BitComet has been around on the P2P scene since 2003 and is still going as a BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP download client.
BitComet allows you to exchange files with other users although it must only be used for those files which can be legally exchanged online. The interface is similar to that of eMule with features running down the left hand pane, control buttons across the top and the torrents that are downloading in the main window in the center. Once files have started downloading, the regular stop, pause, cancel, update etc options are all available on BitComet plus a handy "remove torrent & all files" option which removes all trace of an unwanted torrent from your PC.
Download speeds are OK although not as good as similar P2P apps such as uTorrent. One of the reasons for this is that BitComet doesn't have as many users as it once had as more effective and user friendly alternatives entered the market. One of the more handy features of BitComet however is a ‘preview media’ option, which forces the torrent to download sequentially instead of randomly thus allowing you to preview any multimedia downloads. It’s a great way to avoid broken links, but, on the downside, it will slow down your download considerably.
Most recently, BitComet are experimenting with a feature that enables you to download some or all of the data in torrents from non-bittorrent sources, or even from peers of other torrents with all, or some of the same content. Note that this release is also the first bittorrent client to issue a stable 64bit version
Another interesting feature on BitComet is the ‘intelligent disk cache’ which really comes into its own on high speed connections. If you are lucky enough to get download transfer rates of 500 kb/s or higher, activating it allows BitComet to cache the data to access the disk less frequently. The result of this is that it doesn’t slow down your PC as receiving large amounts of data can sometimes do.
One downside of BitComet is that you are pestered with ads from time to time within the main interface. The other downside is that the uninstall procedure is not particularly clean. The application directory remains as does the registry entry although you can remove the former manually and the latter with any good registry cleaner such as Revo.
There are simpler and more popular clients out there, such as uTorrent uTorrent and Azureus that offer better download rates with less fuss. However, if you have a particularly fast connection, can’t wait for your files to download before watching them and enjoy a torrent client with lots of whistles and bells, BitComet might be for you.
