Some users use legacy versions of uTorrent that don't include offers, ads and other unwanted content. One possible reason for that is that it does not include nearly as many offers as the release version. The beta release is flagged by just two antivirus engines. Users who have installed uTorrent may notice that the program is blocked from execution.

Other security solutions that flag the executable may block its download or execution automatically. The security solution prevented the download of utorrent.exe after I enabled the option on the Windows 10 system. You need to enable the option first before it checks executable files for that. Windows Defender does not detect or block potentially unwanted programs by default. based on region, time or incentive to put them up.Â The flagging of the executable file that is downloaded from the official website by Microsoft but the inactivity during download or installation is puzzling but only on first glance. It is reasonable to assume that offers are switched at times, e.g.

There was also an add for NordVPN on the installation succeeded screen.

It did include another offer, this time for WinZip and that checkbox was checked (and very tiny in comparison to the big next button).

It did include an offer to install the password manager Dashlane, but that offer was not checked.

Windows Defender did not prevent the installation.

The software installed fine on the same machine.

The program was not blocked from being downloaded.

uTorrent Classic downloaded fine in Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 with Windows Defender enabled.Whether that program has been offered as part of uTorrent's installation is unclear at this point.Ī test download and installation revealed the following:

ESET lists Web Companion as a reference and that leads to Ad-Aware's Web Companion application. What is being detected? Most engines list 'PUA or potentially unwanted application' as the reason and that indicates some sort of software bundling or file dropping on user systems. The main release, uTorrent Classic, is detected by ten antivirus engines including Microsoft Defender, Sophos, Eset Nod32, GData, and Dr.Web.īeing flagged does not necessarily mean that a program is malicious or problematic false positives happen but the likelihood is reduced when mainstream security solutions flag a program. Both uTorrent Classic - the local version of uTorrent - and uTorrent Web - the new web-based solution - and BitTorrent are flagged by multiple antivirus solutions at the time of writing.

2.2.1 utorrent