Microsoft begins flagging uTorrent as malware threat PUABundler:Win32/uTorrent_BundleInstaller. Yes, this is true and several users have reported that uTorrent has been blocked from running on Windows 11/10. Many antivirus vendors now classify uTorrent as malware or adware.
The uTorrent application is treated as “potentially unwanted software” by antivirus software. Microsoft treats uTorrent as malicious software and prevents it from being installed for Windows users.
If you attempt to download the uTorrent installer on your Windows 11 computer, Windows Security immediately detects it as PUABundler:Win32/uTorrent_BundleInstaller.
About uTorrent
uTorrent has been on the market for several years, and it is a popular torrent client that is frequently used for data downloading. More than 180 million people have downloaded uTorrent installer so far.
Although there are many alternate torrent client programs, uTorrent is the most widely used one. It is a piece of software made specifically for downloading large amounts of data from distant servers. In other words, it’s a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data.
Microsoft Begins Flagging uTorrent as Malware
Recently, Microsoft began flagging uTorrent as malware and categorizing it as PUABundler:Win32/uTorrent_BundleInstaller. Windows Defender stops it running because it has a poor reputation. It is also mentioned that this application can affect the quality of your computing experience.
The parent company of uTorrent, BitTorrent Inc., is aware of this. The torrent company thinks one of their most recent releases may have caused them to be false positives. However, we are not convinced that’s true.
No matter what version of the uTorrent installer you download on Windows 11, several antivirus programs will flag it. We tested this by downloading the most recent version of uTorrent, and it appears that both freshly installed computers and devices with uTorrent already installed had the client blocked.
Testing uTorrent with Windows Security
On the Windows 11 PC running version 23H2, we downloaded the uTorrent installer from the web and the Windows Security app was quick to raise an alert.
From the screenshot below, we can see that uTorrent was detected as a potentially unwanted app by Windows Defender. Microsoft treats this alert as a low severity. What’s interesting is that Windows Security lets you bypass this alert and install the uTorrent app by whitelisting the installer. By selecting Actions > Allow on device, and then reinstalling the app, you can install it.
VirusTotal Check for uTorrent
In our next test, we uploaded the uTorrent web installer to the popular VirusTotal site to see how other antivirus programs treat this uTorrent web installer. And the results can be seen in the below screenshot.
Not surprising, Microsoft appears on the list of anti-viruses that flagged uTorrent as PUABundler:Win32/uTorrent_BundleInstaller. However, there are other AV programs such as ESET, Malwarebytes, McAfee, and Sophos that consider uTorrent as an adware.
uTorrent and BitTorrent installation on Windows
Next, we tested the installation of uTorrent and BitTorrent on two of our Windows 11 machines after whitelisting it in Windows Security. We have no idea why the installation files were placed in the AppData folder. They are intended to enter program files in the ideal scenario. Perhaps that is how the uTorrent program is coded.
Surprisingly, after we marked the uTorrent installer as safe in Windows Security, we were able to run the software and no security alerts popped up. This leaves us with a question whether uTorrent is actually a malware? Or it’s just that Windows that considers it as a malware and flags it potentially unwanted app? Please let us know your thoughts on this in the comments section.
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