BitComet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| BitComet | |
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|---|---|
 Screenshot of the BitComet client version 0.80 |
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| Maintainer: | The BitComet Team |
| Stable release: | 0.70 (2006-06-24) [+/-] |
| Preview release: | 20060212 (2007-02-13) |
| OS: | Microsoft Windows |
| Use: | BitTorrent client |
| License: | Freeware |
| Website: | www.bitcomet.com |
BitComet is a BitTorrent client written in C++ for Microsoft Windows and available in 43 different languages. The current preview release of BitComet comes bundled with the BitComet FLV Player.
Contents |
[edit] Overview of the BitComet Client
The BitComet client is a P2P file-sharing program compatible with the BitTorrent protocol, one of the most popular P2P protocols designed for high-speed distribution of large files. BitComet supports simultaneous downloads, download queuing, selected downloads inside a torrent package, fast-resume, Mainline DHT, protocol encryption, disk cache, speed limits, port mapping, peer exchange (PEX), UDP NAT traversal, proxy, and IP filtering. Client versions after 0.70 feature an FTP/HTTP downloader, a download scheduler, and virus scanner for downloaded torrents. New updates come out every 2 weeks or so, but there has not been a "stable" client since the release of 0.70. BitComet provides an embedded Internet Explorer window to allow users to search for torrents within the client. A default list of torrent index sites are included which users can modify or remove.
[edit] Features and Accessories
[edit] BitComet
The following are the features of BitComet, according to the official website:
- BitTorrent Download
- Preview while Downloading: Preview of MP3, rmvb, wmv, and qt is available during downloading process.
- Connection Optimization: Configuration is automatically set to match your connection type.
- Disk Cache: Memory cache is used to reduce the read/write frequency of your hard drive, therefore increasing service life.
- Quick Resume: The torrents can be seeded or resumed immediately without time consuming scans.
- NAT Traversal: Users behind NAT can now connect with each other by UDP.
- Auto Config ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) and ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) in Windows XP
- Auto Config UPNP port mapping in router (UPnP support is required in router, Windows XP is required).
- Option of Disabling and Setting Priority of Files in any torrent: Files can be disabled, so they are not downloaded, or set to higher or lower priority, allowing you to select which files finish first.
- Trackerless support (Mainline DHT): Torrents can be downloaded when tracker is offline using DHT.
- Support for Multi-tracker, and utf-8 extension, UDP tracker Protocol v2.
- HTTP/FTP Download
- Preview while Downloading: Preview of mp3, rmvb, wmv, and qt is available during downloading process.
- Ability of Multi-Section Download: Files are split into several sections which are downloaded at the same time to increase the download speed up to 500% or more.
- Ability of Multi-Mirror download: Mirror servers are automatically found for the file being downloaded. Data from these servers are downloaded at the same time to increase download speed 300% or more.
- Ability of Multi-Peer download: BitTorrent technology is integrated into HTTP/FTP protocol, with which BitComet automatically finds other peers and gets data from them to increase your download speed，without additional bandwidth usage of the HTTP server.
- Support for Unicode: Multi-language web pages and encoded URLs can be correctly handled.
- Quick Resume: Stopped download tasks can be resumed from where they left off from both HTTP and FTP servers.
- Download Management - Customization Available
- Global and Per-Task Speed Limit, for Both Upload and Download.
- Bandwidth Scheduler
- Custom-built Categories Management.
[edit] BitComet FLV Player
On November 18, 2006, the BitComet Team introduced the BitComet FLV player, an application to play Flash Video files (.flv and .swf files). It is bundled with the BitComet client and is also available as a standalone program also has partial support for loading FLV files from a webserver. The current version is 1.4.
[edit] BitCometTracker
BitComet also has a standalone tracker available for download on the official site. Features of the tracker according to the official site:
- High performance, highly scalable.
- GUI configuration.
- Support both TCP and UDP tracker protocol.
- Compatible with BitComet client.
- Remote monitor the performance using web browser.
- Able to update database, plugin SDK is provided.
[edit] Controversy and Criticism
[edit] Adware
Although the official BitComet website has claimed and currently claims that BitComet is, "Clean and free, without any adware or spyware," [1] the current stable release (version 0.70) through version 0.62, all originally showed a single advertisement when using the video preview functionality. Although the advertisement is removable and is now automatically removed within a period of about 24 to 48 hours, BitComet was at the time still considered adware since the ad was automatically displayed without the consent of the user. When the client is downloaded from the archives, of the official website, the ad will still appear, until the client connects to the BitComet servers and the ad is removed. The reason the ad is no longer present in versions past 0.70 is because BitComet received a major rewrite. This included the replacement of the bundled video previewer created by leechvideo.com, with BitComet's own previewer, which does not currently contain ads.[2]
[edit] DHT Exploit Controversy
During version 0.60, BitComet received bad publicity because its implementation of the DHT feature, which was new at the time, could be exploited to not respect the private flag of a tracker. This allowed users to avoid download and upload ratio restrictions, which are common on private trackers. Many private trackers responded to this by banning BitComet version 0.60.[3] BitComet developer RnySmile reverted the client back to version 0.59 in response to the banishment.[4]
The DHT exploit was fixed in version 0.61.[5][6]
[edit] Super-seeding
In early 2007, John Hoffman, the creator of super-seeding and author of the BitTornado client, harshly criticized BitComet for using abusive tactics to "game" and "cheat" super-seeding at the expense of other peers: "Since BitComet has proven itself to be a harmful codebase, and since they have forced me to take steps I’d rather not have, I will also be banning connections from that client to my own client and tracker codebases." [7]
[edit] Trivia
- First public release was v 0.28.
- Originally named SimpleBT client in from versions 0.11 to 0.37.
- Present day logo was first used in version 0.50.
[edit] References
- ^ BitComet Team (2006). Official Website. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
- ^ BitComet Tech Support (2006). Forum post of Tech Support acknowledging ads in BitComet. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
- ^ Thomas Mennecke (2005). BitComet Banned. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ Thomas Mennecke (2005). BitComet Reverts to Version .59. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ Thomas Mennecke (2006). BitComet .62 and You. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
- ^ Thomas Mennecke (2006). BitComet .64 Released. Retrieved on 2006-01-15.
- ^ TorrentFreak.com (2007). BitTornado Bans All BitComet Users. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- BitComet's official website
- A BitComet typical configuration explained
- The Bitcomet forums
- The BitComet wiki
- Guide to using BitComet
- BitComet Releases Download Page
| BitTorrent (category) | |
|---|---|
| Companies | BitTorrent, Inc. |
| Prominent individuals | |
| Technology | Tracker • Client • Super-seeding • Peer exchange • Broadcatching (BT RSS List) |
| Prominent clients (category) |
Official BitTorrent Client • ABC • Azureus • BitComet • BitTornado • KTorrent • Transmission • µTorrent • Halite
|
| Prominent sites (category) | LokiTorrent • Suprnova.org • The Pirate Bay • AnimeSuki • Demonoid • Mininova • isoHunt • TorrentSpy • Empornium • UKNova |
