If you’d like to see your files download faster, make sure your hardware or software isn’t getting in their way! Your router or software firewall may be slowing downloads by not accepting the full range of ports used by P2P clients. But there are a few simple ways to increase your speed – not just for downloads but your overall speed as well!
• If you have Windows, then you probably have Windows Firewall – even if you are using another firewall such as Zone Alarm. Disabling Windows Firewall or setting it to accept ports in the range that Bit Torrent clients use (6881-6889) may help solve the problem.

• If your router is doing the port-blocking, login to your admin page and set it up for “Port Range Forwarding” using the range 6881-6889. This site has a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this. One word of caution, though: if Bit Torrent or other client software accepts more connections than your router can handle, the router may crash! If this is a problem, set your client’s maximum number of connections to 40, 30, 20 or 10 (most routers have a maximum of 50).
Once you’ve tried these steps, you may have faster downloads – but your computer may still be slow! Try Speed Up My PC to improve your computer’s general performance. You can download the software for $29.95, with a free instant scan available to evaluate your computer’s performance.