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Watch For Processes And Throttle Automatically


jdjdnsjax

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I had a great idea this morning, and I can't believe I or someone else hasn't already thought of it.

Currently, I give uTorrent all the network resources so that it can try and download things as fast as possible. I also want to browse the net sometimes, and since uTorrent is using all my network resources, browsing is impossible. I don't want to close uTorrent just to surf either, because sometimes I forget to run it up before sleeping, and the PC just sits there doing nothing at all all night. I know about the Scheduler feature, and use that when I can, but again, I sometimes forget to turn that off and the download speeds are capped all night at very slow speeds for no reason at all. Also, my parents use the PC at odd times, and I can't set up auto scheduling because that works on fixed times of the day.

Thats why I thought of something that will revolutionize uTorrent. I have never heard of any such feature in any BitTorrent programs, so you'll have bragging rights also.

Well...here goes.....

Add an option in uTorrent that will monitor for any process(es) and if it detects that process(es) is/are running, it will limit the download and upload speeds to the ones you specify. This should not have anything to do with the Scheduler feature, and that should be left as is, as its a great feature also. This should just take precedence over even the Scheduler speeds, if the processes you specify are active.

For example, I browse using Firefox. I add the firefox process into uTorrent options and specify my speeds when the Firefox is running as: Uploads: 30k Downloads: 50K (perhaps even number of connections: 2).

Now, uTorrent sits there eating ALL my resources downloading my torrents as quickly as possible, which is what I want. My dad comes in at 3am and turns on the monitor and starts up Firefox to browse, and instead of no pages loading because of congestion, uTorrents notices that Firefox is now running and throttles back uTorrents speeds to what I set and BAM, my dad gets full speed internet and when he is finished and closed Firefox, uTorrent will realise Firefox has closed and again take over 100% of my network, just the way I like it. MUAHAHAHA!

What do you guys think? Great feature or what?

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uTP is designed so that applications using the protocol (µTorrent will be the first) will get out of the way when it finds that the bandwidth is being used elsewhere. No, it doesn't decide on a per-process basis, and judging by precedence, that's not something that will be happening either. It decides to throttle back speed based on more technically grounded details than "is this process running?" and as such, should theoretically make better use of available bandwidth.

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But what is uTP? What does it stand for?

Sometimes, the simple solutions are better. My solution looking at the process may be simplistic, but it will work for the majority of people out there. It does everything anyone would want, it takes all the bandwidth when no-one is using the net, but slows down and gives Firefox (or/and any other process you set) the major bandwidth. It also does all this without having to test anything or make any decisions itself. It just does what we the user have specified.

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Read the first post in the thread I linked to? It explains exactly what uTP is. And again, what you described is exactly what uTP can/will do without the need to specify processes. If configured to do so, it uses the maximum bandwidth available, and throttles back when another application needs the bandwidth.

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I've just read the post thread you linked to.

If it works as you my method would, then why does it say that 1.9.1 will download slower than 1.8.1? Is it because of all the latency checks and tests it has to do? Geez, to think watching for process would be so simple and work 100% of the time.

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No, it wouldn't work 100% of the time. What if I happen to have a browser open in the background, and forget to close that, or am holding it for later without actually browsing any web page? Does that mean I want to keep the µTorrent speeds throttled? No.

1.9.x will be slower in that it'll be more sensitive to other applications' uses of bandwidth. If other applications need the bandwidth, it'll yield more willingly than 1.8.x and prior. That doesn't mean 1.9.x is inherently slower. What it does do is make more intelligent choices about how it uses bandwidth.

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How can you forget to close a browser man? And yeah, if I keep it open while I'm not even using any bandwidth, I'd still like uTorrent to be throttled.

Then there goes the supposed intelligent bandwidth utilization depending on when one is using the net (not actively browsing means not using the net). Forgetting was just a hypothetical situation, but one can forget when they have tons of windows open while multitasking. As well, I proposed another scenario anyway (leaving a web page open in the background for later use -- later being possibly on the order of hours). When might that happen? Perhaps doing some research where I'm simply flipping between Word and the browser. This idea suffers the from exact same problems as the current scheduler does (as you've described it); it just manifests itself in a different manner/situation.

At any rate, I haven't personally tested 1.9.x because of a lack of time, but it is in public testing because the algorithm for deciding when to throttle back may need tweaking, and obtaining a wider audience is a good way to do that. Some users have reported success, some users have reported problems, which the devs do attempt to address.

Edit: And again, if you configure µTorrent correctly, you don't have to worry about other applications being slowed while torrenting.

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