After sending out invites to test Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 last week, Microsoft has given its beta testers their first build of SP1. The build number is 7601.16562.100603-1800, meaning it was compiled on June 3, 2010 at 6pm, according to the German enthusiast website WinFuture. The last build that we got wind of leaked in May, and was compiled on April 21, 2010. Broader testing of SP1 should begin later next month.

-arstechnica

Mirrors are as follows:

32 Bit , torrent ~ 64 Bit: Part1 & Part2 , torrent

Updated mirrors may be found in comments section of RLSLOG

Changelog below:

Changes specific to Windows 7
 Additional support for communication with third-party federation  services:
 · Additional support has been added to allow Windows 7 clients to  effectively communicate with third-party identity federation services  (those supporting the WS-Federation passive profile protocol). This  change enhances platform interoperability, and improves the ability to  communicate identity and authentication information between  organizations.
 Improved HDMI audio device performance:
 · A small percentage of users have reported issues in which the  connection between computers running Windows 7 and HDMI audio devices  can be lost after system reboots. Updates have been incorporated into  SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows 7 computers and HDMI  audio devices are consistently maintained.
 Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents:
 · Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty  when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents (documents containing  pages in both portrait and landscape orientation) using the XPS Viewer,  resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either portrait or  landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to  correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.
 Changes common to both client and server platforms:
 · Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon”  functionality
 · SP1 changes the behavior of the “Restore previous folders at logon”  function available in the Folder Options Explorer dialog. Prior to SP1,  previous folders would be restored in a cascaded position based on the  location of the most recently active folder. That behavior changes in  SP1 so that all folders are restored to their previous positions.
 Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec:
 · Support for additional identification types has been added to the  Identification field in the IKEv2 authentication protocol. This allows  for a variety of additional forms of identification (such as E-mail ID  or Certificate Subject) to be used when performing authentication using  the IKEv2 protocol.
 Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX):
 · There has always been a growing need for ever more computing power and  as usage models change, processors instruction set architectures evolve  to support these growing demands. Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) is a  256 bit instruction set extension for processors. AVX is designed to  allow for improved performance for applications that are floating point  intensive. Support for AVX is a part of SP1 to allow applications to  fully utilize the new instruction set and register extensions.
 · Changes specific to Windows Server 2008 R2
 Dynamic Memory:
 · Constraints on the allocation of physical memory represents one of the  greatest challenges organizations face as they adopt new virtualization  technology and consolidate their infrastructure. With Dynamic Memory,  an enhancement to Hyper-V™ introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1,  organizations can now make the most efficient use of available physical  memory, allowing them to realize the greatest possible potential from  their virtualization resources. Dynamic Memory allows for memory on a  host machine to be pooled and dynamically distributed to virtual  machines as necessary. Memory is dynamically added or removed based on  current workloads, and is done so without service interruption.
 Microsoft RemoteFX:
 · Businesses are increasingly looking to leverage the efficiency and  cost savings that can come from a virtualized desktop infrastructure.  With the addition of Microsoft RemoteFX in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, a  new set of remote user experience capabilities that enable a media-rich  user environment for virtual desktops, session-based desktops and  remote applications is introduced. Harnessing the power of virtualized  graphics resources, RemoteFX can be deployed to a range of thick and  thin client devices, enabling cost-effective, local-like access to  graphics-intensive applications and a broad array of end user  peripherals, improving productivity of remote users.
 · RemoteFX can function independently from specific graphics stacks and  supports any screen content, including today’s most advanced  applications and rich content (including Silverlight and Adobe Flash),  ensuring that end users maintain a rich, local-like desktop experience  even in a virtualized thin-client environment.
 · RemoteFX also adds mainstream USB device support to virtual desktop  computing, including support for USB drives, cameras and PDAs connected  to the client device. RemoteFX also provides a platform for hardware and  software partners to enhance RemoteFX capabilities in a variety of  possible host, client and network configurations.
 · To use RemoteFX, the virtualization server must be running Windows  Server 2008 R2 with SP1, the virtual machine must be running Windows 7  Enterprise with SP1 or Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1, and the remote  client computer must be running either Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1  or Windows 7 with SP1. To connect to the virtual machine, the remote  client computer requires an updated version of Remote Desktop Services  (included in the service pack for all editions of Windows 7).
 Enhancements to scalability and high availability when using  DirectAccess:
 · DirectAccess is a new feature in the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008  R2 operating systems that gives users the experience of being  seamlessly connected to their corporate network any time they have  Internet access. In Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, improvements have been  made to enhance scalability and high availability when using  DirectAccess, through the addition of support for 6to4 and ISATAP  addresses when using DirectAccess in conjunction with Network Load  Balancing (NLB).
 Support for Managed Service Accounts (MSAs) in secure branch office  scenarios:
 · SP1 enables enhanced support for managed service accounts (MSAs) to be  used on domain-member services located in perimeter networks (also  known as DMZs or extranets).
 Support for increased volume of authentication traffic on domain  controllers connected to high-latency networks:
 · As a greater volume of IT infrastructure migrates to cloud-based  services, there is a need for higher thresholds of authentication  traffic to domain controllers located on high-latency networks (such as  the public Internet). SP1 allows for more granular control of the  maximum number of possible concurrent connections to a domain  controller, enabling a greater degree of performance tuning for service  providers.
 Enhancements to Failover Clustering with Storage:
 · SP1 enables enhanced support for how Failover Clustering works with  storage that is not visible for all cluster nodes. In SP1, improvements  have been made to the Cluster Validation and multiple Failover Cluster  Manager wizards to allow workloads to use disks that are shared between a  subset of cluster nodes.

This week The Pirate Bay confirmed it would shut down its tracker for good, instead encouraging the use of DHT, PEX and magnet links. This move confounded many BitTorrent enthusiasts, who although wishing to adapt, were confronted with hard to grasp terminology and technology. Time for some explaining.

The Pirate Bay’s recent confirmation that they had closed down their tracker since DHT and Peer Exchange have matured enough to take over, was coupled with the news that they had added Magnet links to the site. This news has achieved its aim of stimulating discussion, but has also revealed that there is much confusion over how these technologies work.

The key thing to understand is that nobody is being forced to use Magnet links or trackerless torrents. While these long-standing technologies may prove to be the future, they will co-exist with tracker-enabled torrenting for quite some time. For now, nobody will be forced to immediately change their existing downloading habits, although it may be wise to switch to a BitTorrent client that is compatible with these technologies.

In an attempt to clear some of the mystique surrounding DHT, PEX and Magnet links we will walk through all three briefly, hoping to assure those who’ve become confused earlier this week.

DHT and PEX working in utorrent

DHT

Using DHT instead of trackers is one of the things The Pirate Bay is now trying to encourage, and torrent downloads that rely solely on this technology are often referred to as “trackerless torrents.” DHT is used to find the IP addresses of peers, mostly in addition to a tracker. It is enabled by default in clients such as uTorrent and Vuze and millions of people are already using it without knowing.

DHT’s function is to find peers who are downloading the same files, but without communicating with a central BitTorrent tracker such as that previously operated by The Pirate Bay.

DHT is by no means a new technology. A version debuted in the BitTorrent client Azureus in May 2005 and an alternative but incompatible version was added to Mainline BitTorrent a month later. There is, however, a plugin available for Azureus Vuze which allows it access to the Mainline DHT network used by uTorrent and other clients.

Peer Exchange (”PEX”)

Peer Exchange is yet another means of finding IP addresses. Rather than acting like a tracker, it leverages the knowledge of peers you are connected to, by asking them in turn for the addresses of peers they are connected to. Although it requires a “kick start”, PEX will often uncover more genuine peers than DHT or a tracker.

Magnet links

Traditionally, .torrent files are downloaded from torrent sites. A torrent client then calculates a torrent hash (a kind of fingerprint) based on the files it relates to, and seeks the addresses of peers from a tracker (or the DHT network) before connecting to those peers and downloading the desired content.

Sites can save on bandwidth by calculating torrent hashes themselves and allowing them to be downloaded instead of .torrent files. Given the torrent hash – passed as a parameter within a Magnet link – clients immediately seek the addresses of peers and connect to them to download first the torrent file, and then the desired content.

It is worth noting that BitTorrent can not ditch the .torrent format entirely and rely solely on Magnet links. The .torrent files hold crucial information that is needed to start the downloading process, and this information has to be available in the swarm.

Pirate Bay links cf. Mininova links: When the Magnet link specification first came out, in January last year it called for a particular format (”base32 encoded”). The links that EZTV, Mininova and ShareReactor have displayed for some time all conform to that original specification. In May of last year the specification was changed, in favor of “hex encoding”, and that is the format of the links being displayed by The Pirate Bay. Torrent clients should accept either format.

Compatible Clients

All the main torrent clients: uTorrent 1.8.5, Vuze 4.3.0.2, BitTorrent 6.3, BitComet 1.16, and Transmission 1.76 (and others) support Peer Exchange and DHT (via a plugin in the case of Vuze). Neither BitComet nor Transmission yet support Magnet links but Transmission is planning to include Magnet link support in the upcoming 1.8 release. Bearing in mind that no site, including The Pirate Bay, has yet abandoned support for traditional torrent files, there is plenty of time for support to be added.

We hope that this article has cleared some of the smoke that was generated by The Pirate Bay’s announcements earlier this week. There is no need to panic, cry or be angry, and it’s not a problem if you’re still confused after reading this article. Torrents will still be available and aside from some extra downloading options thanks to sites that add Magnet links, nothing drastic will change in the near future.

This article was originally published on TorrentFreak by a contribution from user Adapa
via LifeHacker

Whether you are looking for an alternative to PG2 because it fails to function properly, or simply looking to cut down the number of processes you are running – the information here is for you.

It is possible to block ip-ranges with utorrent’s built in ipfiltering system.

First and foremost, you will need the latest utorrent beta. Be sure to check this out if you are noticing degraded download speeds running utorrent in Windows 7. After you finalize your utorrent install, get a blocklist: a good place to get this is at BISS – get nipfilter.dat.gz, open with an archiver and extract the “ipfilter.dat” to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\uTorrent or its XP equivalent of C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\uTorrent .

A simple way of reaching the utorrent application folder, regardless of the OS, is by typing ‘%appdata%/utorrent’ in the run menu, without the quotes.

Right click > peer traffic logging > Log Blocked Connections in your Logger tab to see it in effect.

After getting windows 7 I noticed that my downloads of the Linux kernel through utorrent were running at incredibly slow speeds.

Though the reasons behind this may be complicated, the solution turned out to be rather simple.

The first solution is direct, and very simple. You need to disable UPnP port mapping in the settings of utorrent, and run it in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2. For the uninitiated: right click properties of utorrent shortcut, head to compatibility, and make it look like the picture.

Now the second, optional, part will require patching of your tcpip.sys. As you may, or may not, be aware Microsoft introduced a half-open connection limit in XP SP2, and included it in Vista and Win7. As far as the official reason, it was done to hinder the speed at which certain trojans and viruses spread. The real result: slower torrent speeds.

This is very simple. Head over to http://half-open.com/home_en.htm and grab the Half-open limit fix 4.0. Patch it to whatever you need, and restart.

You may also unlock utorrent’s max connections; head over to preferences, Advanced, and find the string net.max_halfopen and increase the numerical value.