uTorrent is a lightweight but fully featured BitTorrent client. The publisher clearly states that the program is designed to use as little resources as possible, while at the same time offering all the functionality expected from advanced clients. This goal is very well accomplished.
Installing the application is as simple as counting to one. A single-step setup allows you to create a desktop icon and a Start menu entry for the program. Once you start it, the program checks for updates and if there are any, it asks you to update. Next, you should configure the application's Internet settings. Probably you won't need to change anything, due to the fact that the program supports UPnP port mapping. Another thing that I usually do when I install the program is associate it with the .torrent filetype. You can do the association anytime from the 'Preferences' dialog, by selecting "General".
A great thing about uTorrent is the fact that it allows you to schedule when you want to download files. This feature also enables you to adjust the bandwidth depending on the time of day. Several advanced options are provided through the Preferences dialog. Resources are available online for learning how to configure these settings. However, I didn't find it necessary to tweak any of them, because uTorrent works great on my computer.
Pluses: You can use the "Speed Guide" feature to find out whether your connection settings are properly configured and to find out your connection speed. uTorrent also supports downloading and sorting RSS Feeds from websites that offer torrent downloads.
Drawbacks / flaws:
In conclusion: uTorrent is my favorite BitTorrent client.
version reviewed: 1.7.5
uTorrent Publisher's Description
µTorrent is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint. It was designed to use as little cpu, memory and space as possible while offering all the functionality expected from advanced clients.
µTorrent is now better than ever! This release brings many fixes and new features, highlights being: greatly improved connectivity with peers (and thus better transfer rates) along with support for language translations. µTorrent is now available in English, Swedish and French. Technical information about translating µTorrent to your native language will be made available shortly. Also check out the program's new about window! Get it from the download section.
--- 2005-10-02: Version 1.1.3 (build 179) - Fix: Reserve 25% of connections for incoming peers. - Fix: Send numwant=0 on Stopped. - Feature: Ability to change user interface language. - Feature: Added French & Swedish translations. - Feature: Don't send anonymous usage statistics. - Fix: Remove key field, it confused some trackers. - Fix: Randomize peer id when µTorrent starts. - Fix: Tweaks to internal bittorrent parameters. - Feature: Disconnect inactive peers after 5 minutes. - Fix: Open on the Files view would sometimes open the wrong file. - Feature: Allow scroll wheel on the mouse to scroll the views. - Fix: The torrent id shown on the generals page had 32 characters instead of 40. - Feature: Added inactive column to peer view to show the inactivity. - Changed: Include some more columns by default in peer view. - Fix: Peer handshake was waiting for peer id, but not all clients sent that immediately. - Feature: Show error message in status bar if listen() fails. - Fix: Focus wasn't moved to the edit box that contained an invalid value in settings dialog. - Fix: Send a stopped command to trackers when closing µTorrent. - Fix: Some invalid torrents would show a message about memory allocation failed, instead of "can't load torrent". - Fix: Don't bandwidth limit http communication. - Fix: Ratio column showed "inf" way too often. - Fix: Nicer about dialog. - Feature: Play THX sound in about dialog. - Fix: Make sure file priority works even if file list is sorted in a different order. - Fix: Make sure STOPPED is sent when a torrent is deleted. - Fix: New icons (thanks ipunk) - Fix: Identify Shareaza clients - Feature: Support loading of torrent status icons / toolbar icons from an external file (tstatus.bmp or toolbar.bmp in storage folder) - Fix: Crash bug with multiple trackers. - Fix: Autostart option wasn't saved to config file.
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