BitTorrent’s motto ‘Give and you shall receive’ says it all. The purpose of BitTorrent is to distribute large media files to private users and it does this in true P2P style: the user does the file serving. To use it you need an internet connection and the BitTorrent software which works by swarming and tracking. Swarming splits large files into smaller pieces and shares them across many linked users. The tracking servers monitor the swarm users and help them find each other. If you share your files you will be allocated increased download speeds, but if you limit your upload sharing you will find your download speed choked. 

BitTorrent is an up-to-date file sharing service. In recent releases it has been rebranded from its sibling µTorrent. The latest version is 7.6 which has a well-received user interface, easy to use controls, and good integration with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, though we only used it with Windows. 

BitTorrent comes with a separate product, BitTorrent DNA – Delivery Network Accelerator - which helps it to spread the content being swarmed and thus speed up the entire download. 
In addition you can search for torrents to download (which gets you to the BitTorrent search engine), adjust your upload and download rates to suit, customise the user interface and view statistical information – which shows what is happening in the background, peer and seed connections. 

Pros: Multiple concurrent downloads, control over bandwidth so that you can work on your computer without disruption

Cons: I can’t think of any cons, it is generally simple, stable and well-appointed. 

Conclusion: BitTorrent is a popular part of the torrent scene. The product has improved with each new release and is now a mature product with all that that entails. The website is well-assembled with good help and useful forums for support. 

The application is free, although there is a chargeable version which includes anti-virus, file conversion, secure access. 

version reviewed: 7.2.2