Microsoft and antivirus companies label uTorrent as dangerous

2 min. read

Updated on September 13, 2018

updated on September 13, 2018

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uTorrent is probably the most popular torrent client all over the world, and this news comes as a shock. The software had never caused any trouble to its users until recently when the first issues popped up, and it became stigmatized by tech giants. Microsoft’s Windows Defender and more antivirus tools have been starting to label uTorrent as dangerous.

uTorrent accused of being potentially unwanted software

Microsoft labeled uTorrent as “Potentially Unwanted Software,” and it even created a whole page labeling the client torrent as a severe danger. Now, it seems that this issue is extending its proportions. The reasons that triggered the stigma upon uTorrent are not clear yet. There are more and more antivirus companies that are labeling uTorrent as dangerous, and these include ESET-NOD32 as well.

BitTorrent claims the issues are mere false positives

uTorrent’s parent company BitTorrent became aware of this problem, but it’s slamming the whole labeling as false positives triggered by one of the latest releases. According to the company, the entire crisis began after Windows patch Tuesday update when a small number of users started to get an explicit block. Bit Torrent says that they had three UTorrent executables served from the site and two of these were going to 95% of users and weren’t included in the Windows block. The third one was going to 5% of users, and it was also a part of Windows block. The company claims that it stopped shipping it and there haven’t been any other blocks since.

uTorrent download page also triggers a warning

As if it weren’t enough, there is another issue. uTorrent’s own download page triggers a warning from MalwareBytes’ real-time protection module which is currently branding the website as malicious. Unfortunately, whatever caused all the red flags surrounding uTorrent is still unknown even for BitTorrent itself.

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More about the topics: microsoft, uTorrent

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.