Of Bit-Torrent, Among other things

We at the Thrishul are well aware that there are many out there who cherish the noble cause of wasting time but some lack the tools. For example, its all very well to talk about watching 'A Wednesday' but if its not available on DVD at the local rental library, what do you do? Wait indefinitely for the some channel to show it on TV?
Not a good policy, for sure. There's always the friendly-neighbourhood-thiruttu-vcd-guy who's willing to supply movies but even his selection sometimes suffers from a lack of quality and quantity. As a last resort, there's always the internet!
Which brings us to Bit-Torrent. BitTorrent is a protocol that enables fast downloading of large files using minimum Internet bandwidth. It costs nothing to use and includes no spyware or pop-up advertising.
Unlike other download methods, BitTorrent maximizes transfer speed by gathering pieces of the file you want and downloading these pieces simultaneously from people who already have them. This process makes popular and very large files, such as videos and television programs, download much faster than is possible with other protocols.
BitTorrent works on the principle of tit-for-tat. This means that in order to receive files, you have to give them. This solves the problem of leeching (people downloading but not uploading). With BitTorrent, the more files you share with others, the faster your downloads are. Also, to make better use of available Internet bandwidth (the pipeline for data transmission), BitTorrent downloads different pieces of the file you want simultaneously from multiple computers.
So you want to use it? Read on!

1) Download and install a Bit-Torrent client. This is the software that manages your downloads. I recommend uTorrent, as its small, easy to use, and is fully-featured. Go to http://www.utorrent.com . Its 300 KB, so it should take less than a minute to download. Installation should be over in 10 secs.
2) Find a .torrent file. This is usually 10-50 KB. It doesn't actually hold any video/music or whatever, but points the BT client to the location of people who have the file.
Go to http://www.torrentz.com . Torrentz is a search engine for .torrent files. They don't host it themselves, but point you to sites that do. Search for the file you want. You should give preference to those that have a green tick mark(means verified) and those that have a high number of seeds(the green number).
They give links to sites like the Pirate Bay, Mininova, Isohunt etc. Go to Mininova, download the .torrent file.
3) Double click the .torrent file. The BT client starts the download. Depending on the speed of your connection, you should soon have the files on your computer!

Like most Internet phenomena, BitTorrent has its own jargon. Some of the more common terms related to BitTorrent include:

* Leeches - People who download files but do not share files on their own computer with others
* Seed or seeder - A computer with a complete copy of a BitTorrent file (At least one seed computer is necessary for a BitTorrent download to operate.)
* Swarm - A group of computers simultaneously sending (uploading) or receiving (downloading) the same file
* .torrent - A pointer file that directs your computer to the file you want to download
* Tracker - A server that manages the BitTorrent file-transfer process

Legal Warning: ­ BitTorrent itself is perfectly legal to use. When you select a file to download, however, it is your responsibility to make sure the file not copyrighted.

One last thing. Much thanks to HowStuffWorks.com for help with this article. Their BT article is great, if a little large. I shortened a lot. Link: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bittorrent.htm/printable