PCTips Box

Officially, Windows XP Service Pack 3 RTM is not yet available for download. Unofficially however, the story is a tad different. The third and last service pack for Windows XP has been up for grabs from various sources, more or less legitimate since a few days. And now the final bits of XP SP3 can be accessed straight from Microsoft, even though the Redmond company has failed to jump the gun on the previously announced general availability date: April 29, 2008. But failed only in appearance, as Microsoft has been serving the gold version of XP SP3 through its Windows Update infrastructure since the debut of this week.

The fact is that the Redmond company has debuted the preparations for the general release of Windows XP SP3 scheduled for April 29. In this context, the final bits of the service pack have begun making their way on the WU servers and propagating slowly. (more…)

This PDF explains how to get up and running with bit torrent technology efficiently. It shows how to battle ISPs throttling bit torrent speed and other ways to get the best optimization of your bandwidth.

This is a step by step tutorial guide on setting up uTorrent. It details all the steps from downloading to optimizing your settings. Many people have used Bit Torrent and think they are running with optimized settings, even then, it is advised to read through this guide and see what you may have missed to better optimize your settings. (more…)

Google indexes all kinds of files, no matter their format and provides one click access to them through the search engine results page. That’s why Google tends to become a real
download source as the users found simple ways to save almost any type of file available through the search engine. The torrent files are just an example but it seems like the Mountain View company started filtering the results and already removed some results from their databases. TorrentFreak reports today that Google has deleted some websites included in their results which were displayed for a search query based on the term “torrent”.(How to Download Free Torrent Files Using Google)

“In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org,” a message displayed at the end of the results reads. (more…)

Google is a search engine that allows you to find anything on the Internet, no matter the format, the type or the content. That’s why you’re also able to find free torrents and download them straight from Google without having to find alternative sources. The torrent is quite a useful way to download anything because it doesn’t need a stand-alone server as the files are transferred between users. Basically, the files are stored on a user’s computer and then sent to another system using a simple .torrent file. This protocol is extremely useful and fast as it is able to download a huge file on multiple segments from several users in the same time.

At this time, there are a lot of companies that are trying to release their products in the torrent format because they don’t have a stable server or they want to allow users to download the product with full speed. (more…)

This list is compiled from hundreds of reader votes, and voted on each week by a small panel of torrent download users.

Warning: while P2P file sharing technology is completely legal, many of the files traded through P2P are copyrighted. Unless you live in Canada where citizens are shielded from P2P copyright lawsuits, then downloading P2P files may put you at risk for a civil lawsuit in any other country. (more…)

Some users of the BitTorrent client report experiencing slow downloads when sharing P2P files. This is most likely to occur on computers behind a home router or software firewall.

Being behind firewalls, the BitTorrent client may block incoming Bit Torrent network connections. Given the load balancing and “swarming” nature of the BitTorrent network, clients unable to take incoming requests for uploads will naturally be allowed less bandwidth for downloads.

To solve this problem, consider the following: (more…)

If you are a Bit Torrent downloader, you know what slow download speeds are like…frustrating and annoying, to say the least. Instead of getting your music or movie within a couple of hours, your software predicts it will take 2 to 4 days.

Now, while many of the speed factors involved are out of your control, there is at least one thing you can do at your receiving end to improve this speed. It is called “Port Forwarding”, or “opening your specific TCP ports”. This is how it works. (more…)

We all know that Google is the grand daddy of all search engines, but hardly few of us know that we can search Google for torrents only !! How this is done ? Simple, just follow the steps below

1. Google to http://www.google.com (more…)

The new Network Map in Windows Vista allows you to easily create a map of all computers on your network and see how they are connected. This works by using the Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) protocol that is only part of Windows Vista.

To help users of mixed environments of both Windows Vista and Windows XP, Microsoft has released the Link Layer Topology Discovery Responder for Windows XP. This will make your Windows XP computers show up in the Network Map in Windows Vista. (more…)

Tech-buzz.net have just shared details of a new torrent extension for Firefox caled FoxTorrent, that has been leaked by Redswoosh. FoxTorrent does all the usual things we have come to expect from a torrent service. However it has one feauture that I think many people will find useful. It can play streamable media (e.g. .WMV, .MOV, .MP3) files as your torrent downloads and can download torrents at a greater speed by using BitTorrent and Redswoosh at the same time. (more…)