Bittorrents
What is a bittorrent?
A bittorrent is a small file that contains information about the data that you want to extract, not the data itself.
How do they work?
Bittorrents require a few things to work properly. You need a client, seeders, a tracker, and of course, the bittorrent file itself. (See below for definitions)
Basic Definitions:
Client- A program used to extract bittorrents. There are many popular clients such as Azureus and BitTornado.
Seeder- Someone who has any completed file, and stays connected to the server to allow others to complete their downloads from the seeder's file.
Peer- Someone who is trying to obtain the completed file through a seeder. Peers are also called "Leechers", but that is just more terminology for you to remember!
Tracker- Center server where seeders and peers connect.
Swarm- The group of users that are connected for a certain file. (Ex: Lets say that you have Azureus, and you connect to a tracker for an episode of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. It tells you that you are connected to a tracker with 2 peers and 6 seeds, then the swarm consists of 8 people.)
How to get a completed file from bittorrent.
1. Find the bittorrent file(s) you want to download.
2. Install a client! (I personally recommend Azureus, as it seems the most "user-friendly", but thats really up to you!)
3. Open your bittorrent with the client you have installed. Based on the information inside of the torrent, your client will automatically connect with the tracker and find seeders. (If there are no seeders, you may have to wait a while.)
4. If you have seeders, then you're in luck! (most trackers have at least one seeder though...lol) Now, wait for the download to finish... In the meantime, you can watch tv or something XD
Note: Once you've gotten a completed file, be nice and leave your client open for a bit (Be a seeder). After all, think of the seeders that helped you complete your download!
Safety Precautions:
We all know that the web can be a nasty place (getting viruses, etc), so i've typed up some precautions for you to take when downloading bittorrents.
1. Have firewall. In most cases, you wont get any spyware or nasty viruses when you connect to a tracker, and normally people can't access your computer from a tracker, but there are sneaky people out there, so it's a good idea to have firewall turned on.
2. Have some kind of Virus scanner. Typically, .torrents will not contain viruses, but as another precaution, scan your .torrents for spyware and/or viruses.
