BitTorrent is a fast and free peer-to-peer file sharing application that makes it easy to locate and download torrents from around the web.

The program includes its own search box. Enter a few keywords describing whatever you're looking for, and a browser windows will open at Ask.com with whatever matching torrents the site could uncover. Follow the links, and as long as you made BitTorrent your default torrent application during installation, the program should open and begin downloading your selected file.

BitTorrent isn't your default app? Click Options > Preferences and you can set up your file associations manually. And while you're there, knowledgeable users may want to take advantage of BitTorrent's many customisation options. You're able to tweak the port used for incoming connections; limit upload and download rates to ensure there's bandwidth left for other apps; cap torrent transfers to a particular amount in the past month; use a scheduler to enable BitTorrent to run at full speed only during the times you define, and more.

BitTorrent takes all this further, from support for both global and per-torrent speed limiting, to adding entirely new features like an RSS Downloader. Yet it still remains fast and extremely lightweight, with the core program consuming barely more than 7MB RAM (private working set) when it's first launched - this isn't a tool that's going to slow you down.

This is the brand new BitTorrent 8 beta which ships with a number of new features and improvements, including new personal content channels, speed notifications, CPU usage improvements, a smaller memory footprint and more.