SK3TCHY

This guide is for moving a folder and/or changing the folder name (the method is the same for both) with the torrent still loaded in uTorrent.

1. Stop the torrent by right-clicking it and choosing Stop.

2. Move and/or change the folder name outside of uTorrent (in Explorer, for example)

3. In uTorrent, right-click the torrent and choose Advanced -> Set Download Location.

4. Browse to the moved and/or re-named folder, click OK

5. Optional: If you have re-named the folder and want to change the name of the torrent, so that the new name shows in uTorrent, too, select the torrent and (left-)click it again. (Double-clicking won’t work if it’s set to open the Properties box, or whatever, so take it slow.)

6. Optional: If you want to be really sure you got it right, right-click the torrent and choose Force Recheck. When it stops checking, uTorrent should say that 100% is done.

7. Right-click the torrent and choose Start (or Force Recheck if you want to make sure the torrent does not get queued).

Disclaimer:
Proceed at your own risk!

Introduction:
This is a step by step guide on setting up uTorrent. It details the steps from downloading to optimizing your settings.

A quick rundown of its major features:
1. Protocol Encryption – This is the major speed booster if your ISP throttles bittorrent traffic. It can do wonders on torrents with high speeds and can give high speeds especially if your peers are using uTorrent/Azureus, as those are the popular ones that support this standard.

2. Distributed Hash Table (DHT) – Similar to Peer Exchange, disable this.

3. Capping Upload Speed – Uploading data to other peers at full throttle will severely limit your download rate. This is one key element we have to adjust for a good download/upload ratio. Unless you are purely seeding and not using your computer for other tasks, limit your upload to 80% of full bandwidth.

Tools We Need:
1. An internet connection and its maximum download and upload speed. If unsure, visit

http://www.speedtest.net.

2.Patched TCPIP.sys to allow more concurrent half-open connections. Windows XP SP2 and Vista limits the number of half-connections to 10. This limitation can impact your bittorrent experience. To increase the limit,

NOTE: IF UNSURE, DON’T DO THIS PART. Proceed at your own risk!

Windows XP Users (NOT Vista users)
1. Go to this site – http://lvllord.de/
2. Click on Downloads
3. Right click the link and click “Save Target As”
4. Save it in your Desktop
5. Open the file and run the program located inside the archive, agreeing to the security warning.
6. Some text should scroll by in MS-DOS window, after it ends, type C.
7. Enter 100 for the number of concurrent half-open connections and press Enter.
8. Type Y and the file should be patched, Cancel any Windows XP warnings that should appear, it is part of

Microsoft’s way of ensuring its files are not tampered with (the utility tampers them to break the limit on purpose).

Windows Vista Users (NOT XP users)
1. Go to this site – http://www.yaronmaor.net/repair.htm
2. Look for the item named – EventlD4226Fix for Windows Vista (Line 2)
3. Right click the link and click “Save Target As”.
4. Save it in your Desktop.
5. Extract all contents of the file to a folder.
6. If you are running 64-bit Vista, double click on InstallPatch64.bat. If you are running 32-bit Vista, double click on InstallPatch32.bat. Unsure? Run InstallPatch32.bat.
7. Some text should scroll by in a MS-DOS window, after it ends, type Y and press Enter.
8. After the restart notice appears, press any key and restart your PC.

NOTE: IF UNSURE, DON’T DO THIS PART. Proceed at your own risk!

3. uTorrent
4. A pretome torrent/s to kick off the download.

Note: Windows Vista users – try the beta (may have problems) which is fully Vista supported. The download links are provided in the first post in the link. Skip to step 3 after you click on the link.

Getting to the file:
1. Click on this download page – http://www.uTorrent.com/download.php
2. Click “get uTorrent 1.*.*”. Choose to RUN it.
3. If any security dialogs appear, click Run as we know this is a safe file.
4. uTorrent will prompt you with the following dialog.
5. Click OK to install.

Configuring uTorrent
1. Run the program. Ignore the security warning (Click Run).

2. It will give the following dialog.

You want the program to be easily accessible, don’t you? Click Yes and the shortcut will be created in your desktop and start menu.

3. Next you will be given another dialog

Click Yes, so the next time you download on a pretome torrent, uTorrent will automatically start up to handle the downloading job.

4. And the next dialog box is the most important step

Now the value that we are interested in right now is the Upload Limit in kB/s (aka KBps). If you have trouble understanding your speed, consider this: Internet Explorer shows download speed as KBps when you download a file.

There is a big difference between 5Kbps and 5KBps. make sure you got the right values in KBps (not Kbps). Use Google Calculator if you need help with convertions.

5. Click Current Settings

The authors of uTorrent have been very helpful in providing a list of predefined values. Your connection should be near to one of the above categories. “xx/384k” means that your download is unlimited and your upload is limited to 384kbps (which is 48KBps).

With your results of the speed test you did above, select the closest upload speed from the list. uTorrent immediately adjusts the “Affected Settings” area with recommended values for your upload speed.

Note: The default download speed in utorrent is Unlimited

TIP: uTorrent randomly generates a port number in Current Port. This tutorial assumes the port number to be 55641 – but you can substitute it with the number uTorrent shows.

6. Port forwarding is also important. Click on “Test if port is forwarded properly” to run the test. If you have trouble running the test, it could be due to one or more of the following reasons:

a. Home Router – If you are running a router (sometimes called wireless access point) at home, you will have to configure it to direct all TCP/UDP bittorrent traffic to port 55641 to be routed to your computer. If so, click this
link (http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm). Click the router you are using. Click the application, which is uTorrent, and follow the instructions.

b.Personal Firewall – If you are running a firewall software such as Norton Internet Security, Norton Personal

Firewall, ZoneAlarm, etc, then configure your firewall such that uTorrent has access to port 55641. This is normally accomplished by starting up utorrent, and the firewall should spring up an access alert. Simply select the option to
“Always Allow” the program to access the Internet.

Windows Firewall Users – uTorrent will automatically configure Windows Firewall so there is no action needed from you.

c. Corporate Firewall – Are you running this software in a corporate network? Bad news – you have to inform the admin that you want the port to be directed to your computer. The good news – you can still go by without port forwarding, but speeds will not be optimal.

d. Utorrent.Com Port Forward Checking Website has a problem – Yes, especially if you are accessing the Internet through a transparent proxy that your ISP forces you to use. This simply means that the website is reporting false info, and the best way to verify that your port is forwarded is to proceed into the next step. This case is very unlikely as utorrent.com uses a different port for checking.

Having done all the above, if the website still says that it has problems accessing the port, the ultimate test will be when we do a test file downloading. Let’s click on Use Selected Settings.

7. Now you see the full uTorrent window in full glamour.

Starting a simple torrent
We need to start a simple download, and the one that comes to my mind right now is uTorrent 1.6.1 Bit Torrent Client! We will be downloading this file purely for testing and delete it later on.

1. Minimize uTorrent for now. Notice it resides on the system tray (bottom right) automatically.
2. Click to http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php. Click on “Jar, Jar torrent, Source”. Click the “Jar Torrent” to download the torrent file.
3. Select a mirror and click the download link on the right most column.
4. You should get this dialog

This is the metadata file, it contains information on the file you want to download eventually. That is why it is so small. We want uTorrent to automatically start downloading it, so click Open.

NOTE: The “Name, Type and From” may differ on your system. This is normal, as uTorrent is frequently updated

5. The file opens with uTorrent which automatically pops up this dialog (scaled for easier viewing)

All values are automatically filled in for you. Here is also where you select files that you don’t want to download – if the download has many files which in this case is not. Remember where the file is stored in “Save As”, or save it in a different location that is more convenient for you.

All looking good, click OK.

Progress of the Download

Click on the uTorrent torrent (the only item in the list) to view more information on it. Suddenly all the values begin filling up!

Looks like the torrent has a total of x seeds and y downloaders. x seeds is a lot and it means you should get the full file in no time! A seed is a term used to refer to peers who have downloaded and sharing the complete file.

However, after running for 5 minutes, the speed refuses to go above 5 KB/s, which is not possible for a highly seeded torrent. Could it be my ISP throttling?

Enabling Protocol Encryption and Increasing Max Half Open Connections
uTorrent by default disables protocol encryption. We need to enable this so that the ISP’s packet shaping hardware will detect our bit torrent traffic as normal traffic and hopefully let it pass.

1. Click on Options, Preferences.
2. Click on BitTorrent.
3. You should get a dialog similar to one below
4. The one we are concerned about is Protocol Encryption. Set the Outgoing to Enabled.
5. Click on Advanced.

Change the “net.max_halfopen” value to 50 by selecting the line, changing the value at the bottom to 50 and clicking Set.

NOTE: It is normal for a asterisk to appear. This is to indicate that the value has been changed.

6. Click OK. Stop all torrents, wait 10 seconds, and Start the torrent. Now let’s watch the speeds.

Hopefully, the above changes will improve speeds. Ultimately, it depends on the number of seeders and peers with high upload rate. Remember, you must upload at a high rate to enjoy good download rates, but not so high that it affects download speed. Experiment.

Further Things You Can Try For Optimum Speed

1. There should be a green tick at the bottom, not a exclamation mark as below.
If uTorrent keeps showing this even after 5 minutes, check the possible causes.
2. Setting a high upload can sometimes slow down a fast torrent. But remember, you must upload in order for peers to share their downloaded data with you. It is possible to set a very low upload, but the chance of peers sending you their data will decrease, pulling down your download speed.
3. Some people have reported speed increases by setting the peer.lazy_bitfield setting to false in Advanced Preferences. However, in my case, it lowered the speeds.
4. Change the Protocol Encryption to Forced. This will force encryption on all outgoing packets and will not fallback to un-encrypted mode if the peer refuses to co-operate. Good to connect to only encryption-enabled peers. Avoid doing this for torrents with low peers/seeds.
5. Remove the check for “Allow Incoming Legacy Connections”. This will make all your outgoing and incoming packets fully encrypted, except for tracker communications. Peers who are using a client that don’t support encryption are dropped. Avoid doing this for torrents with low peers/seeds.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1) What are the good/best ports for uTorrent?
There’s no “best port” or good ports . All ports are suitable for use with uTorrent, unless you are running a program that is using the port (use a port number above 49152 to be safe).

Note: For some this might be confusing. FF doesn’t tell you on what port/s to use but DAKz included in his Advanced Tweaking of uTorrent to use port 10571 or 57000. I am using a port above 50000.

However, feel free to change the default port of it by going to Options, Preferences, Connection and adjusting the “Port used for incoming connections” as necessary. Remember to re-adjust your port forwarding settings in your firewall/router too.

2) I have tried all the above and my speeds are still slow! What can I do?
Try downloading a different torrent. A high ratio of seeds to leechers (Eg 2000 seeds to 10 leechers) will make a big difference in speeds. Make sure there is a green light at the bottom or check the possible causes.

Verify your speed by running a speed test from different locations to ensure your connection is fast to the major locations in the world. For example, if you are downloading Chinese torrents, you should select a download location from China (or somewhere nearby) in the speed test.

Finally, try enabling Forced encryption and performing the extra things you can try as outlined here. If speeds still do not improve, we are also not aware of the cause. Perhaps your ISP has managed to break encryption in bit torrent traffic.

Note: Don’t go shouting “how the hell my dl speed sucks though i have a gazillion mb connection!?” as there are lots of external/internal factors to consider. (ISP throttling, Leech/Seed ratio, Seed/s connection speed, firewalled router/windows, etc)

Windows XP SP2 and the Event ID 4226 Patch (EvID4226Patch223d)

Windows XP Service Pack 2 introduced an array of security “enhancements”: dual direction firewall, several long overdue IE improvements, memory protection and the crippling of the TCP/IP stack.  (This patch is only for: Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 Server SP1 and up)

Windows XP SP2 limits the maximum concurrent half-open connections (SYN) to a maximum of 10 (the previous limit was over 65,000). This is supposed to slow down certain viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect, to a high amount of random IP numbers.  The drawback to this connection limit is that other network intensive applications can be slowed, including Peer-to-Peer (P2P) clients.

There is a way to tell whether your daily networking activities are being affected by the new Windows XP SP2 enhancements.  Each time your computer tries to establish more than 10 half-open connections, a system event will be logged in the Windows Event Viewer. It looks something like this:

Event ID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts

To access the Event Viewer, go to “Start” > “Run” > Enter “ eventvwr.msc ” > Click “Ok”.
Alternate method:  ”Start” >  “Control Panel” > “Administrative Tools” > “Event Viewer”.

Once the Event Veiwer is open, go to “Event Viewer (Local)” > “System” > Sort by “Event” and scroll down to 4226.

If you only have a few occurrences, this is nothing to worry about, but if you see many daily occurrences there are two possible scenarios:

1)  Your system may be infected with a virus or worm that is trying to spread.
2)  You are a networking power user, and your applications are being stalled by the Windows XP SP2 limit on half-open connections.
If you have anti-virus software and use it regularly, then case 1 is unlikely.

Check Which Application is Causing the Event ID 4226  Errors

To establish that your network applications are being slowed by the Windows XP SP2 limit on the maximum concurrent half-open connections, use the “netstat” command

Go to “Start” > “Run” > Enter “cmd” in the “Open” box > Click “Enter”.

At the Command Prompt enter:  netstat -no | find “SYN”

Half-open connections will have a state of other than ESTABLISHED.  In the “Command Window” note the Process ID (PID) in the last column.
(In the example below we can see the Process ID is 2396)

Now check which Application (Process) is causing the present Event ID 4226 errors.  Open the Task Manager and ensure you have the PID column displayed.

Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) > “Processes Tab” > “View” > “Select Columns…” > Check the “PID (Process Identifier)” box > Click “OK”

Sort by “PID” (Click the PID heading) and locate the “Process ID (PID)” and the associated application responsible for the “half-open” connections (2396 in the example).  If the process in question is your Peer-to-Peer client, Windows XP SP2 is stalling your downloads.

Download and Implement the EventID 4226 Patch

An unofficial patch will modify the locked TCPIP.SYS and let you set the limit to whatever you wish. 50 half-open connections is a reasonable limit or you can set the limit back to 65,535 which it was before Windows XP SP2. The patch is called the “EventID 4226 Patcher” and can be found on LVL Lord’s web site: LVLlord downloads -http://lvllord.de/?lang=en&url=downloads

Note:  Some anti-virus programs will see the “EventID 4226 Patcher” as malware…it’s not.

To implement the “EventID 4226 Patcher” download and run it (Double Click or Start > Run > “EvID4226Patch.exe”).  The patcher will automatically find the windows directory, open a “Command Window”, display the present limit and give you the option to increase or decrease the maximum concurrent half-open connections.

To change the limit to “50” enter “Y“,  to change the limit to another value, enter “C“, or to exit without changing the limit enter “N”

The “Event ID 4226 Patch” will take a few moments to change the limit on maximum concurrent half-open connections;
when prompted press any key to exit.

After changing the limit on “Half-open connections”, a “Windows File Protection” Window will come up with the warning:  ”Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognized versions.  To maintain system stability, Windows must restore the original versions of these files.  Insert your Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD now”.

Changing TCPIP.SYS is the objective, so click “Cancel”.

After clicking “Cancel”, a “Windows File Protection” Window will come up with the warning:  ”You chose not to restore the original versions of the files.  This may affect Windows stability.  Are you sure you want to keep these unrecognized file versions?” Click “Yes”.

You have Successfully Implement the EventID 4226 Patch

After a successful patch, the new TCPIP.SYS will be automatically installed. A system reboot is required for the setting to take effect.

Certain Microsoft updates may reset the limit, or replace the TCPIP.SYS file with a new locked version; LVLLord has been quick on updating the patch.
You must periodically check the patch to ensure it is still active.  When you run the patch (Double Click or Start > Run > “EvID4226Patch.exe”),
it will tell you how many connections are currently allowed.

If you continue to see numerous daily “Event ID 4226” occurrences, the Patch can be run again and the limit on maximum concurrent half-open connections, raised incrementally (50 at a time) until no more are seen.

Configure your Bittorrent Client for the new limit on “Half-open” Connections

Azureus

Open Azureus and navigate to > Tools > Options (Ctrl+Comma)
On the “Options Tab” > Connection > Advanced Network Settings >
Enter “50” in the “Max simultaneous outbound connection attempts” Field > Click “Save”
Note:  Azureus supports a maximum of 100 “Half-open” Connections.

µTorrent

Open µTorrent and navigate to > Options > Preferences (Ctrl+P)
In the In the “Preferences Window” > Advanced > Click “net.max_halfopen” > Enter “50” in the “Value” Field > Click “Set” > Click “OK”

BitComet

Open Bitcomet and navigate to > Options > Prefenences (Ctrl+P)
In the Preferences Window > Advanced > Connection > Max half open TCP connections > Enter “50” in the field provided > Click “OK”

BitLord

Open Bitlord and navigate to > Options > Preferences (Ctrl+P)
In the Preferences Window > Advanced > Connection > Max half open TCP connections > Enter “50” in the field provided > Click “OK”
Note:  BitLord supports a maximum of 100 “Half-open” Connections.

SHAREAZA

Once the “Windows XP SP2 and the Event ID 4226 Patch” has been applied, it is safe to modify some advanced settings in SHAREAZA’s.
If you make these changes, and have not modified the Windows XP SP2 limits on concurrent half-open connections, SHAREAZA is likely to run poorly.

Downloads.MaxConnectingSources can be set to 20. (This is the most important change)
Gnutella.ConnectFactor can be increased to 4 or 5 to improve connect speed. (Modem or low bandwidth users may want to keep it at 3)
Downloads.ConnectThrottle should be set to 250 – 500, depending on your connection.
(If your router regualarly gives you trouble, you might want to increase this.)
Downloads.MaxFileSearches should be set between 1 and 4. (1 for low bandwidth users, 3 for high.)

To implement these changes, open SHAREAZA and navigate to Tools > Shareaza Settings…
In the Shareaza Settings Window > Click “Advanced”, then navigate to each setting.
To changes, Click the “Setting” enter the new “Value” in the “Value Field” and Click “Apply”
When all the desired changes have been made, Click “OK”

Windows Vista Event ID 4226 Auto Patcher
I have found a work-around for Microsoft Vista.
I have not tested this and can not offer any opinion as to effectiveness.

Windows Vista Users  (NOT XP users, see above for XP users)

1. Go to - http://www.yaronmaor.net/repair.htm
2. Look for the item named – EventID4226Fix for Windows Vista (Line 2)
3. Right-click the link and click “Save Target As”.
4. Save it in your Desktop.
5. Extract all contents of the file to a folder
6. If you are running 64-bit Vista, double click on InstallPatch64.bat. If you are running 32-Bit Vista,
double click on InstallPatch32.bat. Unsure? Run InstallPatch32.bat.
7. Some text should scroll by in a MS-DOS window, after it ends, type Y and press Enter.
8. After the restart notice appears, press any key and restart your PC.

Windows Vista SP2
The limit is removed on SP2 for Vista and you don’t have to change anything.