uTorrent 3.1 (build 26671)

Sharing data via torrent sites may be frowned upon, especially by pro copyright groups, but the simple truth of the matter is that it is an excellent means of sharing files online. The team behind popular open source operating system Linux Mint for example uses torrents to distribute the OS to Linux fans all over the world. Where does µTorrent fit into this P2P (peer-to-peer), file sharing, torrent-related picture? uTorrent is a free piece of software developed by BitTorrent Inc to serve as a highly efficient torrent client that will work on both Windows-powered machines and on Mac OS X-powered ones (Intel only).

Torrent clients are notorious resource hogs – once you launch it, it will eat all your computer’s resources like there’s no tomorrow. This could prove to be very annoying, especially on less powerful machines. µTorrent has been designed with efficiency in mind, just so as to address this resource hogging problem. Consequently the software application rarely uses more than 6MB of memory. With such a small memory footprint, you will hardly even know the torrent client is running in the background and you will be free to perform your regular tasks with ease.

As a little trivia side note, the “µ” in µTorrent stands for “micro” – as in the one millionth part in the metric system. It is an indication that the BitTorrent developed torrent client will take it easy on your computer.

µTorrent, besides being resource-friendly, is also user-friendly. Out of all the torrent clients out there, I find that µTorrent is the easiest to use. After you download the software you will find that the installation process goes smoothly and rapidly. The µTorrent exe will add a directory and some option info, and you are ready to start using it. Speaking of which, the UI (user interface) is extremely simple to figure out and will present all the torrent-related info you need (things like peer data, download speed, upload speed, ratio, file pieces and blocks, and so on).

One of the most difficult tasks, especially for novice users, is locating a torrent. First you have to find one, then you can use µTorrent to download it. µTorrent proves its user-friendliness in this regard as well by providing a torrent search bar. There’s also an RSS feed download function thanks to which µTorrent will automatically download files as they are published to the torrent site of your choice.

Last but not least, we have to talk about features. I’ve saved this bit for last because there really isn’t that much to tell. It isn’t that µTorrent does not have that many features to boast about, because that would be untrue. It’s just that µTorrent has pretty much all the features present in other torrent clients. Things like RSS auto-downloading, download scheduling, bandwidth prioritizing, mainline DHT, customization and tweaking options, to name but a few.

Pros
Does not hog your computer’s resources
Plenty of features
Easy to use, simple UI
Works on Windows and Mac OS X
Integrated torrent search bar
RSS auto-downloading
Extensive language support
Comes free of charge

Cons
Mac OS X support for Intel only

uTorrent has been reviewed by George Norman on 07 Sep 2009. Based on the user interface, features and complexity, Findmysoft has rated uTorrent 5 out of 5 stars, naming it Essential