by David Hakala

Bittorrent P2P (peer-to-peer) networks are delightful when downloads are fast. They are especially irritating when they are slower than direct-connection downloading. These tips can help you squeeze the most speed out of your Bittorrent sessions.

Optimize your maximum number of half-open TCP connections. Those are the connections you make to different peers on a P2P network. In Windows XP SP2 and SP3, the maximum number of connections is set at 10 by default. This arbitrary ceiling limits your exposure to potential virus sources, but it slows down your downloading. Better to have 50 peers each dishing parts of a file at 10 Kbps than just 10.
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