Seconded. Torrenting doesn’t have much of a learning curve if you read about the basics first, and uTorrent is pretty good. I use version 2.2.1 (build 25302), which I believe is the last one released before version 3 when the software became bloatware. It’s really small and works well.
When browsing torrent search engines (such various incarnations of the infamous “bay”), I would advise running your web browser in a sandbox such as Sandboxie. This should make it virtually impossible for any malware to get onto your system.
Bluto