# Recommend to me a BitTorrent client **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183 "2008-11-24T02:43:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/41 "2008-11-25T00:05:55Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I have my upload rate capped at 20kbs I have an 8meg line but I think the upload max is 256k, which translates to 32kbs. I guess I could lower it. I would just need to seed for longer. Or I could put it back up to unlimited when not downloading. I would lower it at least once just to see if that’s the problem. I had mine set to 9kbs in order for the internet to run well. Strangely enough the problem went away after I switched from a wireless B router to a wireless G. ---
**Author:** ![Superfreaknduper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Superfreaknduper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfreaknduper)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/42 "2008-11-25T05:23:36Z")
> [@tripletaker](#): > > For Windows: uTorrent > For Mac: Transmission I was coming in to say Transmission. I use it every day and love it. LOVE IT! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/43 "2008-11-25T05:48:00Z")
> [@Aestivalis](#): > > Have you opened the port(s) on your firewall to allow your Torrent software to talk out to the other seeds/peers? How do I do that? (OS 10.4.11) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/44 "2008-11-25T18:11:59Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > I would lower it at least once just to see if that’s the problem. > > I had mine set to 9kbs in order for the internet to run well. Strangely enough the problem went away after I switched from a wireless B router to a wireless G. I did the same. Switched from B (BT Voyager) to G (netgear). Didn’t solve the problem. I’ll try dropping my upload rate to 9kbs when I get the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/45 "2008-11-25T18:46:38Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I did the same. Switched from B (BT Voyager) to G (netgear). Didn’t solve the problem. > > I’ll try dropping my upload rate to 9kbs when I get the chance. You may also want to make sure you’re using the encryption option (Comcast throttles traffic if they detect torrent usage for example). If you have a wireless router you may also want to switch your modem to bridge mode. I had a 2nd Tier tech support guy tell me that if you’re in bridge mode, it’s much harder for them to monitor your traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/46 "2008-11-25T18:53:07Z")
My ISP ‘claims’ not to throttle bittorrent trafic. I do have the encryption on. I’ll look into whether I can put my router into bridge mode. I know that a while ago Windows implemented a patch which would limit ‘maximum connections per second’ to ten, and apparently this would affect torrent usage, but I have friends on the same ISP, same OS, same torrent client who claim to get high speeds and have good internet usage. I suspect they might be blowing hot air. They claim to use (probably illegal) software that masks their IP. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/47 "2008-11-25T19:02:02Z")
I’m on a Mac and use Azureus/now Vuse. I forwarded my ports with my old router, but we got a new wireless router and the mutual house occupant apparently set a password for administering the router then promptly lost it. My download speeds are still pretty good with Comcast, and I haven’t played with Vuse’s settings to do anything to disguise my bittorrent traffic from Comcast. Does Vuse do it automatically, or does my local Comcast apparently not care? I’m pretty happy with Vuse, running in “classic” mode. I tried Transmission once, but didn’t like the interface. Has it really improved? I don’t do wireless BTW. I stick with ethernet to the router. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/48 "2008-11-25T19:06:02Z")
I use Vuze in “classic” mode too and I still love it. I run it exclusively on a wireless connection even and have no problems. **Lobsang** you might want to look around for some uTorrent guides to help you with settings. There’s a lot of things you can tweak in there. I know when I first set up Azureus I found a great guide on one of my favorite private sites and it had a bunch of settings I didn’t understand but they totally worked. I just fiddled with my brother’s uTorrent settings the other day based on some random post I saw on an open forum (under the settings where it says “WARNING: DO NOT CHANGE THESE”) and it helped with whatever problem he had. Look through the forums on your favorite private tracker site if you’re on one. I bet there will be something good. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/49 "2008-11-25T19:12:20Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > My ISP ‘claims’ not to throttle bittorrent trafic. I do have the encryption on. I’ll look into whether I can put my router into bridge mode. > I know that a while ago Windows implemented a patch which would limit ‘maximum connections per second’ to ten, and apparently this would affect torrent usage, but I have friends on the same ISP, same OS, same torrent client who claim to get high speeds and have good internet usage. > > I suspect they might be blowing hot air. They claim to use (probably illegal) software that masks their IP. Windows did, indeed, edit that “security” limitation in in XP SP2. If you have a hex editor you can get around that though, and I’m pretty sure it’s perfectly legal to do so, you’re basically just editing a line in a .sys file. [[mods, if this IS found to be illegal edit this part out, with my apologies]] Go to c:\windows\system32\drives\directory Optional but recommended: Backup the file tcpip.sys before editing. Now open the file in your favorite hex editor and change offset _0x4F322_ from [[0a 00 00 00]] to [[00 00 0a 00]]. That will remove the socket creation limit. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/50 "2008-11-25T20:27:32Z")
I switched from Azreus to uTorrent. Azreus is/was Java-based which is great for portability among different platforms, but it was slow. I could feel the performance penalty if I ran a CPU-intensive program while it was running. uTorrent is so efficient that I can’t even tell it’s running. Simple and works great. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/51 "2008-11-25T20:32:44Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Windows did, indeed, edit that “security” limitation in in XP SP2. If you have a hex editor you can get around that though, and I’m pretty sure it’s perfectly legal to do so, you’re basically just editing a line in a .sys file. > > [[mods, if this IS found to be illegal edit this part out, with my apologies]] > > Go to c:\windows\system32\drives\directory > > Optional but recommended: Backup the file tcpip.sys before editing. > > Now open the file in your favorite hex editor and change offset _0x4F322_ from > [[0a 00 00 00]] to [[00 00 0a 00]]. That will remove the socket creation limit. Sorry if I keep adding questions to people’s answers… I have read articles about similar hacks to the tcpip.sys, but the articles have edits which say the fix causes more problems, or the fix causes the file to be no longer ‘driver signed’ or updates have made the fix obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/52 "2008-11-25T20:58:37Z")
Let us know if you get any BitTorrenting done with dial-up. I have my doubts that it will be feasible. BitTorrent opens a lot of connections, and I bet that will overwhelm a dial-up connection. ---
**Author:** ![Aestivalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Aestivalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aestivalis)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/53 "2008-11-25T22:06:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > How do I do that? (OS 10.4.11) What kind of router do you use? Normally you would configure it from there. Look into the uTorrent settings to see what port is being used, and also note what IP address (internal) that you have. Then on the router, forward that port to the same port on your internal IP address. More details at Guanolad’s link: [http://portforward.com/](http://portforward.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/54 "2008-11-25T23:02:16Z")
Personally I run Transmission on Linux. Usually I reach way over 1 ul/dl ratio before the download finishes. Most people seem to be quite greedy on the upload. I’ve normally uploaded about 3-4 times more than I’ve downloaded when the torrent is complete. I’m not sure about the details of the algorithm, but I think it should award good uploaders more than it currently does. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183/55 "2008-11-27T06:59:39Z")
You can now get [µTorrent](http://lifehacker.com/5099552/utorrent-for-mac-officially-released) on your Mac. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-to-me-a-bittorrent-client/474183.md?page=2)