I was like you before, dont know this and that about bittorents. Follow this:
1. Install Azureus for downloading(excellent program, dont care about other programs)
2. In Azureus, click view then click advanced, click tools and go to configuration wizard and just click next next and then click finish in the end.
3. In Azureus, go to options, under transfer set upload speed - 0 (unlimited) and download speed- 0 (unlimited). save it.
4. Go to isohunt.com and download things...
Thats it your done. The speed will pick up slowly and becomes faster. Also take note if something you are downloading is not so popular ( low seeds) then download could be slow