Installing and skinning a torrent client: uTorrent
In this post we’ll be looking at your torrent client. A client is the software you use to manage torrents. We use and recommend µTorrent but there are a lot of different and possibly better BitTorrent clients like Azereus, BitComet and the original BitTorrent.
Downloading µTorrent is quick and easy. Follow http://www.utorrent.com/downloads/ to µTorrent’s download page.
Look for “µTorrent Stable” and click on the green “Download” button. This will initiate the download and a box will pop up asking you if you want to save the file. Click “Save” and choose where to save the file.
If you want to download the extra language pack you can do so because we will be covering installing it later in this post.
Installing µTorrent
The next step is to install µTorrent so that we can use it. Locate the installer you’ve downloaded in the steps above and double click it. The installer window will open asking you to specify where to install µTorrent and if you want to add a start menu entry, a desktop icon and a quick launch icon.
If you do not want to install µTorrent on a different drive, don’t change anything in the location box. Tick or untick the boxes to indicate which of the icons/entries you want to add. Click on “Install” to install the client. That’s it! You’re done.
Installing µTorrent Language Pack
Click “Start” and then “Run”. Enter %AppData%\uTorrent in the field and hit Enter/Return on your keyboard. The application data folder for µTorrent will open. This folder holds your settings, skins, language packs and a copy of your .torrent files.
Copy your language pack file (utorrent.lng) into this folder. Inside the µTorrent application you can change your language from the default (English) to whatever you want by going to Options -> Preferences (or press Ctrl+P). Under General, look for the language option and select you language from the dropdown box.
Facelift – Skinning µTorrent
If you don’t want to use the default skin of the application, you can download and install different buttons, icons etc. A lot of different skins can be downloaded by going to http://www.utorrent.com/skins/.
On the µTorrent website you can choose from toolbars, status icons, tab icons and program icons. Simply click on one of the tabs to view that specific skin.
We’ve chosen the Vista toolbar skin by Bumpy. To download, simply choose the desired skin and click on the green “Download” button at the far right of the page.
What are my options?
tray.ico
This is a standard Windows icon file. It will replace the default icon in the system tray.
main.ico
main.ico replaces the default icon at the top-left corner of the µTorrent window.
toolbar.bmp
A 288×24 Windows bitmap. Replaces the toolbar running across the top of the main µTorrent window.
tstatus.bmp
Short for ‘torrent status’, replaces the images in the left sidebar of the uTorrent window.
tabs.bmp
Replaces the icons in the tabs of the “Detailed Info” bar. Half are the icons when active, the other half are greyed out versions when they’re inactive.
flags.bmp
All the flags displayed in µTorrent when “Resolve IPs” is switched on in the Peers tab.
flags.conf
A text file including data on which hosts map to which country, since by default .com and .net hosts are mapped to the US. This will not work if you have peer.resolve_country set to true in the advanced settings.
ipfilter.dat
An IP blocklist using the eMule ipfilter.dat format. Blocklists in other formats can be converted using Bluetack’s blocklist converter and converting to eMule Blocklist.
Program shortcut icon
Unreal Torrent, we used an icon from the game Unreal Tournament (can’t remember where). Store the icon somewhere like (My) Pictures. Then choose the uTorrent shortcut icon to change (can be any icon anywhere like a desktop icon, a quick-launch icon etc.), right-click the shortcut, select Properties, select Change Icon button. Navigate to (My) Pictures, select the new icon and click “Ok“.
Installing Skins
Click “Start” and then “Run”. Enter %AppData%\uTorrent in the field and hit Enter/Return on your keyboard. The application data folder for µTorrent will open. This folder holds your settings, skins, language packs and a copy of your .torrent files.
Simply copy your skin file to the application data folder to update the skin inside µTorrent. µTorrent must be restarted for the change to take effect.
Done
That’s it, you’re done. You now have a very good looking torrent client installed and ready to use, well, almost ready. The next step is configuring your clients optimal speed settings. We have a calculator that can give you the optimal settings based on your connection speed. Simply go to the calculator page and follow the instructions there.