BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing(P2P) communications protocol. It is a method of distributing large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the entire costs of resources. Instead, when data is distributed using the BitTorrent protocol, each recipient supplies pieces of the data to newer recipients, reducing the cost and burden on any given individual source, providing redundancy against system problems, and reducing dependence on the original distributor. - Source: Wikipedia
In laymen's term, we use it to download files (series, movies, software, games etc) from other people's computers and vice versa.
Please note that when you download copyrighted materials, you are infringing the copyright law. So if you are downloading those, download at your own risk!
What you need?
In order for you to be able to download anything using BitTorrent, you will need to:
1. Install a BitTorrent client (such as BitComet, uTorrent, BitLord etc).
2. You will need to have the torrent file (.tor) which to me is like a pointer to where the actual files (or bits and pieces of the files) are residing. To find the torrent files, you can use websites like torrentz to search for your desired series, movies, etc.
How to download?
So how do you go about downloading a series, movies etc to your local drive?
1. Go to websites like torrentz and search for the desired files.
2. In the Search results, you will see a list of different websites that houses the torrent file. (A reminder….torrent file is NOT the actual file but rather a pointer to where the actual file is). Go for those with links that are still healthy (usually green bar) to indicate that there are many people sharing these files.
3. After you have selected one, you may be brought to a different website that houses this torrent file. I usually will only proceed if the file is in .avi or .rmvb format. (.avi is DivX format; .rmvb is Real Player format) as I dare not take the risk with zipped files (.rar, .zip etc) which may contain viruses. If you want to play DivX on your PC, you can download the player from their site.
4. If everything is okay, click the “Download Torrent” link. A pop up message will ask you whether you want to open, save or cancel. Select “Open”.
5. Once the torrent file is opened, you will see that your BitTorrent client is opened automatically. It will have a popup confirming that you want to download the file and the location of download. Select accordingly.
6. Then just leave your BitTorrent client to download the file. There will be a status bar advising you the % of your download.
