Netgear router-or any router questions

I have a little home network & use a wireless B Netgear router. Two
computers are wired in & the 3rd is wireless.

Anyhow, I am in the dark on a lot of this stuff. I am presently
experimenting with a Torrent program (BitTornado - a peer to peer type of
thing).

First, I'd like to know what UPnP is. By default my Netgear router has it
disabled, however in BitTornado I have 3 choices, "UPnP disabled", "UPnP
type 1 (fast)", & "UPnP type 2 (slow)" to choose from. I seemed to gather
from one or two people that I should enable UPnP (which I did), but I
don't know if it gives me any better up or download speeds. & what type
would it be - fast or slow? By default it says it advertises every 30
minutes (but it is configurable), & 4 hops. I have no idea what any of
this means...

2nd, any of the torrent programs are quite clear on being behind a
firewall & thus having lower speeds. I might be getting max speeds and I
might not, I have no way of knowing, as I am so new to the scene. I've
been told to enable something like port 17111 ( a random number someone is
suggesting) for BitTorrent - but is it enabled already or not? I don't
have the faintest idea of what goes with the Netgear router. I can log
into it and change a few things around, but I don't see anywhere to enable
a port. I can "forward service", & listed are AIM, Age of Empire, HTTP,
FTP something, ICUII, etc (5 more choices there in a drop down menu). I am
wondering if I should add my Torrent Network here maybe? or enable a
port, or what. I also notice I am using the router: "Use Router as DHCP
Server" and also on the same page it has stuff for: "LAN TCP/IP Setup".

I also have this: WAN Setup: Connect Automatically, as Required (enabled),
& the others are unchecked or not enabled (??): Disable SPI Firewall,
Default DMZ Server (something lowlighted there), Respond to Ping onm
Internet Port, & MTU Size (in bytes) (1500).

Any help explaining any of this will be greatly appreciated. I see this
newsgroup is not that busy so I hope I catch someone who knows what's
going on. Thanks.

...D.