µTorrent is a lightweight and efficient BitTorrent client for Windows. Although the application is called “micro torrent” it is also referred to as “utorrent” where “u” is often used as a substitute for the micro symbol (µ).

UTorrent generally saves the downloaded files in the default Windows download folder. This is the first place you should look when finding any recently downloaded files. To open the default Windows download folder on Windows 10, follow the steps given below: Press the Windows + E keys to open the File Explorer. Open Windows Explorer. Create the folder you want to have as your new Downloads folder (i.e. C: Downloads) 3. Under This PC, right-click Downloads. Click Properties. Select the Location Tab. Select the folder you made in Step 2. Once it has finished copying everything to the new folder, click OK to close the.

The following best practice guide sets the location of the directories used by µtorrent (and one or two other minor tweaks). By controlling the location of where files (including torrents), they can be (if required) deleted easily.

For example, you download a file (film, book or mp3) on common skin disorders to help you self diagnose a condition you suffer from. The torrent file you download could be called “common-skin-disorders.torrent”. It could be embarrassing to you if other users of the same PC (family or friends) were to stumble across the torrent file or the download itself.

By controlling the location of the various bit torrent elements, it is easier to remove and thereby preserve one’s privacy. The additional benefit is a more organized file structure.

To change directories that µtorrent uses, click:

The screenshot below shows all of the available fields have been filled in. I would recommend studying the image closely.

Click on the image above for a full size image of the window.

Folder Structure

The following steps are recommended to set-up a good file structure:

• Identify a suitable location on the PC that has the storage capacity to cater for the files that are to be downloaded. Most people only have a single hard drive, which simplifies things. Nonetheless, identify an easy-to-access location for files and create a directory or folder.
• Within this folder create a folder called “torrents” to store all the torrent files. Secondly, create one called “wip” to store files which are in progress (hence the acronym wip, work in progress).
• Within the torrent folder create 3 additional folders called “wip”, “complete” & “new”.

The recommended folder structure is therefore:

For the image above, the example <Folder Path> is C:UsersShadow.

Reasoning

Creating a dedicated folder, which is easy to identify separates it from other downloads. The actual files when downloading will be stored in the “wip” folder. Once complete, these files will be automatically moved back into the main directory (uT), giving easy access to downloaded files.

In terms of managing torrents; those in progress will be stored in “wip”, complete ones will be stored in the “complete” folder. If the user does not specify a location for these torrents, the default location is normally buried in a hidden folder . This will give the user the false impression that these files no longer exist.

The creation of a “new” folder saves time. It means that the user can store torrent files in a single location such that when utorrent is launched, it automatically starts downloading. So why not just open utorrent as and when a torrent file is downloaded? Many of us are increasingly constrained on how much we can download and when we can download. Increasingly, people are running bit torrent clients, late at night when there are normally no (or less restrictive) constraints.

To support that type of behaviour, it is recommended that the user identifies torrent files and stores them in a single location. When the time is right, utorrent can be launched to obtain the files.

Additional Tweaks

Two additional tweaks to aid the user. The first is appending “.!ut” to incomplete files. This is recommended because when downloading multi-part files e.g. a collection of mp3s, photos, text files etc, then completed files are easy to identify if you can’t wait to examine the contents. To enable this feature click on:

In the section titled “When Downloading” select the checkbox that states “Append .!ut to incomplete files”.

In addition, it is also recommended that protocol encryption is also enabled to prevent unauthorised discrimination against bit torrent traffic. This aims to prevent your ISP from reducing the speed of your downloads when using bit torrent, in favour of other traffic. More information on the topic is available here and here.

To enable this feature click on:

At the bottom in the section labelled “Protocol Encryption”, using the drop-down box, select “Enabled”.

Make Utorrent Default Windows 10

This guide was constructed using µtorrent 2.2 on Windows 7 (64-bit) but this will work on nearly all versions of µtorrent as similar fields exist for the location of folders.