uTorrent is a great bitTorrent client, especially considering its small size and ease of use. Still, there are a couple of tricks to speed it up, should you need a faster download speed. We recommend using uTorrent, because it’s completely free, doesn’t take up a lot of space, and can be used to achieve remarkable download speeds. For the latter, here are a couple of tips you can use to speed up your download speed (and upload speed) in uTorrent!
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First things first. When selecting a torrent file (torrent files act as a peer to peer, aka P2P transfer system), make sure the torrent you selected has sufficient seeders. Seeders are users who have already downloaded that specific file, and leave their BitTorrent client running (in our case, uTorrent) in order to upload that file towards other users that wish to download it (called leachers). If you want a decent download speed, you must ensure that the torrent file has a significant number of good seeders. With 2-3 seeders, you’ll get terrible download speeds, while with 0 seeders, your download won’t start at all (you have nobody to download from, basically). Try to find files that have over 100 seeders to ensure best results. Of course, the download speed is often influenced by the connection of seeders, so you may experience better speeds with 50 good seeders than with 150 bad ones. Regardless, anything above 100 should be a safe bet. The rule of thumb here is: the more, the better.
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If you want to get the best possible download speed, make sure you have no applications running in the background, at least none that use your internet connection. uTorrent will take as much bandwidth as possible and adjust download speeds accordingly, but if you’re watching 3 youtube videos while playing online and downloading from a different source, there won’t be much for uTorrent to work with. Ensure every internet-using software is closed, and your download speeds will increase considerably.
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uTorrent can simoultaneously handle as many downloads as you want it to. But if you want fast downloads, you don’t want the software to split available resources (bandwidth) between multiple downloads. One at a time is the best way to do it, especially if you prioritize one file over another. If you set uTorrent to only handle one download at a time, your other downloads will be set into a queue (which you can modify to your liking, giving priorities according to your needs). Every time uTorrent finishes a download, the next one in the queue will start automatically. To achieve this, go to uTorrent’s Option tab, select Preferences, then go to Queueing and set “Maximum Number of Active Downloads” to 1.
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Another way to greatly increase download speeds in uTorrent is through the UPnP Porting settings, more specifically by enabling it. What this does essentially is bypass any firewalls that could be slowing down download speeds. Setting it up is straightforward enough: once again, open up the Option’s tab, go to Preferences, select the Connections tab and then check to box next to “Enable UPnP port mapping”. Apply your changes to complete the process.
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This might seem like a rudimentary advice, but it actually can make a difference. uTorrent constantly receives new versions (including beta versions) which can greatly increase performance. Downloading uTorrent is free, and so is updating it, so there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t keep it up-to-date. Simply go to uTorrent’s Help tab and select the “Check for Updates” option. That’s all there is too it, it takes a couple of seconds, and is worth the effort.