Software : Updated: The best free torrent clients of 2015

Updated: The best free torrent clients of 2015
Download of the Day: Atlantis Word Processor
Apple's music streaming service might have to wait until June
Microsoft Office 2016 preview finally lands on Mac

Updated: The best free torrent clients of 2015

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Introduction, Vuze, uTorrent

Torrents, at almost 14 years old, are veritably ancient when it comes to innovation yet the popular file sharing method remains one of the mainstays of almost anyone that wants to download files and large companies now use it to distribute large files to users.

Clients were and have remainder the easiest way to get hold of torrents and as with any part of the internet there are a plethora of different options to choose from that offer almost the same service yet little tweaks make each one slightly different. What follows is the top five torrent clients in the world today.

Vuze

Anyone that wants something beyond just a stripped down torrent client will be happy to know that Vuze fills that void with some style.

Like its peers, Vuze supports all torrent types though its content discovery feature is something that is to be admired. It suggests a wealth of HD videos with categories that include news, music videos, tv shows, movies and sports. Further than that it also has a glut of games that can be downloaded and that's even before you've begun to use the search capabilities that Vuze offers.

Vuze

Searching using Vuze is more convenient than other services as it uses a built-in browser window to find torrents using either a web search through Microsoft Bing or a metasearch of a range of torrent sites. The meta search is a real advantage although the built-in web browser was fairly sluggish when we searched using it.

The free features don't end there, however, with a dedicated RSS feeds tab within the content discovery tab, device playback, an iTunes converter, DVD burner and live customer support chat making there few reasons for you not to download Vuze.

One thing to note is that during the installation make sure that you pick the custom path and then also don't accept the additional bloatware that comes with it and the only thing the paid-for premium version brings is the chance to get rid of ads, and $29.99 (around £19.50, or AU$38.50) is a steep price to pay for this plus bundled anti-virus protection.

uTorrent

The grand daddy of all the torrent clients for some time, uTorrent is at the top table thanks to its lightweight nature and the fact that it's built a reputation as something that works really well.

When uTorrent is opened for the first time it will look a little bloated thanks to a sidebar that offers you the chance to upgrade to uTorrent Pro or download the latest free offering from BitTorrent, however, all of this can be changed by simply customising the look and removing the sidebar in the options menu.

uTorrent

After the sidebar is removed and you're left with the blank whiteness of the torrent client it comes into its own as a downloader. The speeds are still what everyone has come to expect and you can type search queries into the built-in search field before being taken to a web browser tab to complete your search. As soon as you download the torrent it will open automatically in uTorrent and before you know it the torrent has downloaded.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a completely free version of uTorrent and it ends up bombarding you with various offers that need to be dodged during the installation to make sure you don't end up with four or five pieces of added software.

Added extras in uTorrent include the ability to set up RSS feeds and play content using the uTorrent player that comes as part of the package. uTorrent will still be at pains to point out that there is a Pro version available for $19.95 that offers even more features such as instant streaming of torrents, automatic virus and malware protection, the ability to play more formats, a converter and "premium" customer support.

The free version of uTorrent remains a very strong proposition and for something that grabs torrents with little fuss there's no a lot to fault about it.

BitTorrent, BitComet, BitLord

BitTorrent

You might open BitTorrent and immediately feel like your suffering some kind of weird deja vu where the colours have been flipped. This is no case of deja-vu though. uTorrent and BitTorrent are one of the same and made by the company that brands itself as the "original BitTorrent".

BitTorrent

What you're left with when downloading BitTorrent is quite literally the same program as uTorrent except that the colour scheme is purple rather than green. So it really all boils down to whether you're a purple or a green. Time to make your mind up…

BitComet

When torrents first made it onto the scene some 14 years ago, torrent clients had little more than a white space where the downloads took place and BitComet is one program that remains in that corner.

BitComet's antiquated approach to torrent downloads is maybe where it excels in terms of the lack of advertising and bloatware but it's also where it falls down. The program feels a lot less intuitive than many of its rivals and you could even go as far as to say that it's confusing due to the wealth of options that are available on screen. Expert users will find the number of options helpful, however, and once you get to know your way round it's nowhere near as daunting.

BitComet

It has a limited built-in browser yet, like many of the other clients around, directs you to an external window when it actually searches for a torrent and performance-wise it gets downloads started just as quickly as its competitors.

For those that want a very basic client this is more than adequate and BitComet does the job of torrent downloading perfectly well.

BitLord

Taking a slightly different approach to the well trodden plain white window is BitLord through its beige and black colour-way that immediately throws hundreds of suggestions for content as soon as you enter its main window.

BitLord

The interface itself is the most simple one on the entire list with large icons that clearly label what can be found beneath each tab and the fact you can search for and then start torrents without having to leave the program will appeal to many users comparing it to other clients.

BitLord also doesn't include a plethora of useless adware that some other clients have and combine this with the ease of finding torrents and BitLord is one of those that we would recommend to beginners to the world of torrents.

Download of the Day: Atlantis Word Processor

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Office 365 might be the new gold standard for word processors yet there are plenty that till yearn for the grey-and-blue tinged days of Microsoft Word in older versions of Windows and for all those people Atlantis Word Processor is here to help.

Why you need it

Word processor programs are increasingly moving into the cloud with the likes of Office 365 hastening that transition and for anyone that doesn't have any interest in making that move, Atlantis Word Processor is here to help.

Taking more than a few cues from old versions of Microsoft Word, Atlantis Word Processor is as simple as they come and makes no effort to get away from the fact that it will help you to create, open and save documents into a range of different formats. Microsoft doc and docx formats are both supported as well as RTF, encrypted COD and plain text. Alongside that are an extensive set of formatting options to make it feel even more like Word such as fonts, bold, italic, underlining, text colours and highlighting.

Every time a new document is opened the program keeps itself neat and tidy by organising them in tabs along the bottom of the window and you only need click each one to open it up once more.

Other added extras include a built-in spell checker that oversees your work as you type, sound options that can be adjusted so that it sounds like a typewriter every time a keystroke is detected and a power type mode that guesses the word after the first few letters have been typed.

Anyone that is missing the older versions of Microsoft Word with a few subtle upgrades will find much to get excited about here and as a word processor it is a solid proposition for any Windows PC user.

Key features

Works on: Windows PC

Price: Free for 30 days then $35 (about £22.50, or AU$44)

Tabbed documents: Any documents open inside Atlantis Word Processor are organised by tab at the bottom of the window to give quick and easy access when working across various projects at one time.

Power Type: A built-in feature that guesses what you're going to type much like the predictive element present on smartphones.

Nostalgic Design: Atlantis Word Processor looks and works like an old version of Microsoft Word, something that will be familiar to many users.

Apple's music streaming service might have to wait until June

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Apple has an Apple Watch event scheduled for March, and it's been speculated that the company might debut its new streaming music service at the same time.

But the latest report, from 9to5Mac, says otherwise.

Apple threw down the gauntlet with the new iPad Air

According to the Apple news site, the streaming service - which will reportedly combine iTunes and Beats Music - won't debut officially until Apple's WWDC event in June.

The site says the service will be announced at the summer event, likely during the keynote on June 8, as a beta for iOS 8.4 or as part of iOS 9.

This info comes not from sources within Apple, but from alleged music industry sources, so take it with an even bigger grain of salt than you normally would.

When the service does debut, though, it might take the form of a completely revamped iTunes.

The iPhone 6 is bigger, better, sleeker and faster

Microsoft Office 2016 preview finally lands on Mac

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Just weeks after Microsoft brought the Office 2016 Consumer Technical Preview to PC users, the company has let Mac users join the fun without even having to sign a non-disclosure agreement

Mac users can now sink their teeth into the OS X version of the Office 2016 that includes all the elements users have come to expect from the productivity suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote.

Each app has been given a significant refresh and there are a range of different features tailored to Mac systems such as full retina display support, full-screen view, scroll bounce. Even the task pane has been refreshed to modernize the whole user experience.

How to get it

Microsoft plans to release new updates for the technical preview every few weeks and the service is completely integrated with OneDrive, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint; meaning every time you sign in to Office 2016 for Mac, it will call up documents created on any device.

All users need to do to download the Office 2016 for Mac Preview is to head over to this link and follow the instructions.

Via: Microsoft

Read our Microsoft Office 365 review

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Friday, March 6, 2015