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Deluge is a BitTorrent client that runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS X. It’s not as small as µTorrent (which Windows users adore) but it still has loads of features and more importantly, support for plug-ins. We’re using the latest 0.5.8.6 version on Windows and we’re looking for some of its features that can come handy while migrating to it and some others that match the features in other clients.
Getting Deluge On Linux
Deluge most likely doesn’t come installed with the distribution so you’ll have to download it. You can download it from www.deluge-torrent.org. If you’re on Linux search for Deluge using a package manager such as the Synaptic Package Manager. Check the box and click on Mark for installation. Click on Apply to have it downloaded and installed.
Running Deluge In The System Tray
Deluge like other applications such as download managers, instant messenger and BitTorrent clients can be run in the system tray all the time. To enable or customize the way Deluge runs in the tray, click on Edit > Preferences. Click on the Other tab and make sure the checkbox for Enable system tray icon is enabled. Clicking on the Start in Tray checkbox will put Deluge in the system tray when you initialize it. You can even assign a password to make sure no one else can open Deluge. Click the Password protect system tray checkbox and enter a password. Click OK to save the changes.
Tweaking Connection Settings For Your Speed
BitTorrent clients need to be tweaked and set up right or you end up with very bad speeds. Upload speeds need to be high as well, to get a proportionate download speed. Click on Edit > Preferences and then on the Bandwidth tab. Here, you can make changes to the number of connections being made by your BitTorrent client. You can also set the number of simultaneous downloads. If all this is rather confusing, you can also use the wizard which asks you for your connection upload speed and sets all the other parameters for you. Go back to the main Deluge interface and click on Help > Run Configuration Wizard.
Tags can be added to any file or folder by a simple drag and drop action
ISPs can also try and throttle down BitTorrent clients and every single BitTorrent client has been implementing features to try and bypass this. Deluge too has an encryption feature that can be enabled by clicking on the Network] tab under Preferences. Select the dropdown menus for Encryption for Inbound and Outbound as Enabled. If your ISP blocks certain BitTorrent ports, making changes to the default port range of 6881 to 6889 to something else can help too. Clicking [Random Ports] will set a random port every time Deluge is run. If you want to check if the port is open and accessible from the Internet, click the Test Active Port button. A page with the result appears. Click OK and restart Deluge.
Other than setting the connection speed and ports for your connection, enabling encryption can also help achieve higher speeds
Downloading Select Files
When a torrent contains a folder or multiple files, you’ll notice that you aren’t able to select just a few files for downloading like you would in other clients such as µTorrent. To select specific files, click on Edit > Preferences > Downloads. Leave the checkbox for Enable selecting files for torrents before loading checked.
Automatically Download Torrents
Deluge can automatically download torrents that have been put into a folder—you need not open every single torrent to make Deluge download it. To enable this feature, first create a folder where all your torrents will be placed. Click on Edit > Preferences > Downloads. Click the checkbox for Autoload all torrents in and then click the dropdown menu and choose Other. Using the file browse, navigate to the folder and click Open.
Plug-ins
To keep resources consumption to a minimum, Deluge has almost all of the plug-ins disabled and so only the very basic features are available to the user. To enable any of these features, click on Edit > Preferences > Plug-ins. All the plug-ins associated with Deluge are available here and can be enabled by clicking on the checkbox next to the plug-in name. Here are some of the most useful plug-ins and how handy they are.
Many of Deluge’s functions can be made accessible remotely using the Web User Interface plug-in
Web User Interface
Deluge—like µTorrent and Azureus—can be controlled through a Web browser. Enable the Web User Interface plug-in from the list by clicking on its checkbox. Click Preferences and set the port and the password. You can also choose a template and button styles here. Click OK once you are done.
To access the Web interface, open your browser and visit the URL http://Your_Machine_IP:8112. If you have already changed the port, then use the new port number instead. Enter your password and click Submit. You can now control pretty much everything in Deluge from here.
Scheduler
With the help of the Scheduler plug-in, it’s now possible to be slow down or stop the torrents from downloading altogether between a given time period. Enable the Scheduler plug-in and click on the Preferences button. In the chart displayed, click on the time slots once to make it yellow and then again, to make it red. The yellow blocks limit the speed and the red completely halt download. Before closing the window, set the limited speeds for downloads and uploads, then click OK.
The Scheduler plug-in can be used to throttle you’re your downloads during specific time periods
If you just want to be able to cap speeds of specific torrents on demand, you can do so by enabling the Speed Limiter plug-in. You can now right-click on a torrent and click on Torrent Download Speed and Torrent Upload Speed.
FlexRSS
RSS feeds are a great medium for receiving quick updates from a site or service. The FlexRSS add-on allows users to receive RSS feeds from sites. These updates are used by the Deluge so it can download any file from that site without the user having to manually download the torrent and then start it. After selecting the FlexRSS plug-in, click on Preferences. To add a new entry, click on New. Enter a name for the feed, the URL and the interval after which it is refreshed. Next, click on Filters. Here you can adjust the scope, so that only the selected files are downloaded. 
Deluge can use RSS feeds to automatically start downloads of the latest pod cast releases for example
Give the filter a name and then under patterns, enter the name of the files that you want Deluge to look for. Click Add to add any more keywords to look for. Click Save then ready.
Torrent Search
The torrent search plug-in allows users to look through multiple torrent sites. Check the box for the Torrent search. A small search textbar will appear on the toolbar of the Deluge window. Click on Preferences to add your own search engines. Enter a name for the search engine or site and then enter the URL for the search itself, which you can find on the site. Use the URL, but replace the search keyword part to ${query}. Click Add to add the new search engine. Click OK. You can now use the dropdown on the search bar to select your search engine.
Network Activity Graph
The network graph is a missing feature, but like the others, it can be enabled through the plug-in window. The network activity graph feature is one of the better graphs you can find in a BitTorrent client and this one can be customized as well. Check the box for Network Activity Graph and choose Preferences. Here you can set the colour for the graphs and even the transparency. The graph can also display the maximum recorded speed and a line that shows the average speed in real time.