-oriented guides to make sure everybody can make the most of it.
After a quick installation process (although there are quite a few prompts to install browser add-ons etc) and a handy built-in speed test to make the initial setting much easier, uTorrent is ready. The program takes up minimal hard drive and PC resources, which enables you to have a good amount of torrents downloading and still be able to use your computer without any lag.
How to use uTorrent
uTorrent is a software client that allows you to send and receive files using the BitTorrent protocol, a technology developed specifically for sharing files on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis. Once you install uTorrent on your computer with the default settings, it will automatically launch whenever you access a torrent file on the Internet. For basic usage, you don’t need to do anything else!
How to download using uTorrent
Locate a torrent file on the Web, and click on it to download the .torrent file, which is essentially a set of instructions for uTorrent to begin locating and downloading the content from a wide range of peer sources around the Internet. Note: you should only download content that is legally available to you. Fossbytes maintains a list of legally available torrents.
How to uninstall uTorrent
uTorrent is a fast, easy to use, feature-rich BitTorrent client, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. There are many alternatives to uTorrent available. At some point, you may decide that you no longer want uTorrent installed on your computer. If so, rest assured that it is easy to uninstall uTorrent. For Windows users, simply …
Why is uTorrent so slow?
Sometimes, uTorrent downloads very slowly, and that can be frustrating. This is usually due to slow network connections or congestion. Some public WiFi providers block or rate-limit torrent access, which can contribute to the problem. Also, uTorrent sometimes requires a lot of CPU power and bandwidth, and if you have a lot of other applications running and competing for bandwidth, things can really slow down.
How to speed up uTorrent
Fortunately, there are several options to speed up uTorrent. Here’s how to make uTorrent download faster in most cases. For more in-depth instructions, take a look at our full guide on how to speed up uTorrent downloads.
• Allot more bandwidth to the torrent. Simply right-click on the file you want to prioritize and adjust the bandwidth allocation to “high.”
• Add new trackers. This adds both new seeds and new peers to your torrent download, and will increase uTorrent download speed in most cases.
• Connect directly to seeds with UPnP - choose “Enable UPnP Port Mapping” from the connections section of the preferences menu to allow direct connections to “seeders.”
How to turn off seeding in uTorrent
Bittorrent clients rely on peer-to-peer sharing, so finding an option to prevent sharing can be difficult. If you want to prevent uploading (or “seeding”) from your system with uTorrent, change the number of upload slots per torrent to zero in the Bandwidth settings.
What is Mainline DHT?
Mainline DHT (short for distributed hash table) is an alternative mechanism to trackers that some Bittorrent clients use to find peers for file sharing. The Mainline DHT system was introduced by BitTorrent and is now in use with several popular torrent clients, including uTorrent.
How to stop uTorrent from opening on startup in Windows 10?
uTorrent sets itself up by default to start whenever Windows starts, but sometimes this is unwanted. To turn this off, go to the General section of the Preferences window under the options Menu. Then uncheck the option for “Start uTorrent when Windows Starts” in the Windows Integration section.
Conclusion
If you're searching for a reliable, fast and lightweight torrent client, look no further: uTorrent is what you need. If you are looking for other free alternatives, we recommend you to download BitTorrent or Vuze.
PROS
- Simple, easy to use interface
- Handy connection test for faster set-up
- Extensive torrent download information
- Small footprint on drive space and system resources
- Free
CONS
- No built-in player
- Limited search options
