In Depth: Download of the Day: Vuze

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Torrent clients are one of the best ways to get hold of large files over the internet and in the 14 years since they became a regular fixture on PCs around the world there are fewer finer examples of a client than Vuze.

Why you need it

With many torrent clients out there it's hard to stand out and offer something drastically different when compared to the established names of uTorrent and BitTorrent. That's exactly what Vuze has done though.

First off, Vuze handles all torrents in the quick manner that you'd expect from any torrent client and, yes, like most of its peers you will have to negotiate an installation process littered with various pieces of bloatware. That aside, it's plain sailing.

Using Vuze to download torrents is extremely simple with searching done using a built-in browser that doesn't require you to leave the program and combs through the web for matching results by providing a metasearch of a number of popular torrent sites. If metasearch isn't your bag then there's also the web search that uses Microsoft Bing as its default.

One of the beauties of Vuze is that content discovery is by no means limited to just searching using words through and the suggestions feature is one of the best around. Here it recommends a plethora of HD videos in categories that include TV shows, movies, sports, music videos, and news, plus it can even direct you towards games that can be downloaded from right inside the application.

RSS feeds are an almost constant in torrent clients and Vuze is no different in that respect thus meaning that you can keep track of news or anything else you keep RSS feeds of, whilst utilising all that the client has to offer.

Vuze also comes into its own with the vast number of free features that it doesn't hide behind a paywall including device playback, an iTunes converter, DVD burner and live customer support chat at any time of the day. There also exists a $29.99 (around £19.50, or AU$38.50) premium version that bundles an anti-virus offering plus no ads yet the program is solid enough without the premium add-on for us to recommend it above any other torrent client.

Key features

Works on: Windows 7 and 8.1

Price: Free or $29.99 (around £19.50, or AU$38.50)

Built-in search: You'll never need to leave the confines of Vuze when searching for torrents thanks to a built-in browser with metasearch and web search.

Content discovery: Finding new videos to watch will never be hard thanks to a suggestions service that gives you a wealth of options.

Free features: RSS feeds, device playback, a DVD burner and live customer support are all included as free from the start.