BitComet

BitComet is a reliable torrent client that offers numerous P2P features.

If you want to download or share files in peer-to-peer fashion, then BitComet is a proven, full-featured option. In addition to BitTorrent, this client supports HTTP and FTP. The client supports torrent files, and you can even associate BitComet with those files so that BitComet is your default torrent client and those files are easier to work with from within Windows.

Not only does the program let you point it in the right direction via a suitable torrent file, but it helps you discover torrents through an integrated search mechanism. The search tool has a default configuration, but you can expand on it by adding your preferred directories and other sources. BitComet also includes a full file management suite, and you can handle all of your downloads from within the client, including file preview, archive extraction, folder moving, and so forth.

BitComet continues to be a popular torrent client in large part because of its ability to optimize itself. For instance, it can run a diagnosis on your Internet connection, and then adjust its settings to whatever is optimal for that environment. It has an intelligent disk cache as well, which lets it optimize your storage so that disk writes don’t interfere with optimal download speeds.

BitComet also has a clever quick resume feature. After being paused or shut down, most torrent clients have to analyze each upload/download piece by piece, which can be a slow process. This program, on the other hand, has quick resume, which lets it multitask. It will analyze critical pieces and put off analysis of other pieces until there’s downtime or those pieces are needed.

Like most clients, BitComet also provides you monitoring and performance tools. At any point, you can view information about current downloads and uploads, including information on a per-piece basis. In addition to these advanced statistics, the program also stores a history, and you can determine how far back that history goes. You can also set bandwidth allocation, peer limits and so forth, and you can have these values adjust automatically on a schedule or based on network activity.

BitComet is not free of issues, however. The user interface is quite outdated and looks a lot like FTP clients used to look in 2000. That approach can make the learning curve a little steep, particularly for those users who may be new to BitTorrent in general. Finally, the program is ad-supported, and while that’s not an issue in and of itself, those ads can be a bit intrusive on occasion.

Pros

• Full-featured torrent client
• Integrated search tool
• File management

Cons

• Old-fashioned UI
• Learning curve for new users