Quick guide to getting started

From FreeSpace Wiki

1. You need a BitTorrent client. Personally I recommend µTorrent but any other decent BitTorrent client will do. Download and install a BitTorrent client.

2. Next I recommend you to get accustomised with the client you chose, the client's homepage should have some guides to help you to get to know your client.

3. Basics (Source: http://en.wikipedia.orgTorrent)

Torrent
A torrent can mean either a .torrent meta data file or all files described by it, depending on context.

.torrent file
The .torrent file contains meta data about shared files. It contains names of files, their sizes and check sums of all blocks in the torrent. It also holds the address of a tracker that hosts the torrent.

Peer
A peer is one instance of a BitTorrent client running on a computer on the Internet that you connect to and transfer data. Usually a peer does not have the complete file, but only parts of it.

Seed
A seed is a peer that has a complete copy of the torrent and still offers it for upload. The more seeds there are, the better the chances are for completion of the file.

Leech
A leech is a peer that does not have a complete copy of the torrent yet. When downloading is complete, it may stay around and seed the file as a seed so that others can complete their download. The term leech is also used for peers that have very poor upload/download ratios or leave the swarm immediately after their downloads are complete. (See Etiquette.) The leeches usually contribute a majority of the bandwidth in a swarm.

Swarm
Together, all peers sharing a torrent are called a swarm. Six leeches and one seed makes a swarm of seven.

Tracker
A tracker is a broker service that mediates contacts between peers. The tracker is not directly involved in the data transfer and does not have a copy of the file.

4. Go to our BitTorrent Tracker
If you haven't yet registered to the Tracker, please register. You can register like with any forums for example. Unregistered users cannot download torrents from this tracker.

5. Click on Torrents-link located in the top-bar. You can search or browse for the torrents you would like to download. Once you have picked a torrent you'd like to get, click on the torrent link. A new window will open, containing more information about the torrent you clicked. On second row there's a new link, click on it and your internet browser tries to download the file.

6. Simply by selecting 'open' should start your torrent client and also begin download. Note that while you download, you are also uploading to other people like yourself. During the time you are downloading your torrent, you are depending on seeds, in other words the people who have the complete file(s) and are uploading to you, so that you can get your download completed. You can stop your download when you want, the client will pick up on where you left when you later resume your download. Once your download is completed, you can use the downloaded files as you normally would.

7. All torrent clients should tell you your current share ratio, please do not delete your torrent until your share ratio is 1.0 or 1:1 depending on what formatting your client uses. 1.0 or 1:1 means you have uploaded as much as you have downloaded. When you are seeding torrents to other people, you are helping the community and reducing upload bandwidth usage of other seeds. We understand it might be troublesome for dial-up users and for those who have only very limited upload bandwidth, but if you chose to download a torrent, we would like to ask you to contribute at least this much. You can take your time to reach equal share ratio, there is no rule that you should constantly upload until the asked share ratio is met.