uTorrent v2.x/3.x - Best Practice Tips

The number one tip that's not here that should be is.... reboot the computer after upgrading, before you run the new version. I don't know how many times I've upgraded and uT has hosed networking, but works fine after a reboot.

After moving from 1.8.x to 2.0.2 I did have to change the windows caching settings as recommended above. I already have hard limits on my upload and download rates so no changes have been necessary (so far).

Thank you, for your tip. I never had to reboot... so I guess this can also be your own unique problem

I never rebooted my computer after an upgrade of µT (or a software like Firefox). There is surely something "wrong" with your hardware or computer settings.

Quick Question: Would having my upload limit set as 1KB/s affect the download speed? Because if I upload at 10KB/s+, it starts to subtract from my download bandwidth. Speed Guide sets the limit at 22KB/s.

Nevermind, solved my own problem. Set it to 70% of my upload speed, as-per the guide, and Unchecked Bandwidth Management.

Thanks so much for the guide! I was bouncing between 20KB/s and 0KB/s, now getting 80KB/s to 130KB/s.

Would having my upload limit set as 1KB/s affect the download speed?

Yes it would.

Another tip, check your router settings and be sure that your port forwarding for uTorrent includes UTP!!!!

Most of us configured our routers using portforward.com instructions which typically include opening the uTorrent port for TCP only. I had no incoming UTP connections and few outgoing until I was checking my router tables for another issue and noticed that the uT rule was TCP only.

includes UTP!!!!

thanks! already in first tip - 0.[1]

This guide is now updated for the new release - 2.03 (still in beta)

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=78100

Since it's much improved in performance/speed (less overhead, lower packets/sec, using larger packets) - I recommend upgrading to it (when published).

I have upgraded to the latest utorrent 2.0.3 built 20367 but i have found that utp has never worked for me (in any of the versions of utorrent).

I have to always disable bandwidth management because utp always give me a download graph like this /\/\/\/\/\/\ (like a sine wave).

What may be the issue???

Pls suggest..

it's not possible to suggest anything unless you provide more details like:

- Speed-graph screen-shot of that (with ubuntu torrent, and some download speed limit)

- your main settings/speed limits (or setup-guide screen-shot)

- you Intetrnel connection UL&DL bandwidth

Ok i will give u the specs:

OS - Windows XP sp3

Utorrent build - 20367

Speed provided by ISP - 256 KBps Upload and 320 KBps (yes it is very less).

Speed according to speedtest.net-

Speed Guide print :

Graph Print (5 sec with utp Enabled):

You can see that the speed is fluctuating..

By the way i am downloading ATeam which has good no of seeds......

With utp enabled the max avg speed i get is around 26 KBps which is very less than the actual download speeds of 40 KBps

You may want to change your test torrent. I was using it to test my connection at a new home and it only reached about 30% of my download speed. Tried ubuntu-10.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent and it maxed out my connection right away with the same settings.

first - the guide here suggested ubuntu torrent (as allready mentioned above) . In your case - you are ABOVE your ISP limit. He is probably trashing your traffic. So make sure: "apply rate limit to uTP" IS enabled in pref->bandwidth, and I suggest you set your own DL speed limit to your package bandwidth - 320Kbps => 35-40KBps.

Thanks a lot rafi it works gr8 now and that too with out disabling utp.

The speed is now very stable..

Before,I think utp tried to max out the speed but when the traffic congestion occurred it lowered its speed .That is why there was the flluctuation...I guess this is one of the principles of utp... Am i right?????

Anyways the speed is now steady and all thanks to you rafi.

np. What did you have to do ? Enable the "limit uTP" checkbox ? set a download limit ? both ?

Limiting the download bandwidth to 40 KBps has done the charm...

New section - "D" - added: multimedia effecting speed in Vista/Win7...

D. If you feel your multimedia player throttles your speed (Win7/Vista):

If you've noticed this strange behaviour (mostly with high speed connections) - blame Microsoft... and modify/create this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\

Name : NetworkThrottlingIndex

to - FFFFFFFF

I was referred to this post regarding, decreased "surfabilty" when I achieve max downloads of 700kb/s up to 1.5Mb/s.

Obviously, I am looking to remedy my issue. What are the tweaks listed in the initial post that we help me cure my problem?

Thanks

D

Win7 64bit

If you ask any of BT inc employees - they'd tell you to set bt.transp_disposition to 26 (uTP only...) . So, If you don't have a crappy router - try it , but I doubt it'll help...

Just limiting your upload speed & overhead (B 1a) and lowering your max connections # may help.

Thanks for posting your guide rafi, nice job, thanks for your work.

Can you explain the Bitorrent > Protocol Encryption > Outgoing options ? Is it necessary to use it ?

And about the Disk Cache option, i have a high performance hdd, do i have to uncheck the "Disable Windows caching of disk writes" ? or something else

From the uTorrent help file (F1):

Protocol Encryption

The Outgoing dropdown menu allows you to select the mode of encryption that you prefer µTorrent to establish. All modes will accept incoming encrypted connections, and the encryption is 2-way.

Disabled will force µTorrent to attempt to establish only unencrypted outgoing connections.

Enabled will allow µTorrent to establish encrypted and unencrypted outgoing connections, depending on how the peer responds to the handshake. This option provides µTorrent with the largest pool of peers to pick from for connecting to, but incurs additional overhead that may often be unnecessary in most typical situations.

Forced forces µTorrent to establish only encrypted outgoing connections. Any peer that doesn't support encryption will not be connected to. It is recommended that you not use this option unless your ISP actively searches for unencrypted outgoing connections, as it can impair your ability to connect to peers.

About the disk cache - it was my observation that uT internal cache works better than Windows (mainly with 7/Vista), but you do't HAVE TO do anything. Just try it and decide for yourself.

Thank. i also read the documentation for the Protocol Encryption but it doesn't explain why we could to change this setting. is there any avantage to set it to enable / disable ?

Mostly - none, except for one thing - compatibility to other clients that force it. All ISPs know by now how to bypass it...

You just confirmed what i thought. thk