New to Torrents? Tutorial For Newbies? Please read and add as you wish

[BigShite]

NEW TO TORRENTS? THEN YOU MUST READ THIS.

Hello peeps.

I'm a newbie to torrents as a whole. In fact just about a week or so.(today is 9th Jan 2006) My knowledge about computers is very limited. I found out about torrents by accident. And tried all the main programs, Azeurus, BitTorrent, BitComet and found uTorrent worked best. At least for me. If you need to be reassured about this then just read the reviews by users. I did try all the above in a day with the same small-ish downloads and uTorrent won. This article, I hope, shall point out a few things newbies need to know before they get started. Remember I'm no expert and is purely intended to push someone with no knowledge of torrents in the right direction. I welcome any additions, corrections or any offer of help.

When I first logged onto this site when I had speed problems (probably within 10 mins) I went straight to the forum. Now, try typing that in. The results are plentiful. With lots of posts from newbies asking the same bloody questions. ( I'm guilty Firon, I'm sorry). This exampleis one I found. Has anyone searched the forum? Not really if Firon can paste an age old link. Since I got my settings to give better results, I've painfully trawled through loads of these posts (to learn more about torrents from people) and each one added to my frustration because not only was it wasting my time but also the administrators time too. I didn't realise. It really rips my knitting. I mean, Firon and the likes probably spend more time replying to repeat messages or sorting messages in wrong section than they'd like to. If this time was freed up then maybe a tutorial could be made for Dummies, like myself? Perhaps it could be a step by step guide or whatever. Maybe in the future.

But to be honest Newbies you don't have to wait. And Firon doesn't have to either. It's all here on the site. Everything you need to know and then some. (I use Firon because, well I don't know any other admins, sorry admins!!)

Ok I've spoke enough shite. I know I'm only a newbie myself. But I knew nothing about everything to do with torrents. The terminology for one. So here's some basic things you need to know that I didn't about a week ago. This is purely relevant to me and my experience over the past week.

1. Have some PATIENCE. Prepare to have your up's and down's. Some files just can't be downloaded quicker!Also prepare to search the and FAQ'sfor what you need. The answers are there.
   
2. Don't know what a seeder is? Check out the meanings here. Try Brian's Guideand of course the Getting Started Guide
   
3. Get your download and upload speed from your ISP - Internet Service Provider (I knew what an ISP was).You need to know these for your settings. Alternatively, you can test your connection here.. Then read IceDogs' helpful guide.. Don't just skim over it. Really read it. It covers a lot of stuff about routers, but I didn't need it. I only found out what a router was when I read IceDogs' helpful guide..
   

Now you need to choose a torrent to download. I won't recommend any sites in case something goes tits up with your computer and you blame me. So, what I have got is a list of sites with a list of sites to download from. Now if you click on any of these and they feck your machine, don't blame me. I'm just a newbie.

• Torrent Top 100
  
• Top Mango's 100
  
• Hypertor
  

There are of course the sites in the top right of uTorrent. Well it is in my version anyway. I'm running uTorrent 1.3 Build 364. Click on the magnifying glass to choose which site to search. Press Enter to go.

When choosing a torrent to download, make sure there are lots of seeders and peers and all that. Make sure the health is high also. Know your Operating System too (OS). Are you Mac or Windows? I think linux is another , I don't know. I'll get verbally lynched if I'm wrong.=).

I don't know why these numbers matter, I'll find out soon enough, as will you.

Now this torrent file is tiny. It's not the file you're after. Once it's in your computer, you open it within the uTorrent through the torrent disc icon up the top left, funnily enough. Then the uTorrent program searches for the different pieces of what u want and downloads it. Sometimes. But choose a good torrent and you'll be fine. Anything messes up then search all the forums and FAQ's before posting messages. You're only making it difficult on yourselves and others. You won't be the first to have had the problem. Think about it.

I hope this will help others like me who know Jack about torrents and maybe free some of the forum space up a bit and give the admins more time to do what they have to do ( if anything......jk).

I've typed what I can for tonight. If I could type more then I would. My arse is sore though. Numb in fact. Please post any comments.

[BigShite]

I don't mean this as a tutorial as such like the topic might suggest, but at least newbies might find it easier.

[sblmnl]

You make some good points, I think you have covered all the stuff I have (also) learned in the last couple of weeks in the FAQs you've linked to, or the main FAQ, including [url=]http://www.portforward.com/default.htm which probably the best-designed help site I have ever seen, with really simple but detailed step by step settings how to set up port forwarding for your torrent client and exact router model *with pictures* plus how to configure common software firewalls and so on.

As a fellow noob, it occurred to me it would be really good to have an actual newbie forum complete with a couple of stickied "getting started" FAQs - abridged versions of the main FAQ with maybe some step-by-step guides. As you say the info is all here, so would be a case of drawing it together in one place. And of course a BIG RED SEARCH BUTTON complete with dire warnings what will happen if you don't use it :-)

Community-minded peeps can then drop by when they have a minute or 2 spare, to help or uh, educate as needed hehe.

It's up to the mods of course but I have seen it work pretty well in other places. The main benefit would be to stop us cluttering up the main forums with the inevitable dumb questions, plus it would help to keep the main FAQ briefer, which could save the mods some work from people with attention spans too short to read all the way through it.

[kiai]

Being lazy I think it would be a good idea if someone could come round my house, tell me how the whole thing works, set my preferences for optimal performance and tell me what all the numbers 'n' stuff are for. Failing that a step by step guide with pictures, and arrows pointing to all the twiddly bits.

Okay that aint gonna happen, awww!!

For some things this post has been a big help. The problem is I click on a link, get there and click on another link and before I know it I forget what I was doing in the first place :mad: naaaaaa it's not funny

Kiai