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

[freedomdwarf]

If you look at my screen-shot, I'm not downloading anything at all - just seeding.

 

And I'm not pointing at any instability either.... The overhead is fairly constant compared to the payload (up or down) and the network monitor is always showing the same proportionate discrepency compared to what uT says it's using.

I don't doubt the figures that uT displays or those of the network monitor either. Both could be quite correct because 1) uT almost certainly has no idea of (and therefore cannot calculate and include) the OS specific overhead and 2) the network monitor doesn't give a monky's who or what is using the ethernet port, it just measures what is going through it and which way it's going.

It just seems obvious to me that those of us not on optical cable (that would be a good proportion of us here in the UK) which may well allow a more balanced/independant upstream and downstream speeds where the numbers match more closely like yours do.

Unfortunately, my experience does not match yours and I don't personally know anyone running on a fibre optical connection to make any sort of comparison.

My friend who lives just down the road (3 doors away) gets similar results as mine although his ISP is British Telecom and his lump of copper wire goes to the same telephone pole as mine and will go through the same network of cables, muxes, junction boxes etc right to the local exchange and that's where the interface is supplied/owned by the two different companies. From that, I conclude that my experience is not limited to my particular ISP.

 

If I allow 30KB/s upload, even when not downloading, my whole internet experience grinds to a halt (and everyone else on my intranet too) - so I have to cap the uploads at 20KB or I just can't surf or login to get emails. It's as simple as that.

Strangely, when not running uT, I can send a file at a very decent speed (considering how crap it is) and still surf without much of a hiccup. However, uT seems to swamp my connection if I let it upload at anything much more than 20KB; downloads don't seem to hit it anywhere near as badly even when running at almost max speed.

That's than oddity that I just can't explain.

Edited July 1, 2015 by freedomdwarf

[rafi]

So, if your issue is with upload, and you have a 1M upload (125K),  try and use ~100K as a limit, *BUT* set it to include overhead in that. This will ensure you always have 20K free upload.

At the same time, do not allow more then ~5 upload slots per torrent (70 total for your 14 torrents).

Edited July 1, 2015 by rafi

[techmanc]

I hoping to avoid reading through many posts here to find out best disk cache settings for my 2tb 7200 rpm seagate hard drive and seem to be so many that can be tweaked I prefer to do it for my best situation and assuredly many others with same setup as mine.

[freedomdwarf]

So, if your issue is with upload, and you have a 1M upload (125K),  try and use ~100K as a limit, *BUT* set it to include overhead in that. This will ensure you always have 20K free upload.

At the same time, do not allow more then ~5 upload slots per torrent (70 total for your 14 torrents).

 

By coincidence rafi, I already had a max of 5 per torrent and had included the transport overhead

 

I tried the 100K upload setting and left it a few minutes. But as you can see from my screen-shot, apart from one peak, it hovers around the 70-80K area and the rate limit is all over the place.

I also had to reduce it back to 20K to be able to reply to the thread.

 

 

Had trouble uploading the pic - hit a limit of 24.72KB??? Daily limit for the forums?

Meh! It says only 2.1K left and the pic is sooo small as to be almost unreadable.

[freedomdwarf]

I hoping to avoid reading through many posts here to find out best disk cache settings for my 2tb 7200 rpm seagate hard drive and seem to be so many that can be tweaked I prefer to do it for my best situation and assuredly many others with same setup as mine.

 

My Disk Cache settings here is all checked except the manual override (enable disk cache, both read and write).

I have never suffered disk thrashing, write behind errors, or any nasties at all.

 

In fact, my disk access light barely flashes even on a blistering (for me) download and that's storing it on a terribly ancient, extremely slow, virtually unbuffered 160GB Seagate HD on IDE connection (not even SATA).

Unless you're running a very very fast download, I don't think your 2TB drive will even break a sweat saving your torrent data.

 

PS: I run uT on XP SP3 and Win7 Ultimate and only have 3GB of DDR3 Ram installed.

Edited July 1, 2015 by freedomdwarf

[techmanc]

My Disk Cache settings here is all checked except the manual override (enable disk cache, both read and write).

I have never suffered disk thrashing, write behind errors, or any nasties at all.

 

In fact, my disk access light barely flashes even on a blistering (for me) download and that's storing it on a terribly ancient, extremely slow, virtually unbuffered 160GB Seagate HD on IDE connection (not even SATA).

Unless you're running a very very fast download, I don't think your 2TB drive will even break a sweat saving your torrent data.

 

PS: I run uT on XP SP3 and Win7 Ultimate and only have 3GB of DDR3 Ram installed.

 

I am running 50/50 FIOS which they just fixed so it close to 58/60 now not sure if thats considered fast I know its fast for me anyways

[rafi]

By coincidence rafi, I already had a max of 5 per torrent and had included the transport overhead

 

I tried the 100K upload setting and left it a few minutes. But as you can see from my screen-shot, apart from one peak, it hovers around the 70-80K area and the rate limit is all over the place.

I also had to reduce it back to 20K to be able to reply to the thread.

 

NetWorx vs uTorrent #2.jpg

 

Had trouble uploading the pic - hit a limit of 24.72KB??? Daily limit for the forums?

Meh! It says only 2.1K left and the pic is sooo small as to be almost unreadable.

If you measure 1M and get here only  20K - maybe your ISP is capping BT traffic... And your SS is too small to see anything...

[freedomdwarf]

If you measure 1M and get here only  20K - maybe your ISP is capping BT traffic... And your SS is too small to see anything...

 

I've checked several times with them over recent years and they absolutely assure me that torrent (or any other format) traffic is not capped, profiled, shaped, or monitored in any way (unlike many other ISP's) - one of the reasons I chose them in the first place.

And seeing as you are suggesting they are capping only the upload, that doesn't make any sense at all. Even less sense because if they capped/profiled torrent traffic like some ISP's do, everything else (all other data packets) would be working normally while torrent traffic got throttled - and that isn't what's happening here.

 

As for the 20KB upload limit, that's because uT (and only uT) seems to swamp my bandwidth to the point that it strangles my internet completely. I can (and do) run other P2P software with no ill effects at all - only uT uploading at anything over 20KB/s kills my internet access. That's why I have to throttle it back to 20KB to be able to surf, read emails and get on forums to post answers. Freenet (more P2P software) is given 100% both ways because it has virtually no impact on my internet even when it's quite busy.

CPU usage rarely goes over 5% unless I'm doing some really heavy video editing so the processors are not stressing no matter what uT is doing - even when I restrict it to a single core.

 

 

Yeah, my screen-shot had to get shrunk because my original pic was nearly 500K and the site only left me something less than 25KB to upload another pic. I guess that's a site issue/limit.

[freedomdwarf]

I am running 50/50 FIOS which they just fixed so it close to 58/60 now not sure if thats considered fast I know its fast for me anyways

 

So... at your max you'll get 60Mb/s which is roughly 6MB/s or less in actual payload.

Even a cheap~ish SATA drive will quite happily run at that rate.

 

I still wouldn't panic

[techmanc]

So... at your max you'll get 60Mb/s which is roughly 6MB/s or less in actual payload.

Even a cheap~ish SATA drive will quite happily run at that rate.

 

I still wouldn't panic

No panic at all just like to tweak my settings if needed as I am techie like that.

[freedomdwarf]

Best advice I can give to anyone in any situation: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[dothackjhe]

I'm recently getting a "disk overload" error since having been downloading a torrent as big as 35 Gb excluding other torrents I'm trying to download with it. However, following your guide into fixing its issue on uTorrent 2.2.1, it did not worked for me. 

Edited December 1, 2015 by dothackjhe

[rafi]

dothackjhe, my settings' files are for the latest uTorrent - 3.4.5+. Upgrade to 3.4.6 beta and retry.

Edited December 1, 2015 by rafi

[Richard Franklin]

I have no clue how many connected peers/seeds you had, or their distribution between torrents.

If uTorrent needs UPnP to get port forwarding working on your network...that comes as no surprise. If your router's support of UPnP is really bad/broken, UPnP can also be a disaster...

[Layfon]

A new version of utorrent is finally buggy..... When do we get a fix?

 

Just FYI: my current version is 3.3.1 and it does find new updates. "Remove" and "Styart Torrent" buttons are often disabled and I cannot click on them until I minimize/maximize the window or double click on selected torrent.

[rafi]

In 3.4.6 those are all fine.

[rafi]

To everyone that have posted in this thread, I'm going to update the tips/guide with a new entry in a couple of weeks - a recommended RSS-downloader-like application and TV shows management named -  Medusa. In its next release, it will included improvements I've added to it for better interacting with uTorrent using WebAPI. 

This is a heads up for whoever wants to give it a try. I will prepare also a min/max smart-files-size limiter for this app, so downloads can be picked up also according to your preferred file sizes.  So, keep tuned in...  

Edited May 26, 2018 by rafi

[anonymousdj]

At the moment, I'm experiencing very weird range of issues that I've never faced before. Honestly, your thread sounds very promising. I'm using the most recent version which is 3.5.5 and just done with all your tips & tricks. I really appreciate your time and effort to write such a thorough problem solving guide for all other users.The least I can do is, back to you with an update to see what's my uTorrent response to your guidelines.

 

Update: For the first couple of minutes every thing was perfect but again this "Disk Cache Overload" thing happened and ruined everything. I've tried all tricks could be found around the Net with no luck including yours. I used to use FDM for downloading ultra big torrent files with no problem. The only issue with FDM is very weak memory management that makes my system slow as hell.

Edited February 18, 2021 by anonymousdj

[rafi]

1 hour ago, anonymousdj said:

At the moment, I'm experiencing very weird range of issues that I've never faced before.

This is not info that can be analyzed to trace the root cause... Disc overload is cased by utorrent capable for writing to your storage device at a rate that is lower then the download rate. So, it fills up the RAM cache first (time when  everything seems to work OK)  and then struggle to write to disk causing overload and slowing download. Look for a slow HD for random-writes (can test with Crystal disk checker) , or unlikely, relatively very-very fast Internet connection...

[rafi]

Settings file updated for v3.5.5 and Windows 10. 

[rafi]

New tip: "V" - how to improve/reduce cached RAM size..

[joshace]

On 4/30/2010 at 4:37 PM, rafi said:

[updated for release 3.3.x]

>>>Click here to subscribe to this thread<<<

A new Help Website for uTorrent 3.x.x is HERE
 

Having crashes, or memory related issues on a 64 bit PC ? try the LAA release (latest in my sig):

* NEW> Latest stable with LAA flag - for using >2GB with x64 Windows - >uTorrent EXE with LAA Flag< or >from Here< <NEW *

 

Have you upgraded lately from a uTorrent older - 2.x/1.8x - release to the new v 3.x.x ?

A new install of uTorrent ?

Having some memory issues ? CPU load increase ?

Router/Internet are overloaded ?

Cannot reach the speed you used to have, or having a fluctuating/crappy speed ?

Want version v3.x graphs to look & feel like in 2.2.1 ?

Go on, try and read this, it might help! Most tips are also valid for the 2.x releases.

Oh... and if it did help you, please post below - what and how. Thanks!

My mini-guide/suggestions for the 3.x user:

Contents

Background

O. Quick fix/"install" (adding also an enhanced search engines list) ...

0. If nothing works for you...

1. An updated help file for v3.2.x/3.3.x <--- *** NEW ***

A. For fixing CPU-load/Memory/Disk overhead/stability issues

B. For improving low speed issues

C. For improving Internet choking / router issues

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

E. For minimizing possible "privacy invasion" issues

F. Bypassing known bugs

G. When the speed is going over your set limits

H. For problems downloading the "help file"

I. For possibly faster one-by-one downloading of multi-files in a torrent

J. For auto-extracting files after download completes

uTorrnet v3.x Specials...

K. How to revert 3.0 graphs to 2.2.1 look & feel

L. A "backup" copy of the languages pack file

M. Smartly using of the RSS auto-downloader - avoid fake torrents

N. How to Control uTorrent "Offers" (Enable/Disable Ads/Promotions) <--- *** 3.2.1+ ***

P. Make pref->bandwidth->"Alternate upload rate when not downloading" work "better"

Q. Solve the 'missing tray icon' on XP on 3.3.1+ (plus - a replacement icon)

R. How to bypass auto-update into %appdata%\utorrent, and use any other directory <---***3.3.1+***

S. "Disk overload"/"Cache overflow" warning - what is it and how to try to overcome <--- ***fixed in 3.4.1+***

T. Making auto-backup for your settings files

U. How to auto-map a label to a folder (3.4.1+)

V. How to reduce memory/cache consumption (Windows)

O. Quick fix/"install"...

Good luck !

0. If nothing works for you... :

No downloads, no seeding , active torrents are in red, no green net-status, in trackers' tab - none are connecting... check this:

[1] If you have a router - check that your port is still being forwarded and is opened [Control-G->setup guide] and for both TCP + UDP

[2] Check that you have enabled/excluded the new release in your Windows firewall/3rd party firewall (replacing the old rules). Try uninstall ZoneAlaram if installed.

1. An updated help file for v3.2.x/3.3.x

The current uTorrent help file is "compatible" with version 2.2. Here is an updated help file for v 3.2.1 and one for 3.3.x. It is is not 100% complete, but I believe better then the older one.

1. Extract utorrent.chm from the zip file into your settings directory (either local, with the exe, or at %appdata%/utorrent)

2. Now, for example, for version 3.2.1 Rename the file to utorrent-<version#>-<build#>.chm [example: utorrent-321-28086.chm]

Note: starting from v 3.4 (build 30553) the help file name changed to utorrent-<version#>.chm [example: utorrent-340.chm]

And you are all done!

An 'enhanced' new RSS tutorial is in there too @chapter 2 - Basic Guides.

Feel free to post here comments/syntax-errors/more info you think should be included

A. For fixing CPU-load/memory-issues/Disk-overload/stability:

[0] Set Pref.->Advanced net.low_cpu - true

[1] In pref.->advanced->Disk Cache Make sure :

1a. ->Override automatic cache size... - is checked

1b. ->reduce memory usage when the cache is not needed - is unchecked

[2] Make sure pref.->advanced->gui.transparent_graph_legend is false

[3] Reduce disk overhead by also enabling pref.->general->pre-allocate All Files

[4] Win7 users might experience uTorrent process not closing properly.

It is suspected to be caused by a Microsoft IPV6 issue. Those command lines can assist by disabling IPV6 in your system:

In Windows - go Start->run->cmd, and enter those two commands:

netsh int 6to4 set state disabled

netsh int teredo set state disabled

ATTENTION: these commands will disable IPV6/teredo. You might need it for other applications, and M$ Homegroup on Win7+

NOTE: to re-enable:

> netsh int 6to4 set state enabled

> netsh int teredo set state default

[5] Win7 freezing on you - you can also set the new advanced setting: net.disable_ipv6 = true and pref->connection->Enable uPnP Port mapping = unchecked. That might prevent it.

B. For improving low speed issues:

[1] Make sure your upload speed limit is correctly set as follows:

1a. Set the upload limit to about 80-95% of your connection's maximum upload-speed/cap.

This is required so to accommodate for 1) + 2) above, limiting the total of

upload-payload + download-acks-overhead

You can test your connection speed @ http://speedtest.net or use the options->setup-guide (control-G)

1b. Set "Bandwidth->Apply rate limit to transport overhead" to enabled (very recommended) -

1c. Set "Bandwidth->Apply rate limit to uTP connections" to enabled (very recommended)

1d. If you have "Bandwidth->Apply rate limit to transport overhead" - disabled -

set the upload limit to 70-80% of your connection's maximum upload-speed/cap.

This is recommended in this case, but not required, though.

You can set it to as low as the actual seeding-payload speed you like to have.

In both cases you can use a different upload speed limit setting at pref->bandwidth->"Alternate upload rate when not downloading"

Test your download speed again now with this (test torrent...) This step should be enough for most users that upgrade!

Important notice:

It seems that there is an issue with v3.x upload limiter with high-speed connections (upload speeds > 500KB/s) . uTorrent upload limiter fails to limit uTP connections correctly! It seems to limit them to about ~500K . So, unless you want to just not use the limiter for uTP (un-check/disable "Bandwidth->Apply rate limit to uTP connections" ) or just not use uTP (un-check BitTorrent->Enable bandwidth management) here is a tip how to overcome this:

* Set any download limit you want * ! Strangely, this seems to help bypass the upload limiter issue

Remember: this is ONLY for very high speed UPLOAD rates! and for the time being, till they'll fix the upload limiter

[2] Settings that might improve (reduce) your overhead:

2a. Set pref->advanced->net.uTP_dynamic_packet_size =false

2b. Set pref->advanced->net.utp_initial_packet_size = 8 (use MTU size, actually 1440...)

[3] Set pref.->advanced->bt.tcp_rate_control = false

[4] If you want to try and reduce your ISP's throttling:

Some ISPs are more "sensitive" to UPD (uTP) traffic. You can reduce the use of uTP by -

4a. Support only uTP incoming connections by setting pref->advanced->bt.transp_disposition = 29

4b. Alternatively - disable the use of uTP by pref->BitTorrent->Enable Bandwidth Management = unchecked

[5] To improve availability of peers, you might want to clean up the bans uTorrent imposes on PEX peers due to 'message flood'. So, for torrents running/active for a long time, it might be helpful to perform every couple of days:

right-click->advanced->reset bans

right-click->advanced->clear peer list

Finally, For users who like to experiment with uTP - try to reset it to UNLIMITED speed disabling the new: Bandwidth->Apply rate limit to uTP connections .

The theory is that this will give you high speeds, w/o effecting other Internet traffic.

Good luck with it ! and report back here ... !

C. For improving Internet choking / router issues:

[1] First, make sure you have set a proper upload speed limit (B.1 above) and that your max # of connections/slots are per the setup-guide

[2] Change setting per B.2a&B.2b above

[3] Set your pref->advanced->bt.connect_speed = 10

[4] Set your pref->advanced->net.max_halfopen = 50

[5] Disable the DHT network

[6] In pref->connection - Disable NAT-PMP port mapping.

Make sure 'uPnP port mapping' is unchecked if you've manually forwarded you port in the router.

[7] AMD Dual Core specific issue, choking when running on XP

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

If you've noticed this strange behaviour (mostly with high speed connections) when running a player/recorder/streamer app - blame Microsoft... and modify/create this registry key:

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

Name : NetworkThrottlingIndex

Setting to - FFFFFFFF will make it not throttle .

Other values may adjust the amount per the above article.

E. For minimizing possible "privacy invasion" issues:

1. Settings:

Pref->general->send details when checking for updates - unchecked

Pref->advanced->gui.report_problems - false (do not send crash reports)

Pref->advanced->gui.bypass_search_redirect - false (bypass BT inc search server when searching)

2. To avoid installing of the TOOL-BAR make sure you follow this:

Look here for some more advanced methods on how to uninstall it ...

F. Bypassing known bugs:

1. For Win 7/x64 users - not being able to kill uT process - see A[3-4] above ...

2. Resetting Transfer Cap history - will not quit the "stopped" state , caused by the cap limiter. A bypass solution is here.

3. Sometimes you may notice a Chinese link on the toolbar. Here is how you change it to English, remove it you replace it with yours... :

0. Close uTorrent

1. Run BEendode-editor http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=31306 on your active settings.dat file

2. Search inside for "stitle" (no quotes)

3. Edit it (double click) and replace it with "Take our product survey"

Now, rerun uTorrent see if that did the trick ...

And for the bonus-extra-fun part:

a. Search for "s_url"

b. Edit in your own URL, like this one to this on-line TIPs/guide: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=74820

c. Per the above 'guide' enter as stitle: "Rafi's tips-guide..."

G. When the speed is going over your set limits:

a. See that your Perf.->bandwidth->Apply rate limit to uTP connections is checked...

b. Optionally: Enable Preferences->bandwidth->Apply rate limit to transport overhead

c. Enable Preferences->BitTorrent->limit local peers bandwidth

d. DHT network can 'contribute' some upload rate. If you do not really need it, you can disable it, to avoid that:

Either completely - disable Preferences ->Bittorrent->Enable DHT network,

or for individual torrents - in properties of the torrent.

H. For problems downloading the "help file" :

- Get the latest copy from here or here

- Extract to your settings *.dat files location

- Rename to utorrent-<version-#>-<build-#>.chm

For example - for release 2.0.1 build 19248 - utorrent-201-19248.chm

for release 2.0.2 build 19648 - utorrent-202-19648.chm

for release 2.2.0 build 23071 -utorrent-220-23071.chm

--> Starting from v 3.4 (build 30553) the help file name changed to utorrent-<version#>.chm [example: utorrent-340.chm]

I. For possibly faster one-by-one downloading of multi-files in a torrent:

This tip will assist you in case you have multiple TV episodes inside a single torrent, and you like to download and watch the first episode(s) first. Here is how you do it conveniently and automatically -

1. Press shift-F2 + click preferences

2. Press shift-F2 + click advanced (if not already on advanced).

( http://is.gd/7nm3px )

3. You'll see a new property: bt.sequential_files. Set it "true"

You are all done. From now on - multi-torrents downloads will automatically set high priority to the first/top file downloading, and low for the rest. This way you'll get the top on the list the fastest way.

Note: a. The downloads' order always goes by the position of the file inside the torrent.

b. You should revert this setting to FALSE again, since the overall time to download multi-files torrents - will be LONGER!

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/901/80831709.png

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1409/63494567.th.png

J. For auto-extracting files after download completes:

Use the following command inside preferences->Advanced->Run-Program:

or:

cmd /c start /min IF EXIST "%D\*.r*" "c:\program files\winrar\winrar.exe" x -ibck "%D\*.r*" "%D"

Were c:\program files\winrar\winrar.exe - is the location of your Winrar program.

Adding the '-ad' switch will also create a sub-folder with the rar file name.

More details are in this winrar guide: http://acritum.com/software/manuals/winrar/

If you do not have Winrar on you PC, here is another nice utility that might help you do that :http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=114772

K. How to revert 3.0 graphs to 2.2.1 look & feel

Here is a template/skin file I made, that supposes to give you the 2.2.1 speed-graph's colors. Try it out https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME3JJWD

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B1fLVXA8Va91MEJHcGFNVWpRX1U (rename to current.btskin)

You just need to drag & drop it into uTorrent 3.0 or double click it.

To get back into the original colors: close uT, and delete the generated current.btskin file, that should be were your settings.dat is (either at your exe location or %appdata%\utorrent)

Have fun!

L. A "backup" copy of the language pack-file (schnurlos's page)

http://www.should.keepfree.de/utorrent.lng.zip

M. Smartly using of the RSS auto-downloader - avoid fake torrents

Those of you who are using the RSS downloader, know that uTorrent does not help in filtering torrents using their contents, but only by the torrents' name and episodes/seasons #.

You find yourself auto-downloading fake torrents, that require some password to open them, using suspicious sites !

Here is a special RSS feed-site that can help you with better filtering: http://www.dailytvtorrents.org/

I found it very useful to eliminate those fake torrents. Here is an example how you can define it in uTorrent:

Feed's link - http://www.dailytvtorrents.org/rss/allshows?norar=yes&onlynew=yes

This will make sure there is no *.rar inside the torrents, and that only new releases are scanned.

http://thumbnails70.imagebam.com/19141/0fec64191402276.jpg

N. How to Control uTorrent "Offers" (Enable/Disable Ads/Promotions)

Starting with uTorrent 3.2.1, uTorrent includes a few new "Offer"-links to a sponsored torrent showing only new offers and auto-disabled when you skip/select it's offers (visible just below the toolbar) and to uTorrent Plus download plus an extra promo page (visible on the left pane="rail"). All of those can be enabled/disabled using the Advanced settings (you can use "offer" filter). You can see those settings in the below screenshots and set them to true/false so to enable/disable each (for both 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 and above).

In addition, there are two icon-links to uTorrent's Facebook/Tweeter pages at the bottom right on the status bar, and a "take out survey" link on the right side of the toolbar. Those cannot be removed.

3.4.x offers' related settings will be listed when it is stabilized (probably @3.4.3) . Till then you have those links for 3.4.2: http://forum.utorrent.com/topic/88607-34x-stable/page-44#entry494405

3.2.2+ settings 3.2.1 settings

http://thumbnails101.imagebam.com/21957/1513bf219563124.jpg http://thumbnails106.imagebam.com/21957/4a93a2219563126.jpg

P. Make pref->bandwidth->Alternate upload rate when not downloading - work "better"

The "Alternate upload rate when not downloading" seems to be sensitive to very small on-going download rates.

The reason is this special setting called ul_rate_download_thres that is set to 0 by default. You need to increase it a bit:

- Press shift-F2 and Preferences

- Press shift-F2 and advanced

( http://is.gd/7nm3px )

- set ul_rate_download_thre to 5K or more

Q. Solve the 'missing tray icon' on XP with 3.3.1+ (plus - a replacement icon)

Since v3.3.1, people running Windows XP have noticed that the tray icon might not show up. This is due to uTorrent now using a compressed format for the icon, that XP seem to not support. Following are 3 alternative icons-files that you can use:

http://105.imagebam.com/download/G6pFK7NTEAlCTyJ9ZcunIw/26626/266258635/tray3.3_48_tn.pngIcon with 3.3. style: https://docs.google.com/uc?authuser=0&id=0B1fLVXA8Va91TDFjUVJYU3ZuREU&export=download

http://103.imagebam.com/download/7Ws2vjWIUR8w7sdCgXeyCw/26626/266258622/tray332_64_tn.pngIcon with 3.3.1+ style: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B1fLVXA8Va91ZjZidUM5ZUZKams&export=download

http://104.imagebam.com/download/H9zhUhYF5JalmdhEGHEsOg/26626/266258630/trayPopular_256_tn.pngAnother popular icon style: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B1fLVXA8Va91d0tvVXFFQjlteEE&export=download

And do the following:

1. Download and rename to "tray.ico"

2. Place where your settings are (with the exe of in %appdata%\utorrent)

3. Re-run uTorrent

You are all done...

R. How to bypass auto-update into %appdata%\uTorrent, and use any other directory

Since 3.3.1, uTorrent is auto-updating and installing the exe into %appdata%\uTorrent . People that have previously some kind of "standalone" install (exe + settings), have installed into c:\program files\uTorrent, or simply want to install in a flash-drive/DOK might find their uTorrent install - relocated, and sometimes will even temporarily loose their old settings.

Until this issue is resolved here is how to trick windows to put everything in any directory you like:

1. Start->run->cmd and open a command window

2. cd %appdata%

3. If you already have a sub-directory .\uTorrent - rename it to _uTorrent: >ren uTorrent _uTorrent

4. Set a logical link into the directory you want the install in (with quotes): >mklink /D uTorrent "<your_install_full_path_name>"

5. Copy uTorrent.exe (and your other settings/torrent files if needed) from .\_uTorrent to your install path as well

You are all done!

S. "Disk overload"/"Cache overflow" warning - what is it and how to try to overcome

Some users observe a "Disk overload" warning on the status bar. This is observed when:

- Downloading at higher rates (usually over 8MB/sec)

- Downloading of multi-files torrents (files there are not aligned to disk blocks)

- Downloading of larger files >4GB

- Using a slower hard drivers (slower USB connection)

- Using an AV software that interferes with the download

- Having access permissions in the download location

The good news is: this issue was greatly improved in release 3.4.1, so I suggest to first try and upgrade (backup your settings first) and see if it helps. This release should have no issues up to speeds of ~12MB/sec (~100mbps) when using my settings file)

In principle, this warning is when uTorrent cannot write the downloaded data as fast as it downloads it. It then throttles it's own speed to compensate.

Things to do that *might* help (beside improving the above root causes) :

- Use my recommended settings file

- Try to run-as-admin

- Checking Pref.Advanced->Disk Cache->Write out untouched blocks every 2 min. might help a bit with not accumulating of completed pieces in cache.

- Optional: Set pref.->advanced->diskio.use_partfile = FALSE (might result in "skipped" files being downloaded)

- As a last resort: try to also change my settings to Pref.->Advanced->diskio.sparse_files to TRUE (Warning: this increases HD fragmentation)

Good luck!

T. Making auto-backup for your settings files

Settings files are sensitive to crashes (not using a proper exit command). You might find yourself "loosing" your torrents, if resume.dat is corrupted for example. This is a cmd file that I recommend to run uTorrent with, so to be able to recover if required, using the backup settings:

copy /Y resume.dat.save resume.dat.save.old

copy /Y resume.dat resume.dat.save

! Can copy here the other .dat files, like settings.day

start /D "D:\Program Files\uTorrent\uT 3.4" utorrent.exe /recover

U. How to auto-map a label to a folder (3.4.1+)

Starting with 3.4.1, you can ask uTorrent to auto-select (map) for you a destination download path and give labels to torrents/files you "add" for downloading. This feature is now limited in functionality (works only it "Add torrent" dilog is being used) and still has some bugs...

Here is how:

1. Make sure you have Pref.->UI setting->"When Adding Torrents" section - Show options to change the name and location of the torrent data - Enabled

2. In the new pref.->Labels->"Label-Directory Mapping" section (lower) - make a list of your labels, and their desired destination pathes (use the "+" to add)

3. In the new pref.->Labels->"Auto-Label" section (upper) - enter the *exact same* label, and the text sub-string in torrents you'd like uTorrent to find and associate with it (use the "+" to add)

4. Do not enter and wildcards (*, ? ) , and remember to ENABLE the feature by checking the box "Use Label and directory Rule" at the top

Limitations/bugs:

a. The lower "-" (delete) does not work, do be careful.... (can still be deleted using BEncode utility on the settings.dat file ...)

b. No wildcards for "abc*cde" type strings

c. Does not work when not using the "Add" dialog

d. You cannot change the default set for video/music, so, do not touch if you need them...

Example for newer movies that includes the year in their name ("yyy 201x zzzz"):

http://www.imagebam.com/image/3db7e2325810863

And the result for this test torrent:

http://www.imagebam.com/image/ac41b3325810857

Good luck!

V. How to reduce memory/cache consumption (Windows)

Run this registey settings-file to reduce priority in Windows' cache sub-system to 1 (minimum).

This should allow Windows to allow other applications in the cache over utorrent if needed.

 

 

Other troubleshooting related links/threads:

- Speed related issues: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=15992

I don't see a Tip "O"   it goes from "N" to "P"   without an "O"

[Hyosung]

If you're reading it from the First Page it's literally under:
V. How to reduce memory/cache consumption (Windows)
^From the table of contents.
 

[rafi]

9 hours ago, joshace said:

I don't see a Tip "O"   it goes from "N" to "P"   without an "O"

The first one...

Quote

O. Quick fix/"install" (adding also an enhanced search engines list) .