If you are familiar with all the classic tricks and tips of using the internet, then I am sure you know what torrents are. Almost all of us who have grown up with downloading things from the internet have tried downloading software, music, movies, games and other stuff through torrents. For those of you who are unaware, let’s look at what torrenting is, how it works and how to torrent safely.
Torrenting is a simple process of sharing your files with other users through a software. Basically, we call this a peer-to-peer (p2p) sharing system. What this does is that it opens a connection or a port between your system and all the other systems who want to download your file or vice-versa. The systems uploading the files are called seeders and the ones downloading them are called leechers. Leechers can start seeding these files to increase the speed of data transfer. It’s similar to the concept of supply and demand. If the demand (leeching) is greater than the supply (seeding), then the download speed for leechers is significantly less but if it’s the other way around, then the download could be completed in minutes depending on the user’s download speed.
Contrary to popular belief, sharing files through a torrent software is definitely legal, but people automatically assume that it’s illegal because torrents are infamous for sharing pirated files. As I mentioned before, an open connection between two or more systems could easily be a gateway for hackers into your computer. Let’s take a look at a couple of steps that could help you prevent this.
Use popular torrent software:
There are plenty of torrent software available online. Pick the ones that are being used by a lot of people. Software like utorrent, bittorrent, qbittorrent and Vuze are some of the popular torrenting software that most of us use. This is because these software have a bit more security and encryption compared to the other ones available online. This makes it very difficult for hackers to access your system.
Don’t hesitate to use a VPN:
A VPN or a Virtual Private Network is best for masking your IP address, which makes it harder for hackers to find your location. Sure, you might get high latency issues and your downloads might get a bit slower but a VPN makes sure you don’t get hacked.
Install a good anti-virus software:
Anti-virus has come a long way since it first started. Before it used to hog a lot of your system resources and make your computer slow. Now, the system requirements have drastically reduced and it detects even the smallest file that seems suspicious. It also detects a corrupted file the moment it starts downloading. As there are a lot of torrents online, having a good anti-virus software is mandatory if you use torrents a lot.
These are a few important tips on how to torrent safely. Torrenting is actually not as scary as people make it to be. As long as you’re downloading legal content or content without any copyrights attached to it, you should be good.
