foxtorrent

Do you download torrent files? Is Firefox your default browser? If so, then this program is for you. FoxTorrent is an extension for Firefox that allows you to download and share torrents from your own browser window. Its streaming feature will also enable you to play audio and video as it's downloaded. FoxTorrent doesn't hog your system resources nor bandwidth and requires no configuration at all. Not convinced yet? Give it a try and see for yourself!

Ok, so you've finished all your work for the day and have exploited all the possibilities of Freecell or Solitaire on your office PC. You know that P2P and BitTorrent downloading are not allowed in your company, but heck, you've decided you're still going to take the risk to enjoy the greater bandwidth which your home connection will never match. If so, you'll find useful the following five tips written up by NewTeeVee.

Most of these probably won't hide the fact that you're suddenly hogging a huge amount of bandwidth but are a good way of hiding your activity. If you get questioned just make sure you have a very solid excuse prepared (like, I've been listening to an online radio stream... intensely) or be prepared to face the consequences.

Here goes for NewTeeVee's tips:

• Download torrents from your browser. NewTeeVee suggest using the Java applet over at Bitleg.org. Just find a torrent metafile url from a torrent site, paste it into the box and you're ready to go. We believe you can also use uTorrent straight from its web interface. If you have Firefox installed and can add extensions you can try using either FoxTorrent or FireTorrent. Opera also features an inbuilt torrent client.

• Start BitTorrent from a USB drive. Another way of avoiding the installation of a BitTorrent client onto your PC, is to have your client on a USB drive. Here again, uTorrent is so small that it can easily fit on any USB key. You can run it directly from the key as it needs no installation.

• Encrypt your BitTorrent traffic. If you really are a little crazy, you've actually had the nerves to install a torrent client onto your office PC. In that case your safest bet is simply to encrypt your BitTorrent traffic. If you're using Azureus you can set this up directly from the settings. Newteevee also suggest following this guide from TorrentFreak.

• Remotely control your home PC. The latest versions of some BitTorrent clients will allow you to control their interface straight from the web, even if they are on another PC. Once again the web UI from the uTorrent client can let you download at home but control it from your PC office. Transmission with the Clutch WebUI and Azureus for Mac with its WebUI plug-in also let you do this. More technical users will also try to actually control their home PC via LogMeIn, but that might just take too much time and hassle.

• Outsource your torrents. A remote private server, also known as a seedbox, can handle all your BitTorrent downloads and serve them to you as simple http downloads as soon as they are done. This is probably the most harmless way as you are not hogging any bandwidth and not actually wasting company time on torrent sites. Furk.net and a slew of other companies do this, however do keep in mind that you'll have to pay up for the service.

A Firefox extension to handle .torrent files, called Firestorm, is in the works and expected to be released soon (late April say the developers). Using source code from the official Bittorrent client, Firestorm will allow Firefox users to download torrents directly from their browser. Unlike the latest Opera, Firefox has yet to handle torrent support and this little extension could come as a blessing. From the little we could see in the screenshots, Firestorm looks like it will manage multiple torrents in the traditional Firefox download window. You'll also be able to create your own torrents and set the traditional torrent settings like port, upload and download rates and maximum number of connections.

I don't really know how much strain this extra extension will put on Firefox, infamous for gobbling up memory, but it's great to see a project like this being undertaken. As TorrentFreak do well to point out, there are two other torrent extensions for Firefox already. "FoxTorrent and BitFox are similar projects that work on adding a BitTorrent download manager to Firefox". These types of extensions are all relatively new but it's good to see developers finally tackling the torrent issue on Firefox.