Additional µTorrent Settings

Introduction

These are some additional µTorrent settings that I have put together based upon issues I have seen people have at the various fora I visit on the web.
I would first point out that almost all issues can be resolved using the µTorrent help file (Press F1 while µTorrent is open).  This is the best help file I have seen for any program.
If you want information on any features not listed here, then please post in the Comments below.
If you have questions or corrections on any of the features listed here, please post in the comments below or at the Internet, Webware & Networking section of Gizmo's Freeware Forums.
This is a work in progress and I will post more information, when I have the time.

• µTorrent Help:  Using µTorrent's Torrent Search  (Link to separate page)
• µTorrent Help: Selecting Files To Download     (Link to separate page)
• Setting Remove Options
• Dealing With ISP Interference
• Enabling IP Filter
• How To Pronounce µTorrent
• µTorrent Support Links
• Hiding µTorrent on Start Up (and locking from other users)
• Moving Completed µTorrent Downloads Into Category Folders
• Enabling µTorrent Status Icons

Setting Remove Options

I often see posts from people who have hit the red X at the top of  µTorrent by accident, which ends up deleting the torrent and data.  The settings for the remove X can be adjusted with a right-click on the X.  Below is a screen shot of the options available.  I suggest using Remove as this will remove the torrent from µTorrent, but not delete the torrent or data.  A right-click on the torrent in µTorrent and selecting Remove and will give the different options for removal.

Dealing with ISP Interference 

If you are having troubles with your transfers after Optimizing µTorrent for Speed and choosing good torrents, then your ISP may be interfering with bittorrent.   This section offers some information on determining if there is interference and how you can try  to circumvent this interference.
 

1.  Check for ISP Interference:  You can check at Azureus-Wiki: Bad ISPs  to see if your ISP is known to interfere and for suggestions on how to circumvent their interference.  
If your ISP is not listed, your ISP may still be interfering.  FileShareFreak has a good article on the ways to test for this at 6 Things You Can Do to Test Your ISP for BitTorrent Throttling.

2.  Encryption: If your ISP is interfering with bittorrent transfers, µTorrent offers a variety of options.  The settings for encryption in µTorrent are at Options>Preferences>BitTorrent.
I would suggest starting with encryption enabled and allowing incoming legacy connections.

A.  Outgoing:  The Outgoing dropdown menu allows you to select the mode of encryption that you prefer µTorrent to establish. All modes will accept incoming encrypted connections, and the encryption is 2-way.

• Enabled - This is the recommended option for all users, as it provides µTorrent with the largest pool of peers to pick from for connecting to.  Allows µTorrent to establish encrypted and unencrypted outgoing connections, depending on how the peer responds to the handshake.
• Forced - forces µTorrent to establish only encrypted outgoing connections. Any peer that doesn't support encryption will not be connected to.  This should only be used if your ISP actively thwarts unencrypted outgoing connections as it will limit the amount of peers you can connect to.
• Disabled - will force µTorrent to attempt to establish only unencrypted outgoing connections.  This should only be used if your ISP throttles all encrypted transfers (like Rogers).

B.  Allow incoming legacy connections:  

• Enabled - allows µTorrent to accept unencrypted incoming connections.  This is the preferred setting as this will allow for the most connections to peers.
• Disabled - any incoming connection that is unencrypted will be ignored.  This should only be used if your ISP actively throttles unencrypted incoming communications.

3.  Lazy Bitfield  Some ISPs (like my Comcast) interfere with seeding.  The usual symptom of this is that upload  is fine while downloading, but connections cannot be maintained after the download is complete.  Enabling Lazy Bitfield has µTorrent always send send a faked incomplete bitfield, which may help in defeating this ISP interference.
The setting for this in µTorrent is at Options>Preferences>Advanced. 
Set peer.lazy_bitfield  to True to enable.

IP Filter

Enabling this requires creating an ipfilter.dat file and placing it in the µTorrent Application Data folder and enabling ipfilter in the Advanced settings of µTorrent.
The µTorrent IPfilter.dat blocks the IPs entered within it.  Most commonly, the blocklist from BISS is used to block  IPs that are "known" to interfere with bittorrent.   There is some controversy over whether these lists are useful.  There is some evidence to support their use in this article and there is some evidence that they are not useful in this post.
The µTorrent  website is on the BISS list (wrongly so, I believe).  This will not affect downloads, but will affect the results of the µTorrent built in port test.   I leave it up to you as to whether an IP Filter is necessary for your situation. 

µTorrent only supports manual updating of the IP Filter.  There are two sources for blocklist download, BISS and Nexus23.  For BISS  use the nipfilter.dat.gz (extract) and for Nexus23 use the ipfilter.dat.

• BISS:  nipfilter.dat.gz download
• Nexus23 ipfilter.dat download

To enable IP Filter in µTorrent follow these steps:

• Download the filter list you want to use.
• Go to Start->Run and type %APPDATA%\uTorrent\
• Place the ipfilter.dat file in that directory.
• In µTorrent go to Options>Preferences>Advanced and set ipfilter.enable to True.

The lists are updated regularly, so it is a good idea to update them at least once a week.  To reload the list in µTorrent, there are several ways:

• Highlight a torrent and go to the Peers tab at the bottom.  In there, right-click and select Reload IPFilter
• Close uTorrent, and open it back up.
• Disable ipfilter.enable and re-enable (see above)

 You can check to see if the IPFilter was re-loaded under the Logger tab at the bottom.
Also, you will see all blocked IP requests on that Logger tab.

Creating Your Own Blocklist

I often see users requesting a way to block those who they believe are leeching from them.  µTorrent does not have a ban feature and probably never will.  At least that is what they have been telling users who have requested such a feature.

µTorrent does not have a ban feature because they believe most users will not work it properly and in the long run this would cause issues with bittorrent.  So I advise caution when creating your own IP Filter file.

Creating the .dat file necessary  for this is easy.  Using Notepad, or a similar text editor, enter the IP(s) of who you wish to block.  Each IP must be on its own separate line.  When done entering, choose File>Save as.  The default file type for saving in Notepad is Text Documents (*.txt).  This must be changed to All files (*.*).  Then name the file ipfilter.dat.  The location save and enable process is the same as above.

How To Pronounce µTorrent

Obviously, this is not an issue, but I do see a lot of talk on the web on how to pronounce µTorrent.  I did run across a post by the µTorrent developer Ludvig (Ludde) Strigeus on this, so I will pass it on.  The usual offerings are:

• you-torrent
• mu-torrent
• micro-torrent
• my-torrent

The correct answer is any of these or any way you want, although Ludde used you-torrent.

µTorrent Support Links

µTorrent has excellent support options to help understand and get the most out of µTorrent.

• The µTorrent Help File is the best help file I have seen for any software.  It is installed with µTorrent and can be accessed by pressing F1 while µTorrent is open or it can be downloaded here.  Almost any question on µTorrent or bittorrent can be answered by checking this help file.
• The µTorrent Forum is maintained very well.  The moderators are active, knowledgeable and helpful.
• The µTorrent Guides have information to help with several features of µTorrent.
• The µTorrent FAQ has answers to many common questions regarding µTorrent and bittorrent.  It appears that all of the FAQs are included in the µTorrent help file.

Hiding  µTorrent on Startup (and Locking From Other Users)

µTorrent has a Boss-Key feature that can be used to make µTorrent invisible on the desktop.  Since I have seen several people ask how to have µTorrent be invisible at startup, I have put together this guide.

First make certain that µTorrent is set to open at Windows start up.
Also make sure to set a Boss-Key.
Both of these settings are in µTorrent at Options>Preferences>General
To set a Boss-Key, a combination of modifier key (Ctrl, Shift or Alt) and the key (numbers, letters or function keys) is used.  At default Alt is used.  So if you tick in the Boss-Key box and press C, then Alt-C will be the Boss-Key.  If you wish to use Shift or Ctrl, then that key and the number/letter must be pressed at the same time after you tick the Boss-Key box.  Press OK when through.
Be sure to remember your Boss-Key combination.

After you have done the above, go to Start>Run and type regedit and press OK

You will then see the screen below. 
Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Run

You will then see the µTorrent start up path on this screen
Double-click on the µTorrent entry to amend

You will then see this screen
Add /HIDE to the end of the command.  Press OK

Your µTorrent should now start on Windows start up and be invisible.
To have µTorrent be visible, press the Boss-Key combination you chose.

Locking uTorrent

If you also want to lock other users out of µTorrent,  just below the BossKey option is an option to set a BossKey password.   If enabled and password set, when µTorrent is in BossKey, it will also be locked to those without password.  As far as I can tell, the BossKey must be used to enforce the password and lock.  Also, this would not prevent another user with access to the operating system from terminating µTorrent in Task Manager.

Moving Completed  µTorrent Downloads Into Category Folders

I have recently seen a number of µTorrent users requesting help in moving their downloaded content to different folders, based upon categories, and continue seeding.
This move can be done manually or µTorrent can do this for you using the move completed downloads option and labels.

Manually

To move the content manually and continue seeding:

1. Stop the torrent in µTorrent.
2. Move the downloaded content to the location you want.
3. Right-click the torrent in µTorrent and select Advanced>Set download location.
4. Browse to the folder containing the content and select.
5. Right-click the torrent in µTorrent and select Force Re-Check.
6. µTorrent will check and adjust to 100%.  Re-start the torrent.

Automatic

Using labels, you can move the downloaded content to separate folders based upon the categories you choose.  The one condition is that all the categorized folders must be within the same folder.

In µTorrent go to Options>Preferences>Directories and set options as in this image.  You can set the folders (directories) as you please.   The options to Put new downloads in, Move completed torrents to and Append the torrent's label must be enabled.
The"Only move from default download directory" option is up to you, but I suggest this be enabled as you may want to have torrents that you do not move to this location and you can set their download location outside the default directory when adding.  Press Apply when done.

Options>Preferences>Directories

Next, you need to go to Options>Preferences>UI Settings and enable the Show a window that displays the files inside the torrent in advanced mode option.  Press OK when done.

Options>Preferences>UI Settings

This will show an Add Torrent window when you open a torrent in µTorrent.  This is where you can add a label.  Because, you enabled the Append the torrent's label option above, µTorrent will move the differently labeled downloads into categorized sub-folders.

Sometimes, the Add Torrent window will be minimized and you will not see the Label option.  In the lower left corner of that window will be a downward arrow.  Press on this and the full Add Torrent screen will show.

In the middle of the Add Torrent screen, you will now see the place to enter a label.

Now if you add the label "Music", the download will be save to (in my settings) the Completed Downloads/Music folder.
Now, if you want to have a sub-folder in Music, say "Alternative", you would label as "Music\Alternative".  The completed download will then automatically be moved to the Completed Downloads\Music\Alternative folder.
You can designate as many sub-folders as you want by inserting the back slash (\) between names, for example "Music/Alternative/80s".
If the label contains a path for a folder that does not exist yet, it will be created.  There is no need for you to create the folder.

Again, the one condition is that there be a master folder for all these sub-folders as that must be the default directory to designate.

Enabling µTorrent Status Icons

In µTorrent 3.0 the option to display status icons (the arrows) on the torrent screen is in Options>Preferences>Advanced.  The option gui.show_status_icon_in_dl_list needs to be set to true as in image below:

The icons are part of the Name column, so the Name column needs to be showing for the icons to show.  If the Name column is not showing, right-click the gray bar where the column names are and select Name on the list.

Related Articles

• Optimizing µTorrent for Speed setting µTorrent up for best download speeds
• Searching for Torrents Popular and unique torrent search sites, with comments.
• Finding Legal (and Free) Torrents sites that offer only legally downloadable and distributable content.

Gizmo's Best Ever Freeware Forums

If you still have issues after using this guide and would like some assistance, you may post here or our Forums.  The comments section here is not well set up for ongoing discussions, so the forums are a better place.

If you have a suggestion or correction for the guide, please post here.

Steve