Let’s talk today how to increase the download and upload speed at torrent clients. A lot of torrent networks users ask themselves this question. There is a plenty of different ways to solve this problem starting with the correct configuration of the torrent client itself and finishing with the configurations of the operating system. I will say straight away that this article is the first of three part kind of useful course on how to speed up your torrent client in the end and get the highest results and ratings in torrent networks. So, the first part is devoted to how to increase the download speed at torrents through the operating system configuration and the usage of foreign software.

Let’s talk today how to increase the download and upload speed at torrent clients. A lot of torrent networks users ask themselves this question. There is a plenty of different ways to solve this problem starting with the correct configuration of the torrent client itself and finishing with the configurations of the operating system. I will say straight away that this article is the first of three part kind of useful course on how to speed up your torrent client in the end and get the highest results and ratings in torrent networks. So, the first part is devoted to how to increase the download speed at torrents through the operating system configuration and the usage of foreign software.
You may have seen questions like this in the vast expanses of our beloved internet: ‘Why is my download speed only 230 kb/sec when my provider’s tariff plan says that my channel width is 2 Mb/sec? How can I speed up my torrent client?’ So, let’s make it clear once and for all that Internet provider always ‘announces’ the tariff plan’s speed in MEGABITS when the download/upload speed is always measured in MEGABYTES. That’s why 2 Mb/sec is nothing else but 256 kb/sec that is ideally from the mathematic point of view (for those who don’t know – we need to divide by 8). As for reality, the speed will vary by 5-10 percents below the norm. That’s why I highly doubt that some software will help you to wring the speed from your torrent client which is more than your internet provider allowed you to have. But you can well save yourself from download/upload speed being reduced by some program installed at your computer or even the OS itself that is also quite possible. So this is what we will talk today about.
Here are the main directions in solving the speed problems that may be connected with the foreign software:
•    You need to close all foreign programs connected with the work in the internet because they also may be using a part of your internet connection channel. These are ICQ-agents, mail clients, RSS readers and many others.
•    Check every program whether the automatic updates function is turned on there. If it is, disable it as you may not even notice how the torrent download speed falls to minimal rates.By the way, many programs quite often don’t even report to their owner about the updating process. Just a ‘modest’ icon fleshes in the tray near the clock.
•    Deactivate Windows firewall. It is useless when working with P2P-network and will spoil you life in every way possible.
•    Your firewall or router may block the incoming connections port of your torrent client. Add your client to exceptions or open the necessary port in the router configurations to avoid that.
•    It will also be useful to turn off antivirus or firewall for the time of download or to adjust them correctly as the constant checking of incoming traffic will hardly do any best to the torrent tracker download speed.
•    It will also be better to change the maximum possible number of half-open TCP connections. This number is restricted by 10 in Windows XP OS which won’t allow your torrent client to work at ‘maximum rates’ and connect to a large number of uploading users. A special program Half-open limit fix (patch) should be used to correct this parameter. Once you have it, change the number of connections from 10 to, let’s say, 60-100. But during system updates this parameter usually falls back to the default value (10 connections) that’s why it is necessary to check the current value from time to time.
•    Make the number of half-open TCP connections equal to the one in the OS configurations.
So, that’s all you need to know about the configuration of foreign programs and OS.