Useful informations

I use uTorrent to download files, one of my friend use BitTorrent.

As we have 6 hours of free download per day ( Its a Broadband plan of 500 where 2 A.M to 8 A.M. broadband is free ). We used to put on schedular, in the morning we used to see that it would have downloaded around 1.2 to 1.5 gb in total.

So what we did is, we limited the upload to 1kbps along with the steps where i had mentioned in a post earlier ( How to increase Broadband speed in uTorrent ). Voila! it worked, now we are downloading around 2.0 to 3 gb per day.

Steps to do it:

• Open your BitTorrent or uTorrent.

• Right click on the downloading file inside the torrent for which you want to limit the uploading. There you see "Bandwidth Allocation" when the mouse is moved on it, a dropdown will occur next to it. There you see "Set Upload limit", Change it from "Unlimited" to "25kbps".
• Repeat the above steps, this time you will get option starting from "10kbps". You reduce it from "25kbps" to "10kbps".

• Again Repeat it till you get an option of "1kbps". Once you set it to "1kbps", there you go. Now you can download files faster as the uploading has been limited to "1kbps".

Hope, this will help you a lot. Happy downloading. :-)

Any tips on broadband or downloading speeds are welcome.

Here’s a way to increase download speeds of uTorrent.

Note: Some of the settings mentioned below are optimized for 256k connection. If you want to calculate the optimal settings for your connection, check at the end of this post. But I suggest you to read the entire post for guidance on other settings.

First go to Options>Preferences>Network

1. Under ‘Port used for incomming connections’, enter any port number. It is best to use a port number above 10000. I use 45682.
2. Randomize port each time utorrent starts: UNCHECKED. I leave this unchecked because I have a router. If you do not have a router or a firewall, and want extra security, check this option.
3. Enable UPnP port mapping (Windows Xp or later only): UNCHECKED. I leave this unchecked because I have experienced it slowing down speeds. It is not needed if you manually port forward.
4. Add utorrent to Windows Firewall exceptions (Windows XP SP2 or later only): UNCHECKED (do this only if you have windows firewall disabled)
5. Global Maximum upload rate (kb/s): [0: unlimited]: 22 (for 256k connection)
6. Protocol Encryption: ENABLED. I would recommend everyone to enable this. This can help increase speeds with many ISPs.
7. Allow incoming Legacy Connections: CHECKED

Options>Preferences>Torrents

1. Global Maximum Number of Connections: 130 (for 256k connection)This number should not be set too low or the number of connections made to your torrents will be limited. Setting it too high may cause too much bandwidth to be used and can cause slowdowns.
2. Maximum Number of connected peers per torrent: 70 (for 256k connection)If you see that the peers connected to a specific torrent are exactly this number, or very close, increase this number to improve speeds.
3. Number of upload slots per torrent: 3 (for 256k connection)This depends on how much you want to upload to other users. Do not set too low or it may affect download speeds.
4. Use additional upload slots if upload speed <90%: CHECKED
5. Maximum number of active torrents: 2 (for 256k connection)
6. Maximum number of active downloads: 1 (for 256k connection)
7. Enable DHT Network: CHECKEDThis is recommended to be checked to improve speeds. More people will be available for sharing if this is checked.
8. Enable DHT for new torrents: CHECKED
9. Enable Peer Exchange: CHECKED
10. Enable scrapping: CHECKED
11. Pre-allocate all files: CHECKED
12. Append .!ut to incomplete files: UNCHECKED

Options>Preferences>Advanced

net.max_halfopen: 50

If you use Windows XP SP2, patch tcpip.sys with LvlLord’s Event ID 4226 Patcher to get better performance.

DO NOT CHANGE THIS OPTION unless you have Windows XP SP2 and have patched tcpip.sys.

You can also patch tcpip.sys with xp-Antispy

If you have a firewall

• Open up the options/preferences/settings for the firewall - usually your firewall will have an icon to click in the taskbar
• Look for the keywords “allow list” or “programs”
• Add the application you want to give access to the internet
  
• Make sure to save your settings when you are done

If you have a router

1. Go to start>run>type cmd, press enter>type ipconfig, press enter
2. Remember both your ip address and your default gateway
3. Type in your default gateway into your default browser, a password prompt may come up. The default username and password are admin for my router
4. Under ‘Applications’ fill out one line for each p2p client you use
5. You need to use your ip address, the correct port range and set either tcp or udp
6. You can find and change the ports in the actual p2p client’s settings, just make sure they are the same in the router
7. Most p2p apps need both tcp and udp checked, if you are not sure check your p2p client’s FAQ
8. Save your settings

Check PortForward.com to forward ports for uTorrent.

Some of the settings I mentioned above are relative to my bandwidth.

How to calculate optimal settings for your connection

In order to apply the following tips you need to know your maximum upload and download speeds. You can test your bandwidth over here.

Maximum upload speed

If you use your Maximum upload speed, there won’t be not enough space left for the files you are downloading. So you have to cap your upload speed.

This is how I calculate my optimal upload speed…

upload speed * 80%

Maximum download speed

Setting your maximum download speed to unlimited will hurt your connection. So use this to calculate your optimal setting.

download speed * 90%

Maximum connected peers per torrent

upload speed * 1.3

Maximum upload slots

1 + (upload speed / 6)

Disable Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall hates P2P and so disable it and get yourself a decent firewall like Zone Alarm.

And last optimize your Internet connection with TCP Optimizer.

If you know any other tricks to increase uTorrent's download speed, please share them here..

When you maximize a window in Vista, the transparency gets lost in the window as well as in taskbar. At the AeroXP forum a hacked aero.msstyles file has been posted, which can enable the transparency in maximized windows also. Here are the instructions :

You have to patch 3 files to allow windows to use 3rd party themes. Download this file from Anti-TGTSoft . And follow the instructions mentioned therein.

Now download this file, and replace your existing C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\ Aero\aero.msstyles file with the downloaded file. Thats it ! It might be a nice idea, however, to preserve your original aero.msstyles file on another location.

You can also try True Transparency from CrystalXP.

In Windows Vista Explorer, you can use the Views button on the toolbar to change the size of icons, from small to extra large, by clicking on the specified options, or by scrolling on the up / down arrow in the slider.

Alternatively, you can simply hold down the Ctrl key and use your mouse scroll wheel to resize the icons from small to extra large.

All windows in Vista have thick borders. Transparency shows off quite well on them.



But if you don't like such thick borders, and would like to reduce or trim them, rt-click on Desktop and open select Personalize. Click on Windows Color & Appearance. Here click on Open Classic Appearance Properties.

In the new dialog box select Advanced. Again a new dialog box will open.

Here from the "Item' drop down menu, select Border Padding. Change the default value from 4 to say, 1.

Rotating 3D User Picture is a small application, which runs in background and replaces the original stationary User picture in Start Menu with a rotating 3D one.

3D User Picture replaces the user picture in Vista's start menu with a pretty 3D animated one.

Requires a DirectX 9 capable Craphics Card.

Download it from Tomatnet.

Actually this one can't really be classified as a 'handy tip', but its nevertheless an interesting one !

It appears that Microsoft loves Aurora's. Not only does Vista have a hidden aurora boot-screen, there is also a "hidden" Aurora animation.

To see the magic just type "winsat aurora" in the start menu search box, and hit Enter.

To exit, click Esc.

There is a utility built into Windows Vista used for benchmarking, called the System Assessment Tool; and it uses this Aurora animation.