Overview of Torrent Clients

[freakazoid]

Like many others, I'm using uTorrent 2.2.1.

[Midas]

Incidentally, any recommendations for in-depth examinations of legacy uTorrent versions?

[Userfriendly]

Well 1.7.7 certainly is fast but it lacks DHT and UDP based uTP protocol so it can only connect to peers using TCP. These bittorrent tech helps find peers when there's no peers on the tracker or no tracker at all. Also doesn't support magnet links.

Version 2.2.1 is the next popular version but that one has some security flaws and some bugs in the write caching system that corrupts files. Noticeable on extremely large torrents with lots of small files. Files are mostly usable but will have some extra bytes of useless data padding affecting file verification (crc, md5, sha1). This bug affects versions 1.8 to 3.1.x. Was since fixed around 3.2 or 3.3 not sure. Bug was reported by a videogame private tracker: http://pastebin.com/8RqTUu8A

Now 3.x version has its own issues mostly UI related like ads or just snappiness with lots of torrents. It's SLOWLY being fixed in the many little 3.4.2 versions and you've probably noticed it has been stuck on that version for a long time now. I'm thinking they want to completely fix all the major and minor issues that plague it before bumping up the version.

As for what version of utorrent I use. I just stick to the latest 3.4.2 betas but because I'm pretty savvy at tweaking and ahem... cracking... software so it's been largely the same classic ad free utorrent experience for me. I understand when the majority of people out there have their complaints on it since the stock settings aren't too good.

I would say if you don't like to tweak software and just want a good experience out of the box then just use qBittorrent or Deluge.

[Midas]

Many thanks for the noob breakdown, Userfriendly.

[TP109]

Many thanks for the noob breakdown, Userfriendly.

Informative. I don't use those old versions of utorrent for the same reasons, although I wasn't aware of the extra corruptible bits info. Agree that qBittorrent and Deluge offer the best OOB experience.

[Andrew Lee]

@Userfriendly: Thanks for the details! Very interesting to read.

I found out that I am actually using uTorrent V2.0.3. Very stable, no ads. Do you have any info on the problems with that version?

[Userfriendly]

@Userfriendly: Thanks for the details! Very interesting to read.

I found out that I am actually using uTorrent V2.0.3. Very stable, no ads. Do you have any info on the problems with that version?

I dunno if there's any significant problems between the popular milestone versions. But you're free to browse through the most complete changelog I know for the history of utorrent.

Alltime Changelog - http://www.should.keepfree.de/utorrent_ ... gelogs.txt
Beta - http://utclient.utorrent.com/offers/bet ... notes.html
Official - http://releasenotes.utorrent.com/

If you wanna follow the developments of the current 3.4.x stable/beta builds then browse through these official forum topics.
http://forum.utorrent.com/topic/88339-34x-beta/
http://forum.utorrent.com/topic/88607-34x-stable/

A regular forum poster named rafi has compiled a list of major and minor bugs that need fixing. Link of his post can be found in his signature or here http://forum.utorrent.com/topic/88339-3 ... /?p=479433

[Midas]

I meant to add this in my thank you post above, but it somehow got erased: keeping and using different uTorrent versions for different uses seems like the sensible thing to do considering all the information posted -- so some reputed download sources for legacy versions would be a welcome addition, as it appears FileHippo.com is no good in this particular case...

[Userfriendly]

Old versions here. Wonder what happened to the filehippo stuff.
http://www.oldapps.com/utorrent.php
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/utorrent/
http://www.filehorse.com/download-utorr ... -versions/

[billon]

i am happy with Halite

[freakazoid]

Version 2.2.1 is the next popular version but that one has some security flaws and some bugs in the write caching system that corrupts files. Noticeable on extremely large torrents with lots of small files. Files are mostly usable but will have some extra bytes of useless data padding affecting file verification (crc, md5, sha1). This bug affects versions 1.8 to 3.1.x. Was since fixed around 3.2 or 3.3 not sure. Bug was reported by a videogame private tracker: http://pastebin.com/8RqTUu8A

Thanks for posting this, Userfriendly. The Pastebin link notes that if you are using uTorrent v2-3.1 that you should do the following:

The uTorrent write cache problem can be bypassed by going to:
Options -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Disk Cache
and disable (uncheck): "Disable Windows caching of disk writes"