So what’s uTorrent Plus, and how does it compare to uTorrent Free? Both programs use the same core, you could say that all features of uTorrent Free are included in uTorrent Plus.

When you look at the comparison chart, you will notice that the company lists four additional uTorrent Plus features. The exclusive features are built-in antivirus protection, a HD media player, a mobile device converter and the option to download contents remotely.

These new features come at a price; The company is asking for $24.95 for a 12-month subscription to uTorrent Plus (with six additional months for pre-orders). It is clear that the company is not targeting tech savvy users with the plus version of uTorrent, as they would not really have problems finding and running alternatives to what Plus offers.

But even inexperienced users who may benefit from the all-in-one application approach that uTorrent Plus offers may be left in bewilderment about the additional features. The program is currently in testing and that may explain the absence of information on the uTorrent website.

Questions that remain unanswered include:

• Which antivirus solution is integrated into the client. How does it compare, and how compatible is the feature with other antivirus software installed on the computer system.
• What exactly does remotely downloaded content mean?
• Which functionality is provided by Convertor?

You need to look around quite a bit to find answers to those questions. According to an Extreme Tech article the antivirus solution is provided by BitDefender. uTorrent Free users can download the Virus Guard app for their client which provides basic virus detection. The built-in antivirus solution of uTorrent Plus includes a larger database and virus removal options, which the free version does not offer.

Remotely downloaded content adds capabilities to uTorrent Remote, the web-based control panel of the software. It allows uTorrent Plus users in particular to download files remotely from the web interface. Users can log in from any computer to transfer files to that computer right from the client running uTorrent.

The convertor adds device specific conversions to uTorrent. The idea is simple. You add your mobile and external devices, like your smartphone, gaming console or hardware media player to the list of devices in uTorrent. You can then use uTorrent to transfer optimized contents to those devices.

The features that uTorrent Plus offers can make the life of uTorrent users more comfortable. Especially the ability to convert media before it is transferred to external devices from inside the software, and the ability to download uTorrent files remotely are noteworthy.

The antivirus protection on the other hand and the HD media player are additions that may not be necessary for the majority of users. It does not really make sense to use a built-in antivirus solution if system wide antivirus protection is running on the system. I personally like some of the features provided by uTorrent Plus, and do not have issues with the commercial version as long as it is not limiting the free version in any way.

What’s your take on uTorrent Plus? Let me know in the comments.

But there are situations where a user does not want to contribute the upload speed to spreading the shared files to other users of the network.

Zapshares has been designed to protect a computer user from accidentally sharing files over P2P networks. The service currently supports several popular P2P applications including uTorrent, Bittorrent, Frostwire, LimeWire, Vuze and Shareaza.

It does that by blocking file uploads in the supported P2P programs but only after the files have been downloaded.

This works well in P2P clients where the user does not upload the bits received while downloading the rest. Zapshares will spring into action once the download of a file has been completed. It will automatically move the file into another location so that it is not offered and shared by the user.

The program will scan the computer system for shared files on the first startup to block those from being shared as well. The software runs minimized in the system tray after this initial configuration wizard.

Zapshares is definitely not the holy grail that protects users from sharing files in P2P networks. We already mentioned that users are uploaders in many P2P networks for as long as they download the files. It should also be noted that Zapshares did not detect the uTorrent installation on our test system.

It is also bothersome that there is no option to close Zapshares once it runs in the system tray.

Users who want to give Zapshares a try can download it from the developer’s website. The software program is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems. (via ILoveFreeSoftware)

An interrim beta version of PeerBlock was released today with several important enhancements that should all make it into the PeerBlock 1.0 final release that is expected to be released in the next week. Probably the most important addition in this beta release is a signed driver which helps 64-bit users of Windows Vista and Windows 7 who usually had some problems getting PeerBlock to work on their computer systems thanks to an unsigned driver. There is also no UAC warning prompt when trying to install PeerBlock on these systems anymore.

Mark, the main developer, has posted a huge list of additional improvements in a blog post announcing the beta release of PeerBlock. This includes better usability, warnings if Peer Guardian is running, auto update functionality, archiving improvements and copying over PeerGuardian 2 lists if available.

Check out the full blog post for all changes and known issues. Portable versions and installers are provided at the end of the blog post as well. Users who do not want to test the beta version are advised to wait until the final release is being made available on the website of the project.

Peer Block is a fork of Peer Guardian that tries to address these issues. It is actively developed and provides the same functionality (but with less problems) than Peer Guardian.

Users can download Peer Block from the official website. It offers a selection of IP blacklists that can be subscribed to. By default only the P2P blacklist is selected during setup. It is possible to select other blacklists which will then be updated at the first startup of the application.

Regular updates of the blacklists are configured automatically with the option to change the frequency in the settings. The interface itself looks like the Peer Guardian interface.

Peer Block supports all popular Microsoft Windows operating systems including Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. It is the perfect alternative for users who are experiencing problems with Peer Guardian or prefer a software that gets updated regularly.

If you feel the same I have a nice software for you that uses P2p technology to provide free TV streams. Its a Chinese program but you will be able to watch most of the big US leagues like NHL and also European soccer games live.

The quality of the stream is ok, you should have a broadband connection to enjoy the games though. Please also note that the TV stream quality depends largely on the source and the number of users who are watching the channel at the same time.

You can download the tool at sopcast

After your download has finished simply unpack the software to a location and start sopcast.exe. The channel list will be populated, click on a channel and windows media player opens and tries to connect to it.

The most interesting channels with good quality for sports events are:

CCTV 5 (currently german bundesliga live)
Star Sports
Soccer (demo)

You can also provide your own stream to the crowd, for more information on additional channels visit the sites forum.

Check out the following articles for a list of sports related sites that keep up to date lists of sport events, the programs they are streamed in and the channels that you can watch them: Myp2p.eu Alternatives and Wiziwig.tv.

Both sites are updated several times a day with the latest information. It is often easier to go to one of the sites to find out where a match you are interested in is broadcasted. all you need to do then is to click on the link to open the channel in the software, provided that it is installed on your computer.