BitTorrent For Dummies
by Susannah Gardner
and Kris Krug
BitTorrent For Dummies
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, e-mail: brandreview@wiley.com .
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005927724
ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-9981-1
ISBN-10: 0-7645-9981-X
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
10/TQ/QZ/QV/IN
About the Authors
Susannah Gardner, is the director of Hop Studios, a Web design company specializing in custom publishing solutions, and the author of Buzz Markening with Blogs For Dummies. She has also worked for The Los Angeles Times Web site and taught online journalism for the University of Southern California.
Kris Krug, is a writer, designer, photographer, and Web aficionado based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dedication
Susannah: The weekend of my final book deadline for Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies my much-loved cat Lukaska died. Although it was too late to dedicate that book to her, I can make up for that here. This book is for Lukaska, a cat whose personality was matched only by her beauty.She kept me company while I wrote my first solo book, and was much missed while I wrote this one.
Authors Acknowledgments
Susannah: I owe a great deal to my husband, Travis, for supporting me on this project even though he thought I was crazy to take on another book before the last was even in bookstores. His quiet strength by my side is something I rely on every day.
Very special thanks are due to my wonderful co-author, Kris Krug, who is responsible for much of the expertise and knowledge this book contains. His clear explanations of technology kept the book from spinning off into technical mumbo-jumbo, and his dedication to this project in the face of other deadlines and pressures was outstanding.
Thanks also to Michael Overing, who wrote the legal chapter for this book and who generously helped us wade through some of the rather murky waters surrounding file-sharing these days. His insight and quick grasp of the essential technical issues involved were crucial.
As always, I want to extend a special hug to Janine Warner, the friend who got me started working on books. She continues to be an important source of information and inspiration as I work on books of my own.
We had two editors on this book. Beth Taylor us off on the right foot and then left to have her first child. She was ably succeeded by Nicole Haims, whose relaxed handling of crises and missing screenshots will not be forgotten. Nicole was also the copy editor on this book and kept things spelled right and grammatically functional. Cameo Wood technical-edited her way to making the book understandable thanks, Cameo! And special thanks go to the technically prescient Melody Layne, acquisitions editor at Wiley, and to everyone listed in the publishers acknowledgements. I am grateful to all of you.
Thanks also to my parents, Jan and Phil Gardner, my brother Matt, my sister Debbie, my mother-in-law, Pat Smith, and my sister-in-law, Virginia Smith. Thanks also to Lance Watanabe, Jae and Karin Sung, Elaine Zinngrabe, Zipporah Lax, Jason and Noriko Manikel, Deborah Nathanson, Tracy Dominick, Robin Rauzi, Amy Leach, Dorothy Ingebresten, and everyone in The Breakfast Club.
Thanks are also due to Bram Cohen, without whom there would be no need for this book, and to everyone else who has used or will use BitTorrent and keep the community alive.
And thanks to you, dear reader.
Kris: Writing a book is by no means a solo effort. This project was exceptionally smooth and a pleasure to work on from start to finish. BitTorrent For Dummies is my first book and I was lucky to write for such a professional and friendly team at Wiley. Id like to thank Beth Taylor, Nicole Haims, Melody Layne, and Cameo Wood for all the guidance and direction they provided on this first project. You are a great team and it would be fun to work with you again.
Susie, thank you so much for taking me under your wing and showing me the Wiley Way. You have been a great friend and mentor, and really this book should be dedicated to you. Thank you also to Travis, who kept us well fed and also made sure we were up on the latest BitTorrent news and headlines via IM and e-mail.