First may I say I was surprised by the amount of discussion the topic raised. Second I was realy surprised by the amount of passion it generated. For something that was more of a query from a computer semi literate it sure did stoke some people's emotions.
I found a simple way through Firefox to access all the torrents etc. When I find a program I want download, it uses BitComet. It is easy and very simple. It has to be for me. It is by and large very fast.
The reason I use Firefox and it accompanying program Thunderbird is, not only, are they good programs, but also, they put the word fun back into surfing the internet. One can add extensions and themes almost ad infinitum. I am forever adding and deleting. There is an extension that tells you if Abe Vigoda(Fish from Barney Miller) is alive and well. Silly irrelevant maybe but still it is fun to play around with the various addons. Maybe if Microsoft remembered for most of us the Internet is a source of play, then maybe they would not need Microsoft Genuine Advantage Validation