uTorrent user: Is it true it is easy to get viruses via uTorrent?
 

I have uTorrent. I haven't been using it, but over a year ago, I used it, had a bad torrent, and got a virus from a torrent. I ended up contacting my anti-virus software company, and a guy was on the phone, and he used a program to control my computer from his computer. I paid a fee, and he used some software to clean up my infected computer, and he effectively cleaned all the viruses out of my computer.

Anyway, I told him I noticed issues with my PC as soon as I started a download with uTorrent, and he said "Yeah, uTorrent is a real easy way to get viruses. You should get a different torrent program". So, is it true that viruses pass along easily on uTorrent? If I should get a better torrent program which will make me less prone to viruses and infections, what program should I opt for? I guess those are my only questions. If anyone has any other relevant and useful information, please provide it.

You can get a virus from a torrent about as easy as you could with LimeWire, or Morpheus before that, or Napster before that. Just be smart about what you interact with. Before you torrent a file, check the comments to see if anyone has flagged the file as containing malware or a virus. Make note that some flags are false positives, and other user comments will either confirm or deny the claim. When possible, torrent from trusted or reputable users.

Also, make note that some websites can give you malware or viruses just by accessing the webpage that links to the torrent file (as opposed to when you unzip the completed torrent file). In that scenario, I recommend Mozilla Firefox and the add-on called NoScript. It blocks pretty much all the things (including the website itself, if it relies on Java or Flash to display). Just allow that website (from the list of addresses that NoScript displays on every webpage), the site will reload, and should display only what you want to interact with. If not, then rinse and repeat. The add-on functions as a persistent white list, so it can get a little tedious the first time you visit websites with NoScript running. After that, though, you don't have to worry about it.

As for "safe" clients, they're all about as useful. You can look around, as some are more feature-rich than others (uTorrent itself now serves ads, which is why I stopped using it). As for virus protection, just make sure to use an not over-aggressive anti-virus (and maybe NoScript for your browser), and you should be fine.

The only obvious thing about uTorrent, which might allow for a possible virus attack, is that they are showing 3rd party advertisements in the client.

Depending on how this works it may allow specially crafted advertisements to be harmful.
uTorrent may use their own code to display the add, which may have security holes.
Or they may be using Internet Explorer in a frame, which would make it vurnable to any unpatched Internet Explorer problems.

Other than this, the virus would be in the data you download, which has nothing to do with the client you are using. Also it would not become active while you are downloading it, only if you execute it later on (which makes it a 'trojan').

I don't think there is anything about μTorrent in particular that makes you vulnerable. Really, the only difference torrent clients seem to have is the interface...the technology is always the same.

If you don't trust the program, go with an open source one like qBittorrent instead. That also has the advantage of not serving you ads.

I think that has more to do with the torrent you download than the torrent client.

So it seems like utorrent isn't more prone to viruses and one torrent client is about as good as any other...so uTorrent has ads and might have Internet Explorer operating in a frame...What are some good torrent programs other than uTorrent? Should I go with qBitTorrent? Someone mentioned that one. Is that a very good torrent client? What are some other very good torrent clients?

So, how do you check for comments and other info about torrents? Someone mentioned I should check torrents for flags and comments, and check the comments to make sure the flags are not false positives.

I would like to say that first off, I would be a bit more worried about my antivirus program, because it should have been going off like crazy with the newer versions of uTorrent.

Second, disable the ads in uTorrent, that is most likely where the virus came from.

Here is a guide for it, use at your own risk http://forum.utorrent.com/topic/8142...-3#entry496240

There's a Windows build of Transmission, the client I run on Linux. It has no annoying features like ads. You can try it out here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/.

No, it shouldn't, unless the ad is actually serving malware. Otherwise, that would be a sign of false positives, and that's something one needs to be worried about.

I use Tixati and can't complain, although you have to make sure you're using the 64bit version if using 64bit windows otherwise big files might be corrupt.

I don't know if utorrent is prone to virus although ads are certainly a risk. It's bloated way beyond what made utorrent the most popular torrent client anyway so might as well be called something else entirely now.

Torrent clients don't give you viruses. It's all based on what you torrent. If you download a virus on any client, you'll get infected once you run it regardless.

I agree on this. Later released versions of Utorrent have these ads and the instal asks you to install 3rd party programs you do not really need. These programs get sneaked in by showing no other option but agreeing to the licensing of the 3rd party program though in many cases you can still pass it without agreeing and so avoid those programs.

A second thing is that the biggest danger from downloading is that you yourself pick the wrong torrents to download. My friend once complained about a virus and I found that he had literally downloaded The.Hobbit.exe thinking it was the movie but ofc it wasn't. Always read comments and use common sense, if you can't do that then don't start torrenting I'd say.

As for an add free version: I still use the old Utorrent 2.2.1 which was the last version before all the useless extensions and adds. You can still find it online, though nowadays there are plenty other clients that are add free as well.

I wouldn't recommend staying with an old version as there might be a security flaw that is fixed in later versions. Either turn off the ads in utorrent or use a different client.

Well speaking of viruses and good torrent clients, just the other die I checked the website of Azureus for a new build - And saw, that if you get their paid version, it has a built-in virus check. Not sure how it works but if it works well (reviews?) it might be a good choice.

Just not too sure how exactly it would check for viruses as most viruses are within self-extracting .rar packages or such ..

However I must say, that now with over 8 years of experience of downloading online, the best way to be safe is common sense. Only download torrents with comments, and read those comments. Previously piratebay was a good source of torrents as the torrents always had comments but now that it is done, I'm not sure if there are actually any viable alternatives ..

I would suggest to uninstall utorrent and get something else.

Utorrent is an easy way to get malware, but not because torrents give you malware necessarily, but Utorrent itself attempts to install adware during install via a toolbar, and naturally will try to do it when a new version is released as it installs again. You can uncheck these things of which gives people the illusion of choice, but I wouldn't trust any software that tries to give these things to people by default. The malware I've found are extremely hard to remove; no legit software would have these things tag along! And even if you don't get tricked, it's still bloated and terrible.

I have to say though; these torrent programs often start out clean but I guess a lot sell their soul along the way, so what is safe today may not be tomorrow. A good example would be Vuze, formerly known as Azures.

I would suggest some ways not made by scumbags, such as Opera (comes with torrent ability), Firefox has an extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...rrent-tornado/ Yes, while Firefox may be a terrible browser that's little more than a Chrome wannabe these days, it's pretty good at doing stuff not related to browsing thanks to the extensions

Personally, I use Qbittorrent; it's simple and does the job: http://www.qbittorrent.org/download.php

EDIT: Do not use Sourceforge link (I have removed), apparently now they've sold their soul too

http://www.geek.com/news/why-google-...lware-1599781/

So apparently one of the programs, "Trovi Search Protect", is a successor of Conduit. Conduit's a fine piece of malware. Back then, i'd waste so much time trying to help people dealing with it, that I figured it'd be more time efficient to just reformat.

I installed utorrent less than a week ago, but didn't check the boxes to 3rd party offers upon install...do you think there is a good chance I got adware/malware from utorrent?

Really, just by installing utorrent, I can easily get malware, just like that?

Anyway, I will uninstall utorrent and get qBittorrent.

The possibility may be there, but from my experience, I've been keeping up to date with the latest version for nearly a decade with no problem, even after it started bundling ads.

But if you're paranoid it about it, then using another client is a better choice, if only for the peace of mind.

I ended up getting qBittorrent. Should be good, get the job done, and seems to have none of the (mentioned) issues that utorrent has.

Well like I said, software that's willing to bundle these things for any reasons can't be trusted to be honest. And there's no reason to have a torrent program with ads when you can get some without. ;)

And oh, btw, I edited the link. Apparently sourceforge is going the scumbag route, so it may be a good time to run Malware Bytes or something. i didn't know myself, so like I said above, always be careful because you never know. Really sorry about that. From what I've seen the files themselves are good, but there seems to be misleading ads that may cause people to click on them.

@ Urzu 7

I've heard from friends that it is possible to get virus by torrent.. so far I've been lucky not to get one yet. Have been using utorrent for more than 8 years already. :)