Bit Comet 1.17 causes my browser to crash

[ernestlow]

Dear friends,

I bought a Sony VAIO laptop operated by Windows 7 recently. I have a broadband connection to the internet. I have installed Bit Comet 1.17. Trouble is that whenever I leave my laptop alone to download movies using Bit Comet 1.17, after a while, my browser will crash and I will be unable to access the internet and the downloading will slow down to just a few KBs. This happens to both my IE and Firefox browsers. I will have to shut down and reboot before my browser will reconnect to the internet again and the downloading will return to its normal speed.

This problem does not happen if I do not turn on my Bit Comet. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Bit Comet 1.17 and it does not get rid of the problem. I have called VAIO and they have advised that it is a software issue with Bit Comet. I have also called my ISP and they have said that my Internet connection is fine.

I am at my wits' end and would be very grateful if you can advise me please ...

Many thanks!!

[Vasy]

Have you tried the latest, 1.19 version?

[greywizard]

What firewall? What antivirus?

What other security or networking software you have installed?

[kluelos]

You said that your browser would crash. Does it actually terminate with an error message? Merely slowing down, even to the point of uselessness, is still not considered a crash.

An unconfigured bittorrent client (any client) will grab all of the bandwidth it can get, even to the point where it interferes with itself. It's essential to configure the client to your connection, to limit its maximum global upload rate to about 80% of your actual, measured upstream bandwidth. If you neglect to do that, then it will apparently slow every other internet application down to the point of uselessness.

The Settings guide in our Guides forum will tell you how to measure your connection and set your upload speed so this doesn't happen. There are other articles in that forum that can be of use or assistance, so you might want to browse through it once you get things working.

[ernestlow]

Dear friends,

Yes, my browser will terminate with the error message that it cannot connect to the webpage.

My firewall is not turned on and I have uploaded Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 2010.

Would be most grateful if you can help please.

Many thanks!!

[greywizard]

Offtopic: I'm not sure what your network setup is, but if you're not using a router or modem with integrated hardware firewall, then you shouldn't connect to the Internet without a software firewall running. You can get zombied in less than the time you need to take a shower.

Most of the times when a problem like the one you describe happens, it turns out to be a software conflict. We had some similar reports from users of Kaspersky Internet Security and another security suite which I don't recall at the moment.

This is not always an easy nut to crack since there is no sure telling which application/process is generating the conflict. But usually it's something which relates/uses/monitors the networking components of Windows that conflicts with BitComet.

For instance KIS seemed to mistake BitComet (and other BT client from what I've seen on other forums) with a trojan-like application, launching a DOS attack, due to the high number of connections it opens simultaneously (which is the normal method of working for the BitTorrent protocol).

My first step would be to uninstall Spyware Doctor and the antivirus. Just disabling Spyware Doctor won't do it because it still runs some resident process which you can't manually shut down.

I'm not sure if that will fix it but at least you'll be able to eliminate a possible cause.

Do you have any other networking software installed (other than that which comes with Windows)?

[ernestlow]

Dear Greywizard & friends,

I have uninstalled my PCtools Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 2010 and it appears to work. I will keep you updated if there are any further developments. Many thanks for all your help.

By the way, should I try version 1.19? I am currently on version 1.17.

Many thanks!!

[greywizard]

Well, apart from many smaller GUI and core improvements and several bugfixes, v.1.19 has some pluses over v.1.17.

Among them, the most important (on my personal list) are:

1. it saves up to 7 copies of the downloads.xml file, which holds your tasklist, so if your client crashes you won't loose all your tasklist but at most the last minute changes which you might have made in the Task List.
   
2. it displays an error message in case it's unable to save (for some external reasons) the downloads.xml file;
   
3. it adds support for the Mainline/µTorrent/libtorent Peer Exchange Extension protocol thus making peer exchange possible with the vast majority of the other different clients out there;
   
4. is uses the %APP_DATA% folder for storing all the program settings files whenever OSs with UAC are involved, thus avoiding Windows file system virtualization;
   
5. an improved task tagging system.
   

You can find the rest of them in the changelog (under your Help menu).

If you really want any of these (or any of the smaller ones listed in the changelog) it's only up to you to decide.

[ernestlow]

Many thanks greywizard. You have been most helpful!

[greywizard]

You're welcome.

[Wenzimo]

Well i have kinda the same problem, When Bitcomet starts looking for peers etc it's causing my internet to freeze for like 30sec..

Had the same problem with Utorrent ( only it was a bit worse )

After the 30 sec Bitcomet starts downloading and my internet connection is back & working like he supposed to.

So.. not that big of a deal but can be a bit annoying.

[Vasy]

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