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In windows Vista Home Premium x64 using uTorrent, how can I make the download(s) faster?

EDIT: What are recommended settings for QoS?

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4 Answers 4

up vote 14 down vote accepted
  1. Pay more your ISP to have more bandwidth (or change your ISP)
  2. Choose a good tracker -Update(3)
    • The tracker is what give you good seeders, so it's essential to have a good one. Private tracker with ratio push people to seed (and to use seedbox), so usually they achieve better speed for less seeder (Thanks to NT to remember me that, vote (also) for him)
  3. Check seeds and peers
  4. Setting µTorrent for your connection speed
    1. Go to Options > Speed Guide
    2. Select the listing closest to your upload speed result (rounding down as necessary)
  5. Tweaking manually the connection settings
    1. Upload bandwidth: approximately 85% of your upload rate
    2. Download bandwidth: approximately 95% of your download rate (Slower connections (upload <60 kB/s) need a little more space so download rate * 85%)
    3. Maximum connected peers per torrent: Not too high, not too low: try upload rate * 1.3
    4. Maximum upload slots: 1 + (upload rate / 6)
    5. Maximum half-open tcp connections: upload rate * 2 (& never higher than 1000) and more for slower connections (upload <60 kB/s): upload rate * 4
  6. Enabling DHT & peer exchange (only on public tracker) to find more seeders -Update(1)
    • For all your torrents: Options > Preferences > BitTorrent > Check: "Enable DHT network", "Enable DHT for new torrents" and "Enable Peer Exchange"
    • Or by torrent: Right click on the torrent > Properties > Check "Enable DHT" "Peer Exchange" (And uncheck them in your preference)
  7. If your public torrent is low on seeders try to add it a list of public trackers -Update(1)
  8. Enabling protocol encryption & change the default port (to avoid ISP limiting the connection)
    1. Go to Options > Preferences > BitTorrent. Set Outgoing under Protocol Encryption to Enable, check "Allow incoming legacy connections".
    2. Go to Options > Preferences > Connections. Set Port used for incoming connections outside of the range 6881-6999
  9. Authorizing µTorrent in your firewall
    • Microsoft Windows XP/Vista firewall: Go to Options > Preferences > Connection, check "Add µTorrent to Windows Firewall." This is enabled by default.
    • Other firewalls: RTFM
  10. Resolve NAT problem
    • At the bottom of the µTorrent window toward the middle of the status bar you will see a colored dot:
      • If it's yellow it's indeterminate: open the Speed Guide with Ctrl+G, then click "Test if the port is forwarded properly."
      • If it's red you either have not yet configured your firewall to allow µTorrent, or have a NAT problem:
        • If your router support UPnP/NAT-PMP:
        • If UPnP is not supported:
          1. Options > Preferences > Connections > Uncheck "Randomize port each time µTorrent starts
          2. Manually set your router to forward the incoming port of µtorrent and set your ip configuration to static:
  11. Choose a router that have a big maximum simultaneous connections: SmallNetBuilder.com Router Charts -Update(4)
  12. If your OS is XP SP2 hack the half-open max TCP connections (And if it's Vista update it to SP2): TCP-Z Universal Tcpip.sys Patch (or Event ID 4226 Patcher)
  13. Optimize your internet connection with speedguide.net tools (be careful, read, understand and make backup before applying)
  14. QoS Settings -Update(2)
    • I don't recommend it because every else Internet connections could become unusable and usually QoS is used to do exactly the inverse, but here it is:
      1. Options > Preferences > Advanced > Set "net.outgoing_port" to the port of your choice (outside of the range 6881-6999 and outside of the well-know ports)
      2. Add this port and the incoming one, with a high priority, to your QoS router setting

Copy/Paste Sources: - Official doc: connection guide - Torrentfreak: - Speed up your torrents - Speed up your torrents II - Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed - And more information on the official forum: - If you have speed issues read here first - Conservative Settings Chart (Alternate Speed Guide for uTorrent)

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Holy Bullet Points Batman! –  Adam Ryan Dec 20 '09 at 6:06
And this is why I use NewsGroups. 1MB+/sec, all the time, every time. –  Mark Henderson Dec 21 '09 at 3:12
The SmallNetBuilder link has changed - smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189 –  Iain Jan 8 '10 at 10:52
SmallNetBuilder link updated –  fluxtendu Jan 8 '10 at 15:52

I've been using torrents for about 8 years.

The most important things in Torrent Dloading ;

1-Your bandwidth

2-Torrent tracker

These two items are enough for best torrent downloads...

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Yes the tracker is what give you good seeders, so it's essential to have a good speed. It's so essential that I have added it to my tutorial/answer (with credits). Thanks –  fluxtendu Dec 20 '09 at 19:35
  1. Get a faster internet connection
  2. Get a torrent that has a lot of seeds
  3. Make sure you do not have a download limit set
  4. Make sure you are uploading as this can sometimes have an effect.
  5. Try increasing the amount of connections per second / max per torrent.
  6. Make sure you have set up networking and all ports are being firewalled.

Also, I am not sure if this is just a Virgin Media thing or a limitation on DOCSIS based networks, but I know when I was on Virgin, you should set a download and upload limit at last 30% lower than the maximum speeds otherwise there is a fault in the modem/router that makes everything slow to a crawl / timeout.

Lastly, just remember, peoples upload speed is a fraction of their download (on the majority of torrent)... you just have to be patient and if there are LOTS of leechers compared to seeders, just be calm and wait your turn!

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Set your upload speed as high as possible. The more you give the more you'll get in return. –  ChrisF Dec 19 '09 at 23:28
@Moshe yes, some applications will throttle your download in relation to your upload. –  John T Dec 19 '09 at 23:47
@Moshe - maybe I worded my comment badly. If you set your upload limit too low then no one will share with you. If you set it too high then the upload will "take over" your bandwidth. So it needs to be as high as possible while remaining under this "take over" amount. –  ChrisF Dec 19 '09 at 23:49
Set your upload to no more than 90% of your connection's upload limit. Many routers will choke as uTorrent or other torrent applications max out your upload speed, which in turn kills your download and the connections of anyone else on your network. –  Will Eddins Dec 20 '09 at 16:44
@Wil Eddins - thanks for putting better than I could. –  ChrisF Dec 20 '09 at 17:34

Under Options -> Preferences -> Bandwidth check to ensure you don't have a limit set on transfer speed:

alt text

That will of course slow you down if it is set low.

You may also want to prioritize bittorrent traffic in your router so it has a higher priority than http for example. My siblings like using YouTube constantly, so it used to wreak havoc on my online gaming experience until I played with QoS a little.

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how do i prioritize that stuff in a linksys router? –  Moshe Dec 19 '09 at 23:21
Look for a QoS setting in the advanced management. –  John T Dec 19 '09 at 23:28
You have time for online gaming?... Superuser.com is my only online "game"!... but seriously, should you really set QoS on torrents? Surely you should do it for other things as Torrents just take up everything that remains (When other settings are done correctly!) –  William Hilsum Dec 19 '09 at 23:38
Depends on how important it is to him. –  John T Dec 19 '09 at 23:44
@John T - found the settings page, now what belongs in it? –  Moshe Dec 20 '09 at 0:05

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