Noob questions about file storage and security

[D.]

I'm a torrent noob. I read the how-to's, and everything works! Wow!

I need some help understanding file storage and security.

If I make a new folder for saving torrent downloads, that folder must be accessible to the swarm, or else I'm a leech.

How do I restrict swarm access to just the torrent folder, and prevent the swarm from seeing the rest of my harddrive, or even the rest of my home network?

My basic setup: I'm behind a router and I use the Windows Firewall.

Can somebody explain the basics for me? THANKS!

[thelittlefire]

Bittorrent doesn't work based on shared folders. You are only sharing what you are downloading/seeding. Though this is implemented differently in different clients, uTorrent has no security concerns in this regard.

[D.]

Thanks for the quick reply.

What happens when I leave uTorrent running after my download is complete? Isn't the downloaded file still available to the swarm? If so, uTorrent must have some way of distinguishing files that "should" be available to the swarm vs. the rest of the stuff on my harddrive.

How does this work?

Thanks!

[thelittlefire]

It's sharing what you downloaded. It knows where to find it because you either told it where to save it manually on-add or it used your pre-set folders from Preferences.

It sounds like you would benefit from the manual (accessible from F1 in the uTorrent window) and the guides http://utorrent.com/guides.php as well as http://dessent.net/btfaq/#what