Can someone explain why uTorrent is not set on as default in the P2P shield? What happens if we turn it on?
In the past some people reported problems but I use uTorrent and have checked it in the P2P shield and have no problems at all.
It is/was because of the way uTorrent works the many small files downloaded before being cobbled together forces avast to scan these small files as they are created. If you don’t have a system with reasonable resources CPU and RAM, etc. then it could have an adverse impact on your system performance.
So if performance isn’t an issue on your system enable it and see how it works for you.
I5 3750k with 8gb ram, sufficient to leave on?
You should be fine but the only real way to know is for you to try it.
You could probably back-up NASA with that, so you will probably be just fine enabling the uTorrent option ;D
ROFL ;D
hi,
uTorrent is not set as default likely because most Avast! users do not use such a program. Use of torrents do come with increased risks, as the connections made are made to many computers with unknown security configurations and some may host malware on them because of this. I know user Dch48 (with all due respect) may likely take issue with this, but the risk is still there. Then there is the issue of your computer being made a host to other torrent users while you are connected to the net as well, something some torrent users may not be aware of. Impact of this can result in an unacceptable system slowdown at best (especially at system boot), and unwanted changes to your system or infection at worst.
That is not the case, uTorrent is quite popular. And I was around the forums when this de-selection was made.
It has/had nothing to do with increased risk. All P2P apps are subject to some risk by the nature of downloading from unknown locations and possibly the types of some programs being downloaded by some users (hacks/cracks/DRM/pirate copies, etc. etc.). This being the case, following your logic then all P2P should be unchecked not just uTorrent, etc.
It was down to system performance hits on systems that were somewhat less powerful that of Dch48 and the OP.
Hi DavidR,
I just wanted to help the OP be aware of some potential problems.
If a corporate environment will not allow P2P torrent to run on their network, maybe the average user should not? Some ISP’s have data transfer limits some users may not be aware of, and some torrents can push that up to where that limit can be triggered.
That is not the reason at all. Some of the torrent clients that are selected by default have a far worse history of security problems than uTorrent. Yes there are risks but any download can be a risk. That’s why they all get scanned. Avast users reported performance issues when Avast scanned uTorrent downloads so it was excluded from the default selections.
The security issues with using torrent clients are greatly overblown. The worst thing most people ever see is an attempt to install some kind of media player that may or may not contain undesirable elements. Even those instances have become extremely rare and torrents that contain those things are quickly banned and removed from circulation. I have had 1 instance where Avast detected a problem in a uTorrent download and it completely nullified any threat. If you do use a torrent client, the P2P shield should be set to scan for everything, including PUP’s to ensure the greatest level of protection.
Businesses ban torrent downloads not only for security reasons but for bandwidth issues. Torrent clients can establish hundreds of connections simultaneously, both incoming and outgoing and definitely do impact being able to do other things while a download is in progress.
The only way a bit torrent client can impact boot times is if it is set to run at boot time. None that I know of do that by default and even if they did load at boot, it wouldn’t affect anything unless there was an unfinished download that would resume. Your computer is NOT made a host to other computers simply by having a torrent client installed. it only allows the downloading or uploading of pieces of the files that are in torrents that are currently active in your running torrent client. They do not run all the time but rather only when you choose to use them. Just like any other program on your system. Personally, I do not host files for others to get from me. I download what I want and then immediately remove the torrent from the client and shut it down. That’s called being a leech and is frowned on by torrent afficionados but I couldn’t care less.
Not necessarily as you said avast did this because (which wasn’t correct and why I commented on it) and that had to be speculation.
Also the potential risk goes across all P2P apps, so following that logic avast wouldn’t enable any p2p app and not just uTorrent.