First, you'll need a browser. I recommend librewolf. It's an open source privacy focused browser based off firefox, and is perfect for our task.
After you've installed librewolf, click on the uBlock origin extension icon (next to the browser menu) and open the dashboard. (If uBlock Origin isn't installed on your browser, search 'uBlock origin' on your preferred extension store.)
While in the dashboard, head over to the filters list tab and tick these boxes. If you scroll a bit further down, you'll find the 'Regions, languages' section. Select 'ru ua uz kz: RU AdList' and your own language(s) there.
Now you'll need to change your DNS settings. Open your browsers settings and open the privacy and security tab. Scroll down until you see 'Enable DNS over HTTPS using:' and select 'Max protection' there. In the 'Choose provider' menu select 'Quad9'.
If you don't use librewolf, set your search engine to https://duckduckgo.com/. It's private and doesn't track your searches.
Your browser is all set up. Now you'll need to choose if you want to use direct download links, or torrents for downloading. Each section has their pros and cons listed.
Most files download from links and torrents are compressed to save downloading time. These compressed files use formats such as zip, 7z, rar, iso, etc. and you'll need a special program to open them.
I recommend 7-Zip. It supports most file formats and is open-source. You'll need to restart windows after it has installed.
To use 7-Zip, right-click a compressed file and click 'Show more options'. After that, hover your cursor over '7-Zip' and click on 'Extract to "[yourfilename]\"'. Now your files will be extracted into a folder.
For direct download links, you don't need anything else! Just only use safe sources (like the ones mentioned here) and check if downloads aren't coming from malicious uploaders. (those are listed here.
VPN
For torrents, you'll need a VPN first. Without one, your ISP (Internet provider) could get mad at you or even fine you in some countries. Not all VPN's allow torrenting, so be sure to check if yours allows it before torrenting.
I recommend Windscribe or Mullvad. These are relatively cheap, private and allow torrenting. Windscribe has a free plan that is limited to 10GB per month, and is the only (safe) free vpn that allows torrenting.
After you installed a VPN, you'll need to configure a killswitch. In Windscribe this feature is called 'firewall mode'. Open the Windscribe menu and click on the 'connection' button. From here, set 'Firewall mode' to auto and 'when?' to 'before connection'.
Your VPN is all set up! Be sure to enable the killswitch before turning on your VPN and select the closest / best location for fast speeds.
Torrent client
A torrent client is the program you'll use to download files from torrents. qBittorrent is a safe, open-source and easy to use torrent client, go ahead and install it. In the qBittorrent installer, enable these options.
When qBittorrent is done installing, open and enable your VPN. Once you've enabled your VPN, open qBittorrent and open the options menu. In the options menu, click on the advanced button. Here you need to set 'Network interface' to the name of your VPN.
After that, click on the bittorrent button. Here you'll need to enable 'When ratio reaches' and set it to 0. Also set 'then' to 'Remove torrent' Now you're only able to download files when using your VPN, which prevents leaking of your IP adress.
Your torrent client is all set up! Please keep your VPN enabled from now on.
Creating an account on rutracker.org
rutracker.org is a tracker (torrent index) with a great reputation, and you'll probably use it the most. The interface is in russian though, so creating an account can be difficult.
open rutracker.org in a new tab. Left of the search bar is a hyperlink called 'Регистрация', Click on this link and scroll down the rules until you see a button with the text 'Я согласен c этими правилами'. click on that button.
Now you can create an account. Follow this image that has translations to know what field is which. If you've entered everything correctly, you should see this. Click 'Email указан верно' to confirm that you've typed your email address correctly.
Your account is created now! click on 'Вход' next to the search bar to login using your username and password. You may be redirected to a page where you need to solve a captcha.
Navigating rutracker
From now on, you'll be able to translate rutracker. Click your browsers menu button on the top right and select 'Translate page...'. set the 'translate from' field to Russian and the 'Translate to' field to your preferred language. Now rutracker should be displayed in your preferred language. (Note: these translations are not that accurate)
To use rutracker, simply type the name of the file/media/etc. you're looking for in the search bar and press enter. Now you'll see a page with results. Here's an image explaining every column. Sorting from the highest amount of seeders (people uploading the file) is recommended to find high-quality listings. Do this by clicking the triangle next to the seeders / S column.
Downloading from torrents
Before downloading from torrents enable your VPN and check if a file isn't coming from malicious sources. On public trackers, (like rutracker) you should check for comments that mention malware. (even when the tracker is considered malware free)
Additional things you can check for are the uploader's account age, download count and the uploader's account ranking. here's where those things are located on rutracker.
To download files from a torrent, search for a magnet on the listing / page. For rutracker it's at the bottom of the listing next to the file size. When you click on a magnet link, A popup asking you to open the link will show up. Click on 'Choose application'. In the second popup, select 'qBittorrent - A Bittorrent Client' and click on 'Open link'.
In the qBittorrent window that just opened, click on the folder icon in the 'Save at' section on the left to select where you want to download your files. It's also useful to check how much free space you have under 'Torrent information'. You can leave everything else to default, and click 'OK' on the bottom right to start downloading.
This is what the qBittorrent interface should look like when downloading (with added clarification). When your file is done downloading, it automatically removes itself from the qBittorrent interface and should appear in the directory you select it to download in.
You now know everything about torrenting! Head over to the resources section for more torrenting sites.
Direct Download Links
Malicious sources are listed here.
All purpose - Internet Archive
Games - Game Bounty, GOG Games
Movie / series downloads - Pahe
Movie / series streaming - sudo-flix
Youtube video / audio downloader cobalt
Books, papers, comics - Anna's Archive
Read manga online - Mangareader.to
Fonts - Fontshub
Retro Games - Vimm's lair, /r/Roms Megathread
A List of all emulators is available here.
torrents / trackers
Malicious sources are listed here.
All purpose - rutracker (Rutracker has almost everything in existence)
Adobe software - m0nkrus
Repacked (compressed) games - FitGirl RePacks, DODI Repacks (Disabling your antivirus is needed when installing repacks)