>>3
I'll attempt to explain this as best I can, which is pretty terribly:
A torrent is another way of transferring data from one computer to another, it's not a replacement for http, simply a different method, the advantages are thus:
Many uploaders, all of which are downloaders, means the popularity of something and the more people downloading it that comes with it, is actually a good thing for download speed, and the strain of the uploading computer, the polar opposite of http.
The format also allows average Joe #38 to upload whatever without having to deal with servers, ads and/or file hosting websites.
To a programmer, the biggest difference in the format is probably the fact the downloading and uploading is non-linear, it just downloads whatever bit it deems available, and does this constantly(Here is a good picture to demonstrate this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Torrentcomp_small.gif
it's a "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" type situation.), resulting in a file that is utterly unusable until it is completely done, unlike http files which can be viewed, watched or listened even when the download was cut off in the middle, albeit not the part the was not downloaded.
I believe what you are referring to by "I don't wanna get caught" is the fact the the torrents announce the fact that you are looking for a certain file across the internet, but you have to remember that the only way you actually caught for anything is if you actually, you know, have it(outside of that child pornography thing where you click on the link and the FBI shows up at your house and arrest you for intent to look at abused children or some shit).
And at least with torrents there's no one to cooperate with the police or FBI.
And regarding viruses, just get Avast:
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
it has a p2p shield.
Now that to understand the basics of the .torrent format let me explain how to use it:
Step 1, Let's actually get the program:
http://www.bittorrent.com/btusers/download/?
Download Bittorrent, there are other programs for this too, but we're not talking abut those right now.
Step 2, Installing it:
Installing it, well, it's pretty simple, just hit next, until you get to the ask toolbar thing then just uncheck all that shit.
Now it will ask whether or not you want to run the program now and create a desktop icon, use your discretion.
Now that we're are in the program(hopefully), and it will ask if you want to make this program your default torrent application, you do, so agree.
Step 3, Preferences:
Now let's look at the program, looks kinda complicated, eh? Well, it's doesn't matter because of the the level of automation.
Go to Options>Preferences
There are quite a few things here but I'm only going to talk about the basic ones:
Directories: look at "put new downloads in" and check the box, now click the ... button to the right and it will ask you for a directory in which to download all future files, pick one, it doesn't matter which, but remember it.
You can dick around with the other options in directories a bit if you want, just remember what you did.
On that list to the right there's also a thing called bandwidth, you can dick around with that if you have a shitty connection or something.
Step 4, Actually downloading something, fucking christ:
Now to test it out on a commonly used example: Big Buck Bunny:
http://www.frostclick.com/torrents/video/animation/Big_Buck_Bunny_1080p_surround_frostclick.com_frostwire.com.torrent
It will ask whether you want to open with bittorrent or download it, it is at this time that I should explain that .torrent requires an http download to begin it, so uh, yeah not better, just different.
Also at this time you should decide whether or not you want to keep .torrent files, you don't need to really, but you might want to if you ever need to re-download something you torrented before, but it's your choice.
If you open it in bittorrent it will ask you, via checklist, what files within this you want to download, keep them all checked for right now. You can also change the folder name and the directory for this one file to be downloaded to, and some other shit about hash checks or something, whatever, they don't matter.
Once you click ok, the downloading and uploading will begin immediately, and I should probably tell you that it normally takes much longer to download and not as long to upload as this torrent would have you believe.
Now you'll notice a bunch of shit, but I'll try to explain it;
Name: Name of the .torrent file.
#: Something about priority and queuing.
Size: the size of the file you are currently downloading.
Done: How close you are to finishing the download via percent.
Status: this can say Downloading(You're uploading too, don't be fooled), Uploading(you're done downloading), paused(obvious), stopped(obvious)
Seeds: How many seeders, AKA uploaders there are. The ones outside of the parentheses are uploading to you now, the ones inside are how many total on are this one torrent, it might be including you, I don't know.
Peers: Everyone else who is downloading this torrent, the ones outside of the parentheses you are uploading to now, the ones inside are how many total are on this one torrent.
Down speed: The rate you are currently downloading in kilobytes or megabytes per second, this will change violently almost all the time.
Up speed: The rate you are currently uploading in kilobytes or megabytes per second, this will change very little most of the time.
ETA: The program attempting to figure out how long until the download/upload has finished, this will also change violently almost all the time, until you finish downloading, as it is connect to down speed.
It will go up to about 3 years before it turns into the infinity sign.
Uploaded: How much data you have uploaded, you can upload many times the amount of data the file had, because there are many people downloading it, and you can stop at any time because you are uploading random data anyway, so it doesn't matter in regard to how close it is to a multiple of the downloaded amount.
Ratio: The ratio of downloading to uploading, for instance, on this specific file if 444mb, you upload after downloading the entire file, it will be 0.500, and if you don't want to be a leeching douchebag, you'll at least upload enough to get it to 2.000; 2 times what you put in.
Avail.: How much data is available on this specific file, if it's below 1.000 you probably can't get the whole file right now, and if you have it on your computer you should seed it for other people, to get it going again.
Added on: This is just when you opened this .torrent.
Completed on: When you finished downloading this file.
Now just sit tight because the file should be close to finished about now, unless it just seems like that because I'm a slow typist. Whatever, it won't be long.
Now uploading isn't as important on this one, because of the dedicated seeders for big buck bunny, but you should still try to upload some, just as a tutorial.
Step 5, sites and figuring shit out on your own:
Welp, now that you have an understanding of the software, it's time you were given places to get .torrent files.
Most of the time
http://thepiratebay.org/ has what you want, and they have a good attitude towards the free software community.
But googling the thing you want with "torrent" will a lot of times works too, but you might get some shady sites, use discretion and remember that avast will protect you from most things so, don't be deathly afraid of everything.
Other people has their torrent sites I'm sure, and this is in no way a complete guide, as well as I'm putting this on the internet so I intend it to be edited, reposted, added to and mocked, I'm just trying to get you, and hopefully some other people, started.
Honestly, it's all stuff you need to figure out on your own after here, so I can't help you.
Also, I couldn't find the file you were looking for, but you should still use torrents, because it's just a good thing to know how to do, especially when you're on 4chan, and it wouldn't be the full torrent experience if you didn't have to find it yourself.
And shows like Megas XLR are on the internet in torrents, remember that show? Fucking awesome, and it's not on dvd, what the fuck is that shit?