- Sep 02, 2020 New KryptoCibule Windows malware is a triple threat for cryptocurrency users. The malware has been active since late 2018 and has targeted users in the Czech Republic and Slovakia primarily (for now).
- This software automatically scans every file before you open it. So, once you download a torrent and launch it, the antivirus can notice harmful data. If it does, it will automatically remove it. On the downside, sometimes antivirus recognizes cracked files, keygens, and other software as malicious, even when they are not.
BitTorrent is a popular torrent client which is used to download torrent files. Torrent files could be available in any type and size which includes movies, TV series, books, video games, applications, and software, etc.
If BitTorrent.exe is located in a subfolder of 'C: Program Files', the security rating is 50% dangerous. Go to the support area of the Bittorrent website safely remove the program using the uninstall program of BitTorrent (Control Panel ⇒ Uninstall a Program) If BitTorrent.exe is. To remove Torrent virus successfully, we recommend entering Safe Mode with Networking – it is an environment that is ideal when it comes to dealing with malicious software: Step 1: Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Networking Windows 7 / Vista / XP Click Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK. MediaDefender was hired to poison torrents using decoy insertion. In an example of Internet vigilantism, anti-infringement vigilantes have been known to create viruses that are distributed exclusively via P2P networks, and are designed to attack mp3s and other music files stored on a user's PC. The Nopir-B worm, which originated in France, poses as a DVD copying program and deletes all the mp3 files on a user's computer, regardless of whether or not they were legally obtained.
Technically, if you look at the procedure of downloading different files through BitTorrent does not seems to be unsafe or illegal but to answer your question “is BitTorrent safe or not?” required a detailed answer because every user who uses BitTorrent has their own circumstances due to which the answer to the question could be different.
Read More, Is utorrent safe or not?
The question, whether BitTorrent is safe to use or not is actually a complex question to answer because there are a number of things which need to consider to answer this question and these number of things includes:
1. The country you are living and what is the online piracy law and regulations works there:
Online piracy law applies to many countries. These countries do not allow their citizen to download copyrights content for free. If you are living in a country where downloading copyright content through BitTorrent is illegal then you can safe legal issues and it is not safe for you to use BitTorrent.
The name of these countries includes America, UK, Canada, and Australia, etc. In the past few years, there are many users of torrent client’s has been arrested for downloading copyright content of the people without their permission. But usually, the seeder (the person who upload content) of the content has more chances to face the legal issue as compare to the downloader.
2. Your internet connection provider’s policy and TOS of a telecom company who provides the internet:
While in some countries where it is allowed to download torrent content by the government, but still the internet providers and telecom companies restrict their users to download torrent content because its affect the internet speed for their other users. In this case, BitTorrent is not safe for you because your ISP can recognize you through your IP and set some more restriction on your internet connection. Although on some internet connection not all torrents are banned except few which are usually related to adult content or pornography etc.
3. The purpose of using BitTorrent to download torrent files:
People use torrent for different purposes. As long as you are using torrent to share your content with others then there is no issue at all. The problem occurs when you start stealing the content of other people without their permission. The example of these types of content includes movies, premium games, software, and applications, etc. A person can sue you for using his data without his permission.
4. The type of files you want to download through BitTorrent. Whether is it legal or not?
A torrent file plays an important role to tell you enough that whether using BitTorrent is safe or not. BitTorrent is designed to share files with other users without any third server. One user directly downloads data from other user’s computer with the help of BitTorrent.
As long as the person who offers his own generated content, there are no legal issues to download torrent through Bittorrent or even that content is available for free on the internet by the owner’s permission.
But the problem occurred when you start downloading or even uploading the content which is premium content and a person can only get its access by paying money to the original owner. The example of such type of content is movies, premium software, applications, books, and video games, etc.
In short, if you are downloading copyright content then you are actually doing an illegal activity. But this activity is not illegal in most of the countries. But countries like America, UK, Canada, and Australia has completely banned the illegal use of torrent in any form. You can use BitTorrent to download only legal content.
![Viruses Viruses](/uploads/1/1/7/8/117856947/696206015.png)
Risks of using BitTorrent:
Other then these things which I have mentioned above, there are a number of other risks are attached with BitTorrent which you need to consider before using BitTorrent and these risks includes:
- Chances of cyber attacks including hacking through BitTorrent is very high because this torrent client shares your IP address with other users who are downloading the same content. Now if your IP address has been tracked by hackers then they can hack your whole system and you may lose your important content.
- Your computer can get attacks by Malware and other spyware viruses through torrents because you don’t know that what you are downloading exactly until the downloading got completed and you actually run the file. What would you do if you have downloaded a virus while it was labeled as song on torrent?
- Your internet provider or ISP could limit your monthly bandwidth due to over usage of Bittorrent. Even if your internet services providers allow you to download torrent, you can still face the restriction on your internet speed after using internet bandwidth of a specific amount.
The above summary of risks attached to BitTorrent and other policies are enough to tell you that using BitTorrent to download torrent is not really safe even if it is allowed by your country’s law.
The solution to use BitTorrent safely and legally:
You can safely and legally use any torrent client including Bit torrent by hiding your online identity or by hiding your IP address. This could be done with the help of VPN services. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network which is used to hide your original online identity and provides you a fake identity of your choice. This has been done by changing the IP address of your system and internet.
By using a VPN, no one can track you including the hackers because they see the wrong or fake IP address. Even you do not have any chances of facing legal issues because VPN changes your IP address to the IP address of some other country where the downloading torrent is legal which means that you are not breaking any law of your country.
Even if you use VPN to download torrent which is illegal in your region, then you are still not doing anything illegal as VPN is downloading torrent on behalf of yours by connecting with their servers which are located in other countries.
VPNs for Downloading BitTorrent
VPNs are Virtual Private Networks – essentially private networks that make use of public Wi-Fi signals. People around the world use VPNs for a variety of different reasons.
VPNs allow for an Internet connection that is very fast and extremely reliable. This can be helpful if you’re using the Internet from a country like China where the Internet runs slowly.
Avoiding Malware with a VPN
Many purported software solutions for securely downloading Torrents are merely malware in disguise. Don’t waste your time with these shady providers. A good VPN like ExpressVPN is arguably the safest and most effective means available for securely and anonymously downloading Torrents and P2P file sharing.
EXPRESSVPN VOTED #1 BEST VPN SERVICE ON THE WORLD
While there are many companies who allow their users to download torrent on their VPN servers but when we talk about the best then there is no one can compete with ExpressVPN because Express VPN provides you unlimited bandwidth, ultra-fast internet speed to download torrents, option to get your identity from their hundreds of different VPN servers which are located in about 100 countries, etc.
Although, if you are concern about prices and looking for reasonable VPN services for torrent in cheap price then ExpressVPN is what you need in your life right now
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Where do you live in?
I write a post about is vpn legal or not,
https://www.vpntorrents.com/is-vpn-safe-legal
I write a post about is vpn legal or not,
https://www.vpntorrents.com/is-vpn-safe-legal
In short, VPN is legal if use it do legal,
So, Don’t do illegal activities online!!
So, Don’t do illegal activities online!!
Reply
Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file sharing technology, is often suspect in computer problems. It's not BitTorrent at fault, but the files being shared.
by Leo A. Notenboom, © 2006
Will using BitTorrent harm my computer, and if so and under what conditions will it?
•
BitTorrent itself is highly unlikely to harm your computer.
However what you download using BitTorrent - well, that's adifferent story. Some caution is called for.
And I know some of you are asking ... 'what's a BitTorrent?'
•
Traditionally, when you download a file from the internet, it's really justcopying a file from one computer to another. Typically that means you'recopying a file from some centralized server to your computer:
The 'problems' with that approach include the fact that there's a centralserver - if it goes down, for example, you can't download the file. Anotherproblem is that everyone is picking up the file from one place - that meansthat for a popular download, that server better have a very fast or 'highbandwidth' connection to the internet that all people downloading at the sametime can share:
BitTorrent is one implementation of something called 'peer to peer' filesharing. Rather than downloading from a single central server, the download isdivided into pieces, and those pieces are downloaded from differentcomputers:
Note that we no longer think of those computers serving up the files as'servers'. Rather, they're your peers - other computers pretty much just likeyours. Hence the term 'peer-to-peer'.
'The problem is not with the technology, but with howit's frequently used.'
By copying peer-to-peer the bandwidth used is spread out across manydifferent paths through the internet. Peer #1 might be down the street, peer #2might be across the country, and peer #3 might be across the planet. Each willserve up parts of the file as fast as they can, and your BitTorrent clientpatches those pieces together as they arrive.
Now, how did those peers all get the file in the first place? The same wayyou're downloading it. And how did they start serving up pieces of the file? Byrunning the BitTorrent client. One important aspect of peer-to-peer filesharing is that as soon as you've downloaded even a piece of a file, your filesharing client can then make that piece available for someone else to downloadfrom you. Your computer becomes one of the peers that can serve the file toothers.
A more accurate diagram of peer-to-peer file sharing is this:
In this diagram every computer interested in sharing or downloading aparticular file is, effectively, connected to every other interested in thatsame file, sometimes called a 'swarm'. If a computer doesn't have all the partsof the file, it keeps asking other peers for the missing pieces until it hasthe complete copy. It can then remain in the swarm, making all the piecesavailable to any other peers that ask.
So that, in a nutshell, is BitTorrent, and peer-to-peer file sharing. In andof itself, it's just a different technology to download files, and there'sabsolutely nothing inherently wrong with that. BitTorrent itself will not harmyour computer in any way.
But there is a problem.
The problem is not with the technology, but with how it's frequentlyused.
As you can see from that last diagram, there is no single authoritative sitefor a particular file being shared on a peer-to-peer network. If you take outany one of the computers in the network, the rest can continue to share andcopy the files quite happily.
Bittorrent Virus Warning
That means it's extremely difficult to stop a file from beingshared.
•
It also means that it's very difficult to track down all the sites sharing afile.
In turn, that means that sharing illegal or pirated copies of files is much,much easier, because it's much less likely that any single sharer will betracked down and prosecuted. Possible? Yes. But definitely more difficult.
So, many peer-to-peer networks have a lot of illegal content.
Even so, downloading illegal copies of legitimate software, music or videoswon't harm your computer. It's wrong, but it won't harm you.
UTorrent Is Flagged As Malicious By Several Antivirus Engines ...
Spyware and viruses, on the other hand, will.
What many hackers and malware creators have realized is that there are a lotof people downloading illegal software from peer-to-peer networks. Sincethere's almost no accountability for what gets placed on a peer-to-peernetwork, it's trivial for them to put up lucrative files that have beeninfested with malware. For example a file sharing network might offer'Microsoft Office', and it might even be a copy of the latest and greatest copyof Office. But it's quite possible, perhaps even likely, that the person thatfirst shared that copy added to it spyware or viruses in the hopes that peoplewould be tempted by a free copy of an expensive product only to install muchmore than they bargained for.
And that's what will harm your computer - the malware that oftenaccompanies 'free' software available on peer-to-peer networks.
Because, let's face it, who would you complain to if you find that yourlatest free download infected your machine with spyware? As I said, there's noaccountability, and nowhere to turn.
Besides the moral and ethical reasons for not downloading illegal software,the risk of infection is a very practical reason to stay legit.
Article C2825 - October 31, 2006 «»
MaryNovember 1, 2006 6:00 AM
If the receiving computer has a current and active firewall, antivirus, antispyware, etc. is the risk of becoming infected greater because more pieces have to be scanned? How does this compare to scanning an entire file from a single source?
Leo NotenboomNovember 1, 2006 8:44 AM
I would consider it roughly equivalent. It depends somewhat on the anti-virus program's architecture and configuration. There's a theoretical hole if a virus spans two different pieces that are downloaded separately. It's a low probability to begin with, and some virus scanners may handle it anyway.
Anti-spyware scans typically kick in when (or after) you've actually run the downloaded file, so that's after the download's done regardless of how you got the file.
Firewall doesn't actually apply in this situation.
Peter AbslongNovember 1, 2006 11:22 AM
The viruses/spyware myth is perpetuated by organisations who want to control what you can and can't do with your pc and everything on it.
(MPAA, RIAA and others)
(MPAA, RIAA and others)
If you have installed a good
- Antivirus (eg Bitdefender/kapersky)
- Firewall (not just windows xp firewall)
- Anti-spyware (eg Webroot Spysweeper)
then any potential harm is minimised.
- Antivirus (eg Bitdefender/kapersky)
- Firewall (not just windows xp firewall)
- Anti-spyware (eg Webroot Spysweeper)
then any potential harm is minimised.
In 10 years of downloading everything from p2p, I have had less than 5 viruses and 25 spyware. All of them detected and removed automatically within seconds my software before anything happens.
The trick is not to be stupid, read other peoples comments where possible to avoid downloading something already flagged as bad.
If retards supported and authorised by the MPAA/RIAA would stop posting fake/corrupt/spyware ridden programs on p2p then the world would be a better place. ;)
ejonesssNovember 2, 2006 4:48 AM
no it wont harm because the only way to get a virus us for the contents downloaded from the torrent to be packed with a virus.
torrents are not like gnutella,napster or limewire where you share directly.
a torrent you have to pack the files and assign a hash to the files .
and even if someone packs a virus it will be caught by someone and then reported to the tracker and they will remove the torrent and possibly ban the poster
JackFebruary 5, 2007 11:59 PM
Hi i want to destroy someones computer they have really given me a problem. They refused to pay my money. so I kindly ask you to assist me out i already have a backup of all his files as soon as he pays will return his computer normal
ManaswinSeptember 15, 2007 10:54 AM
Jack, Pick a hammer and destroy his computer. Simple! :)
DebJanuary 31, 2009 1:29 PM
Two wrongs don't make a right.
ArjunMay 22, 2009 12:02 AM
Can the usage of linux(ubuntu) while downloading from torrents, reduce the risk of getting virus,spywares etc??
LindaSeptember 13, 2009 5:29 PM
I'm terrible with technology. I've never bit-torrented anything before, but I'm curious. If I bittorrent virus-corrupted files onto one computer, then transfer those files to another computer via flash drive, would that corrupt the second computer with the virus?
It depends on a number of things, but yes, in short, it's possible. Avoid viruses, period.
Brenda Davis
November 3, 2009 7:48 AM
I used both Bit Torrent and Limewire for a little over 2 years but will never use them again. I was hit with a Trojan virus that cost me $218! Never again!
Hector MetzlbachNovember 3, 2009 8:22 AM
While I don't recommend sharing/downloading pirated software, P2P file sharing is a great way to find obscure music & even old TV shows.
I've been using utorrent for a while & have never downloaded a virus. Like Peter A. states above, If you read the comments & ratings from people who have already downloaded the file you want, you should have no issues. I also use Avast antivirus & Malwarebites Antimalware.
Jerry KnowltonI've been using utorrent for a while & have never downloaded a virus. Like Peter A. states above, If you read the comments & ratings from people who have already downloaded the file you want, you should have no issues. I also use Avast antivirus & Malwarebites Antimalware.
November 13, 2009 6:26 PM
Just buy the software and be legal, then you don't have to worry about virus, malware and the MS secret police....
jasonNovember 20, 2009 7:04 AM
i have got bittorent and i can not delete it no matter what i do i am nt the best in the world on a computer so can sum 1 plz help
alexJanuary 17, 2011 2:20 PM
for those who a interested--
try using virtual machine for your downloads. thats what i do. then if you get a virus, you can just delet the virtual machine and start again. viruses in virtual machine cant harm your computer.
Before assuming that a VM is that safe, I think you'll want to read this: Does using a virtual machine keep me safer? - it can help, but there are still real risks.
Tiburon
February 2, 2011 1:41 PM
There's a one word answer - solution:
UBUNTU
Or any other distro of linux.
nickUBUNTU
Or any other distro of linux.
March 11, 2011 7:44 AM
stinking utorrent was recomended to me by a friend and I had to wipe my ps3's memory becuase a file on it had a virus
rebelstarNovember 30, 2011 3:22 AM
viruses and legitimate issues are one story, but lately i learnt another stark truth about torrents that it shortens the life span of ur hard disk. But still it is an undisputed issue.
Bogus. Torrents don't shorten your disks life.
Zwei SteinDecember 19, 2011 6:14 AM
Leo,
Gotta tell you that this is the first time that I have read an explanation for a computer question that I can actually understand. The words as well as the diagrams were very well put together and I do appreciate this. You see, I am the quintessential computer moron. Thank you very much for your clear, easy to understand explanation. Happy Holidays.
John MulvihillGotta tell you that this is the first time that I have read an explanation for a computer question that I can actually understand. The words as well as the diagrams were very well put together and I do appreciate this. You see, I am the quintessential computer moron. Thank you very much for your clear, easy to understand explanation. Happy Holidays.
January 3, 2012 12:54 PM
Leo, in your opinion, is WebRoot SecureAnywhere or similar virus detection software an acceptable defense against torrent-triggered malware?
Mark JJanuary 3, 2012 1:22 PM
@John
Torrent triggered malware is no different than any other kind of malware which you can get from running a virus infected program. These kinds of virus are 100% preventable if you don't run any programs or download files which are not from reputable sources.
Michael GTorrent triggered malware is no different than any other kind of malware which you can get from running a virus infected program. These kinds of virus are 100% preventable if you don't run any programs or download files which are not from reputable sources.
January 13, 2013 1:48 PM
If I'm using bit torrent to just watch movies and t.v. shows, and I have Kaspersky will I still be at risk for catching viruses? Note: I'm not using it to download software.
Mark JJanuary 14, 2013 12:19 AM
@Michael
If you don't download programs, using BitTorrent would not put you in danger of catching a virus. However, if you use it to download copyrighted materials, you would be at risk of getting caught and paying a heavy fine. It happened to a friend's daughter.
If you don't download programs, using BitTorrent would not put you in danger of catching a virus. However, if you use it to download copyrighted materials, you would be at risk of getting caught and paying a heavy fine. It happened to a friend's daughter.
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