Time and time again I run into people who think "torrent" translates to "illegal". Is it?

Let’s find out what this all means by examining the definitions.

A torrent is a small file usually ending with the file extension .torrent. You use the .torrent file with a BitTorrent client. BitTorrent itself is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. The .torrent file is used to get a larger file you want from the peer-to-peer network using the BitTorrent client that "understands" the BitTorrent protocol.

The Big Question however is: Are torrents illegal?

No. And they never have been.

Using BitTorrent is the most efficient way of getting large files on the internet without having them hosted in any centralized location.

The best example of this is Linux distributions. For example, Ubuntu themselves (as do all other Linux distros) offer a way to get their OS via BitTorrent. It’s fast; it works; it’s probably going to be faster than downloading via a direct HTTP. And obviously, downloading Ubuntu or any other Linux distro via a torrent isn’t illegal.

People assume torrents are illegal because many files are traded illegally via that particular peer-to-peer network. But does this mean all torrents are illegal?

Not by a long shot.

BitTorrent is a protocol and nothing more.

It is wrong to assume "torrent" = "illegal" because it just isn’t true.

In this series I’m going to covers the ins and outs of using Linux as your primary home computer operating system. It will cover in a realistic sense what you can and moreover cannot do with it.

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Some people are confused (or just have the wrong idea) about what a computer server actually is.

The technical definition is that a server is a computer dedicated to providing a specific service or services.

Concerning what you would use in the home, the most common example is a file server, i.e. a computer where its sole purpose in life is to store files you can upload or download at any time on your home network. Continued

This article covers the following:

1. Setting up a workgroup in Windows XP.
2. Setting up a workgroup in Ubuntu 8.10.
3. How to share out files from your Windows XP computer on your home network so you can access them with Ubuntu 8.10.
4. How to access files shared by your Windows XP computer on your home network in Ubuntu 8.10.
5. How to share files out from Ubuntu 8.10 to a Windows XP computer on your home network.

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Eraser is a secure file deletion utility. It works with any version of Windows (from Windows 95 to Vista) and even DOS.

When you delete a file from your computer it is not securely erased. There are ways it could be retrieved. However with Eraser, when a file is deleted using the utility, a file is deleted and overwritten several times with patterns. This makes it nearly impossible to retrieve a file deleted just by pressing the delete key on your keyboard.

Cool things about Eraser

• Runs on any version of Windows (as noted above)
• Has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions
• Has both an “On-Demand” mode and a “Scheduler” mode. You can do right-now deletion or scheduled deleting (could be handy for clearing browser cache).
• Free
• Very easy to use
• Fast
• Puts itself in the system tray so you know when it’s running (and when it isn’t)

Who would benefit most from Eraser?

People who use shared computers would benefit most from this utility. If the other people who use the same computer you do are nosy and try to retrieve files you’ve deleted, this utility as said above will make it nearly impossible to retrieve deleted files.

And even if no one else uses your computer but you, one can never be too careful with secure deletion of files.

This chapter is a video presentation.

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