Torrent Save Folder

[thebaron]

Hi there,

I was going to post this in the bugs section, but it's not really a bug so I thought I'd post it here instead.

First off, I love uTorrent :-D Best torrent software out there by far, in my opinion.

Anyway, my suggestion would be just - to change the way that torrents are stored/deleted, or force the user to select their own directory (rather than it be an option you have to look for). The reason I say this is because the default directory for saving torrents is hidden among the user's settings folders on Windows. This wouldn't be a problem, but alot of people simply choose to "Remove" the torrent from the list when they're done with it, which leaves the torrent file stored in that hidden folder. People may not realise this, so don't think to select "Remove and... Delete Torrent".

Of course, if the user selects their own storage location from the start, they then assume control over the stored files and this isn't an issue. But I believe alot of users will not be aware of the option, or that these files are stored in the default hidden location, and only removed when choosing the "Remove AND..." option.

As a result, every single torrent file the user has opened collects in this folder and (1) takes up hard disk space, but more importantly (2) raises privacy concerns; the less-knowledgable user can end up leaving a record of everything he/she downloads without knowing it.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I managed to explain this well.

P.S. - The link to 'Register' on the forum didn't work for me by just clicking it for some reason :-/ I had to manually add the "register.php" to the end of the URL.

[Ultima]

The better solution would be to make it remove .torrent files by default upon torrent removal, which has been requested before.

[thebaron]

Yeh, sure, whatever is good :-)

Sorry if it was discussed before. This is actually the only thing I can find to suggest about the client, because otherwise it's perfect :-D (not to sound too ass-kissy :-P)

Thanks, and keep up the good work :-)

[Ultima]

Nah, forcing the setting of this directory wasn't discussed before because (in my estimation/opinion) it's not really a nice/clean solution

[thebaron]

Yeh, well I agree. Of the TWO ideas I suggested, I liked the first one best too

[socalscott]

'default directory for saving torrents is hidden among the user's settings folders on Windows.'

How do I find this folder?

[DreadWingKnight]

By reading the FAQ

[g7w]

just an opinion, but thebaron makes a valid point:

force the user to select their own directory

many windows users are not computer literate.

During installation of uTorrent a separate page for file storage and handling should pop up.

File location should be made aware and resolved in Setup.

On Windows systems the default location *should be*

(if folder does not exist then create it, if default location is to be used)

* My Documents -> My Torrents for completed

* My Documents -> My Torrents -> Temp for new, incomplete downloads

If the user has an area set aside elsewhere, then they can change location, but most people will be comfortable with this [proposed] schema.

peace,

- g7w

[thebaron]

I am thebaron from the future and I have come to bump this thread.

We are now up to version 3.0 of uTorrent in my time and this issue still hasn't been resolved. The world is in chaos. I have been sent back to right what once went wrong.

Please, for the love of humanity, take heed of my warning!

I have to go now. The web forum time jump device only works for a very short time!

[Firon]

Not going to happen. It doesn't actually matter whether some .torrent files are left on the user's drive.

[thebaron]

Yeh, and it doesn't matter when web browsers leave behind traces of sites that have been visited, or when a user installs some form of spyware on their computer, and ... who cares if we get a trojan horse?

All those companies that make software to increase user privacy are just wasting their time. I see that now.

[Firon]

If you actually care so much about leaving a few files on your system (and believe me, very few people actually do), then it should be your responsibility to clean up your tracks. This would be an annoying 'feature' for 99.9% of users, and it's only a minor inconvenience for you to clean up the torrent files yourself.

And yes, most user privacy software is completely useless.

[thebaron]

Firon, I don't care so much - as I am computer literate enough to have located this problem myself, and I know to change the location. I just think many users will not, and will run the risk of inadvertently leaving a record of their downloads.

Consider this:

I know that those files are left behind if only the 'remove' option is used (the simple 'remove' option being the most obvious thing to click for an average user)

Now say I'm on another person's computer. A person who doesn't know this, and is blissfully unaware of the record of their downloads building up in %AppData% - I can then look in that folder, and see what they've been downloading.

Hence... the way it is right now means that many end users are having privacy put at risk.

Granted, what they're downloading may not entitle them to privacy, but that's beside the point. It's the same as a person having the option to clear their browser history to hide the fact they've been looking at porn or whatever...

I have a few friends who I've had to inform of this, and they've always been happy to learn of how to handle it - but I wouldn't have had to tell them if it was more obvious to begin with.

Thanks for the replies so far.