BitComet FAQ
BitComet Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding BitComet
What is BitComet?
BitComet is a powerful, clean, fast, and easy-to-use BitTorrent client running on Windows. That means you can download torrent using BitComet. More detailed feature can be found here.
What platform does BitComet support?
Windows only. (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003)
Support unicode in Windows2000/XP, support ICS/ICF, UPnP in Windows XP.
What is the UPnP Auto Port Mapping?
To got the best speed, BitComet need a public listening port as other p2p applications do. But if you are behind a DSL router or use Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), you need manually config a port mapping (a port forwarding from gateway/router to your computer). It is usually a boring task. BitComet takes advantage of the UPnP technology as what MSN Messenger does, it will automatically config the port mapping for you as soon as the download task begins. Please note that: UPnP is only supported in Windows XP or above, and your hardware router must support UPnP and enable it, too. By default, BitComet won't release the portmapping when exit. You may config it in Options->Advanced->Connections Dialogs.
What is Disk Cache in BitComet?
The function of Intelligent Disk Cache is once an important reason why people choose BitComet. It is designed for fast downloaders. When uploads or download rate exceeds 500kB/s or even more than 1MB/s, a carefully designed disk cache mechanism in BitComet will greatly improved the hard-disk performance by decrease the read and write frequency of your hard disk. So that the life time of hard disk can be longer. Some statistics of the operation of the cache is avaliable in the Log View, e.g. HitRatio, Read/Write Requrest Frequence, Actual Disk Read/Write Frequence, where one can easiliy find out the improvement.
What is Firewall and NAT Traversal in BitComet?
In the world of old bittorrent clients, non-firewalled clients and clients on publicly routable IP addresses are able to help NAT?ed nodes to communicate while downloading the same files. BitComet did a even better job for users behind NAT, it enables users behind differet NAT connected to each other via UDP. That means the download rate may boost up because it can now connect to more peers than before. Without any cofiguration, BitComet will auto dectect your internet connection ( to find out if you are behind the NAT or haven't any successful port-mapping ) and did all those automatically. But you may also enable or disable this feature in the Options - Advanced dialog.
What does the peer status "DUdu" mean?
D--- downloading data from peer now
U--- uploading data from peer now
d--- I request data from peer, want to download from peer ( peer has data that you need )
u--- peer request data from me, asking for upload from me ( I have data that peer need )
General HOWTO
How to create .torrent and seed it?
- The easiest way is to drag&drop the file or directory to BitComet window, or you can go to File >> Create a Torrent... (Ctrl+M), or Hit 'Maker' in the toolbar. All these bring up the make torrent GUI.
- Fill in the fields.
- If you do not use drag&drop, the source file entry is empty and need to be filled: In the General tab, choose Single file or Directory (Multi-Files). Click Browse to point to the file or directory.
- Put in the announce URL in Tracker Server box. It usually can be found on the upload page of a tracker.
- (Optional)In the next box, the piece size can be chosen. It it recommended to leave it on auto.
- (Optional)Check Generate .torrent File and find where it will be saved. (same directory by default)
- (Optional)In the optional Comments tab, type in information if you like.
- Hit O.K.
- Start the seeding task.
How to configure Multi-Tracker when making .torrent?
BitComet Tips
How to resume a previous download file from another client?
Click the torrent and choose your previous download file/directory, BitComet will resume it.
How can I limit my download speed / upload speed?
You can dothis through the Menu -> File -> Properities...
How many tasks can run simultaneous at a time?
No limit. It is reported by a site administrator that it is ok for 100+ simultaneous seedings.
Settings Tweak
Which port does BitComet use?
BitComet uses a single TCP port for all your need, no matter how many of simultaneous downloading or uploading tasks, e.g. 10 or 100. From v0.55, BitComet begin to use the UDP port with the same number of TCP port for NAT Transveral.
Troubleshooting
What is the 4226 issue in Windows XP SP2?
Windows XP SP2 limits the number of TCP connection attempts to 10 (quite small ). If there are more concurrent TCP connection attempts, Windows generates a warning: EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts. You can go to Xp's Admin tool, event viewer, look in system tab and notice tcpip entry (with yellow warning sign). The detailed discription can be found in Microsoft documentation: Event 4226, EVENT_TCPIP_TCP_CONNECT_LIMIT_REACHED
In Windows XP SP2 there are only 10 concurrent TCP connection attempts possible, while in SP1 it has not been limited. (A connection attemp is a query to a computer, if it accept the TCP connection or not. If the computer is for example no more existent, it will be waited for a few seconds, until a timeout occurs and the connection attemp get canceled. )
Do I need to patch tcpip.sys for 4226 issue in Windows XP SP2?
BitComet 0.55 or above can work correctly under Windows XP SP2 without patch. However, limiting the connection attempt by the system may result in a slower speed at the beginning of downloading, since fewer peers can be connected at the same time. For those behind a NAT or firewall, the thrid-party [ http://www.lvllord.de/ patch] for tcpip.sys to fix that SP2 issue is still recommended.
What if I have more more questions?
http://www.bitcomet.com/doc/contact.htm
http://bitcomet.p2pforums.com/
