Free programs for your computer

[J.B.]

Torrent links are actually much better than P2P. It's much easier to find legit files and also a LOT faster than P2P because you are actually getting the file from multiple users rather than just one.

Originally Posted by JB Rattlesnake

Torrent links are actually much better than P2P. It's much easier to find legit files and also a LOT faster than P2P because you are actually getting the file from multiple users rather than just one.

What are the risks associated with torrents?

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Moose

What are the risks associated with torrents?

The same as downloading any other file over the internet. Viruses, spyware, all that good stuff.

However, bogus files are usually pretty easy to spot depending on what it is you are downloading. There are different things to look for depending on what type of file it is. For instance, a typical 10-15 song album in MP3 format should be between 65 and 100 MB. A typical movie rip in CAM quality is about 700 MB. Software is a bit trickier.

Also, depending on the site you are using to get your torrents, you will almost ALWAYS see comments from other users about the torrent. Those are good to use when gauging the validity of whatever it is you are looking for. Also just looking at the number of seeds of a certain file is a good way to tell if people are downloading it. A popular torrent may have a couple thousand seeds, and if that file was bogus it most likely would not have that many people leeching the file, but that rule does not ALWAYS apply.

Originally Posted by JB Rattlesnake

The same as downloading any other file over the internet. Viruses, spyware, all that good stuff.

However, bogus files are usually pretty easy to spot depending on what it is you are downloading. There are different things to look for depending on what type of file it is. For instance, a typical 10-15 song album in MP3 format should be between 65 and 100 MB. A typical movie rip in CAM quality is about 700 MB. Software is a bit trickier.

Also, depending on the site you are using to get your torrents, you will almost ALWAYS see comments from other users about the torrent. Those are good to use when gauging the validity of whatever it is you are looking for.

I might have to do that.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Moose

I might have to do that.

Check out these places

Bit Torrent - Where you download the application (its small and has no BS attached)
http://www.bittorrent.com/

Torrent Sites

http://www.mininova.org

http://thepiratebay.org

DISCLAIMER - Downloading copyrighted material that you do not have a legal right to posses is against the law. I do not condone such actions.

Originally Posted by JB Rattlesnake

The same as downloading any other file over the internet. Viruses, spyware, all that good stuff.

However, bogus files are usually pretty easy to spot depending on what it is you are downloading. There are different things to look for depending on what type of file it is. For instance, a typical 10-15 song album in MP3 format should be between 65 and 100 MB. A typical movie rip in CAM quality is about 700 MB. Software is a bit trickier.

Also, depending on the site you are using to get your torrents, you will almost ALWAYS see comments from other users about the torrent. Those are good to use when gauging the validity of whatever it is you are looking for. Also just looking at the number of seeds of a certain file is a good way to tell if people are downloading it. A popular torrent may have a couple thousand seeds, and if that file was bogus it most likely would not have that many people leeching the file, but that rule does not ALWAYS apply.

Yeah THAT cleared up my confusion!!

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Chuck

Yeah THAT cleared up my confusion!!

What has you confused?

Bit Torrent is just an application that can read the "torrent" links. So, you download the Bit Torrent program, then you go to the websites that host "torrent links" and download them from there. The two sites I listed above are two of the most popular ones on the web. When you are looking at the different files you will notice two numbers, one is SEEDS and the other is LEECHERS. Seeds are simply the people who have downloaded the file and are still leaving the door open for others to download it from them. Leechers are the number of people currently downloading the file. The more total people there are, the faster the file will download.

When you click on the torrent link, your web browser will prompt you to "open or save" the file, to which you would want to OPEN it, and the default program to open it will automatically be the Bit Torrent program. Then the program opens up and it does the rest. You tell the program what folder to save the files in, and when they are done downloading you just open the folder you saved it in.

The only thing to know at that point is that once a file is done downloading, bit torrent will automatically keep seeding the file to web for other people to download. To stop it, you simply delete the torrent from the list inside the bit torrent program. It's actually VERY simple.

Originally Posted by JB Rattlesnake

What has you confused?

Bit Torrent is just an application that can read the "torrent" links. So, you download the Bit Torrent program, then you go to the websites that host "torrent links" and download them from there. The two sites I listed above are two of the most popular ones on the web. When you are looking at the different files you will notice two numbers, one is SEEDS and the other is LEECHERS. Seeds are simply the people who have downloaded the file are still leaving the door open for others to download it from them. Leechers are the number of people currently downloading the file. The more total people there are, the faster the file will download.

When you click on the torrent link, your web browser will prompt you to "open or save" the file, to which you would want to OPEN it, and the default program to open it will automatically be the Bit Torrent program. Then the program opens up and it does the rest. You tell the program what folder to save the files in, and when they are done downloading you just open the folder you saved it in.

The only thing to know at that point is that once a file is done downloading, bit torrent will automatically keep seeding the file to web for other people to download. To stop it, you simply delete the torrent from the list inside the bit torrent program. It's actually VERY simple.

think I could find Photoshop on there???

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Chuck

think I could find Photoshop on there???

Most definitely, you can find just about anything.

Like I said before though, software can be tricky. Downloading it is easy, but making it run usually takes some digital shenanigans similar to hot-wiring a car. If you need help, just PM me.

Id be careful about downloading stuff off of torrent sites now. The internet companies do monitor everything you do. My advice is get some things then hide out for awhile then come back. The longer your string of downloads the more likely you are to be considered a bandwidth hog or a pirater.

As for downloading software thats the most dangerous thing you could do. There are always 1 legit copy amongst a thousand bogus copies filled with virus and everything else to kill your system.

Photoshop is probably the worst in regards to being loaded with viruses. Music and movies not so much.