uTorrent Quietly Installs Cryptocurrency Miner

New submitter Eloking sends news that uTorrent, a popular BitTorrent client, is silently installing cryptocurrency mining software for many users. [uTorrent] brings in revenue through in-app advertising and also presents users with “offers” to try out third-party software when installed or updated. These offers are usually not placed on users’ machines without consent, but this week many users began complaining about a “rogue” offer being silently installed. The complaints mention the Epic Scale tool, a piece of software that generates revenue through cryptocurrency mining. To do so, it uses the host computer’s CPU cycles. ... The sudden increase in complaints over the past two days suggests that something went wrong with the install and update process. Several users specifically say that they were vigilant, but instead of a popup asking for permission the Epic Scale offer was added silently.

Comments

does anyone use the most current version?

[derideri]

A couple of years ago uTorrent started installing adware with their software as well, and everyone either bailed or went back to v2.2.1. So why would anyone be using the most current version of uTorrent anyway?

Re:does anyone use the most current version?

[gbjbaanb]

people new to torrenting and need a client might look at old links (there are many on the internet) and go and install the very pretty looking uTorrent, and of course they'll want the latest version.

Frankly, I ditched it when they started getting shitty with the adware, I moved to qbitorrent which doesn't look too dissimilar from uTorrent and all is good now.

Go back to utorrent 2.2.1

[Eloking]

I'll not post any link here (it's quite easy to Google it anyway), but I suggest going back to utorrent 2.2.1. It's the last stable build without any malware/ads/crap. There's already many torrent site that doesn't allow utorrent version higher than 2.2.1.

How is this post a troll?

[Anonymous Coward]

Torrent used to be great. It had over 100 million users and was the most popular client for years. I remember the first version fit on a floppy, and you could xcopy install it. It was awesome. I did a test of different BitTorrent clients for a PC magazine, and Torrent won easily when it came to download speeds. It beat Vuze, as the poster I'm replying to mentioned, by more than 30%.

It was small and fast. It did everything you need. Now it is bloated and too slow to leave running when using your computer. Also, it wastes tens of megabytes of bandwidth per day downloading animated ads plus it uses so much CPU to show the ads that it overheats my new Dell laptop. The guy above exaggerated with this gigabytes claim.

So why was this guy marked a Troll? He is correct. Do we have a Torrent fanboi with mod points?

Re:Another piece of software to uninstall

[jandrese]

This means I have to abandon Java and Flash.

...

I can live with that.

Re:Why uTorrent?

[MrBigInThePants]

I switched to http://www.qbittorrent.org/ a while ago.

Kicks uTorrent's butt in every way.

If you are too lazy to switch to a better client after it becomes rubbish then YOU are the problem, not them.

Choice is only meaningful if you can and will exercise it....

Re:Why uTorrent?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. I was a little skeptical, but my download speed nearly doubled after downgrading to 2.2.
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/utorrent-2-2-23071

Unicode on Slashdot (5:erocS)

[tepples]

Why doesn't /. understand Unicode in 2015?

Past abuse of bidirectional override control characters to spoof comment scores. Details