Torrents get a bad rap, but there are plenty of legitimate and legal reasons for downloading them. While you can’t use BitTorrent itself on a Chromebook, there are some great alternatives available.
Torrents are synonymous with downloading illegal content like pirated movies, music, and other media, but there are legal reasons for torrents as well. Any file can be shared as a torrent, and sharing a file as a torrent means there isn’t any single server that gets bogged down by handling all the traffic. You can legally download public domain films, text, and other media from the Internet Archive, and even full Linux OS images through torrents.
Set Up a VPN
Torrents are also one of the easiest ways to get a malicious file on your computer. That shouldn’t be a problem on a Chromebook, but it doesn’t hurt to take an extra precaution before you download the entire Internet. A VPN is easy to use on Chromebooks, and it’ll give you that extra peace of mind. It’ll also help your ISP off your back since many of them look for torrent traffic and will get in your face about it whether you’re downloading illegal content or not.
We’ve already got a great guide to connecting to a VPN on your Chromebook, so we’ll point you there for details on getting it set up. Once you’ve done that, we’ll take a look at a couple of good torrent clients for your Chromebook and how to set them up.
RELATED: How to Connect to a VPN on a Chromebook
Download Torrents with JSTorrent
JSTorrent is available for $3 on the Chrome Web Store, without a trial or free version. You’ll need to set a download directory the first time you open JSTorrent. Start by selecting “Settings.” Then, select “Choose” next to “File Download Location.”
This will open the Downloads folder in your Chrome file browser. Select “Open” to use this as your JSTorrent download directory or select “New Folder” if you want something different.
