Monday, October 19, 2009

Best BitTorrent Client Software - uTorrent

I have been trying both BitComet and BitTorrent and recently I tried the uTorrent. Giving me for about a month of experience, I would like to vote uTorrent as the best BitTorrent client software for the following reasons:


  • Installation files is very small – I just love it. It still serves exactly the same purpose as other BiTorrent client software with this tiny program.
  • Download speed is faster – It just beats both BitComet and BitTorrent by looking at the total downloading speed for the same torrent files. I don't really benchmark it by apple-to-apple comparison but this is my overall impression.
  • Very small memory footprint – It is a least still very responsive when I'm downloading a lot of huge files as compared to BitComet and BitTorrent which have a little bit of lagging. Big kudos to uTorrent, I really love it.
  • User friendly interface and ease to use – Most of user options and settings are self-explanatory. There are only 3 menus (i.e. File, Options and Help) which I found it very simple enough as compared to the rest.
  • No annoying advertisements – Some BitTorrent clients just have this annoying advertisement which I think that is really unnecessary. They're not spyware but I don't like them to be displayed at the bottom of the software.
  • Resuming is very fast - The resuming speed is really awesome every time I exit the uTorrent or restart my computer. It is somehow ways faster than the rest of the bitTorrent clients software and most importantly it doesn't hang.
Note: The only not so good about uTorrent is it only supports in Windows platform.


Downloading & Configuring uTorrent

(1) Download uTorrent from the official uTorrent website and run the installation and follow through the simple setup instructions.

(2) Uncheck the "Start uTorrent when Windows starts up" which I think is not necessary.

(3) Do Not Install Ask.Com Toolbar because it is completely useless. Uncheck all the check boxs at the last page of installation. Click "Install" to continue the installation.

(4) At the “Speed Guide” page, click on the “Current Settings” select the most appropriate download speed. It will then automatically decide the best settings for you (e.g. upload limit, connections per-torrent and etc.) You can also run the speed test at www.dslreports.com or check with your internet service provider for your maximum download speed. For simplicity, you can just.



Notes: 8kbps (bit per second) is equal to 1kBps (byte per second). 1 byte = 8 bits.

(6) Click on “Test if port is forwarded properly” to make sure the port has been forwarded properly. If that doesn't work try the following steps:
  1. Make sure you enable "Add Windows Firewall Exception" in "Option -> Preference -> Connection" menu.
  2. Restart your PC and perform the test again.
  3. Click the browser refresh button until you get to the successful one.

Some Useful Tips to Use uTorrent
  • DO NOT patch TCPIP.sys to allow more concurrent half-open connections - it doesn't help much so you can just save your time to do that. Installing this patch may possibly screw up your system too, so don't take the risk.
  • Enable Protocol Encryption - As you may know some Internet Service Provided purposely block the BitTorrent protocol traffic and limit the downloading speed. This is the most funniest thing I've ever heard. So we need to hide from them and you can go to Options -> Preference and set the Outgoing Protocol Encryption to Enabled.
  • Using Force Start to Better Efficiency - The maximum number of connections is determined by "Options -> Preferences -> Bandwidth -> Number of Connections" but I usually use the Force Start feature (i.e. right click the downloading file) to kick start the download even though it exceeds the number of maximum connections. You need to play around with this to get the optimum performance that you wish. Every different torrent files download could be different.
There are a lot of tweaks but I explained here are those most common and useful one. Hope you find those tips useful. Have fun! :)

Sunday, October 4, 2009

How to Format Storage Card in Windows Mobile?

Of course the most convenient way to format your storage or flash memory card (i.e. micro-SD card) is to use SD card reader which can be plugged into your PC through USB for example. Your PC or laptop will then detect this storage card as one of the disk spaces so that you can perform the format as like how you normally format a normal hard disk.

However, I don't have this SD card reader. Therefore, I was searching around to find a way to format my storage card (i.e. Micro-SD card) in Windows Mobile. Unfortunately, many of those are not working except I found this one – StorageTools by SoftWinter.


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Note: For some reasons, the EXE doesn't work. It says I'm required to use the latest of active-sync software which is no longer necessary in Windows Vista. So, do NOT download the EXE from this website. Let's follow the following instructions:


Download & Install Instructions
  1. Click on the "More Download Options".
  2. Look for "Storage Tools for Windows Mobile"
  3. Download the appropriate CAB file (e.g. st.ppc420.arm.cab)
  4. Copy the CAB file (e.g. st.ppc420.arm.cab) to your mobile phone.
  5. Run the CAB file (e.g. st.ppc420.arm.cab ) and install the application into your mobile.
  6. In the StorageTools application, click on the "Format" tab and you will know what to do next. :)
Other Cool features of this StorageTools that you may also can try out is the “Scan” and “Defrag” features which I find it very useful.


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