If you are a heavy bit torrent user you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with the array of different bit torrent sites available.
It pays to stick to private torrent sites as much as possible in order to ensure that you download files safely and securely. One of the problems with public torrent trackers is that virtually anyone can upload torrents and spy on torrents to identify who is downloading what.
The other problem with public trackers is that often you’ll find low quality torrents, mislabelled torrents and malware and trojan packed torrent files which hackers can use to compromise computers and steal you email or financial information.
Dealing with the ratio problem.
It should be apparent that private (members only) trackers are the way to go – but one of the problem with private trackers is that they often require you to upload as much as you’re downloading to keep the community in balance and discourage free loaders and people who don’t give back to the community.
Unfortunately most home users cannot have a computer connected to the internet at all times, on top of that many home users have their upload rate capped at a fraction of the download rate which means that users are unable to upload much at all.
Thankfully there are various steps you can do to ensure you’re uploading as fast as possible.
Optimise your speed.
1) Uploads seem to be more fussy with port settings than when downloading, so make sure you have set your router up to forward ports correctly.
2) Check your connection speed at speedtest.net, work out your upload speed and set your bit torrent upload speed cap to around 75% of your max. This is important because if upload is uncapped – it will attempt to upload at max speed which tends to drown out the download speeds and create stuttering.
Consider 3rd part torrenting.
There are dedicated web hosts called seed boxes which can handle your torrents for you, they’re essentially a dedicated server which has a web based GUI interface that is essentially like your desktop bit torrent client.
Seedboxes can vary in server levels and quality, seedbox reviews has some handy reviews of the major seedbox providers for you to look at.
Whatever you do, make sure you stay legal and only share files that are open source and/or legally allowed to do so.
