uTorrent prompts firewall whenever it's loaded.. why?

[adamsucks]

Everytime I start up uTorrent, it triggers my firewall while trying to connect to 66.98.196.181 (which translates to dh2.net).

Why is this? I would guess for usage statistics, but I'd like to know for sure. Any ideas?

Thanks

[1c3d0g]

Never had this problem. Make sure you or your firewall isn't paranoid. :|

[adamsucks]

My firewall isn't "paranoid". I use Sygate, and EVERY time I start uTorrent, it asks me to allow/deny access to that IP address from utorrent.exe.

[xirian]

Its probably the update check.

[SledgeDG]

could it be the address where it checks for updates??

uncheck "check for updates automatically" and see if it still occurs

-DG

[Firon]

>ping utorrent.com

Pinging utorrent.com [66.98.196.181] with 32 bytes of data:

[adamsucks]

>ping utorrent.com

Pinging utorrent.com [66.98.196.181] with 32 bytes of data:

Hmm, I guess it is an update check or something then. If you just enter http://66.98.196.181 into the browser, it directs you to DH2.net

[Firon]

utorrent.com is hosted on a shared server, that's why.

[Sanchez]

Yeah, its checking if theres a new version.

[Astral Monkey]

It's checking for a update and 'Scraping' the torrents (getting the number of seeds and peers from the tracker)...but it only does this if you have 'Enable scraping' checked in the settings.

[chaosblade]

Scraping will poke the tracker scrape URL, not uTorrent's address.

[Astral Monkey]

Did I say that scraping would talk to that address? (no I didn't) ....I'm just saying that when you allow µTorrent access through the firewall it will look for a new version AND scrape the torrents if enabled.

[Ultima]

??

If that's what you meant, then you might as well have listed all the things that µTorrent can access once you allow it to get past the firewall. Since you're saying that you didn't mean that scraping would cause µTorrent to connect to the server, then it was out of context, and you didn't need to say that it scrapes in the first place. It caused confusion, so you really shouldn't be getting all defensive about your own mistake O.o

[babel]

I just downloaded uTorrent, but on startup it triggers a check in my firewall too. I turned off the obvious 'check for update option', and after checking this thread, I also turned off the scrape option, and uTorrent is still trying to connect to 38.114.167.69 (remote name: 'router.bittorrent.com'). I'd like to know why before I start using this program. Call me cynical, but I've spent too much time in the past cleaning unwanted crap from my system to trust anything which does unexpected things with regard to the internet.

[Animorc]

router.bittorrent.com is used for the DHT-feature, so if you turn that off, µTorrent shouldn't connect to that host.

[babel]

Yup, that did it - thanks very much, it's now 'silent' on startup. Now that I know what it is, I'll re-enable DHT and scrape & set the firewall to accept them calling out.

/paranoia off

[bleh]

It's really disturbing that so many people think that µtorrent is some kind of spyware or even a hacker tool... , guess most people think it's too good to be true

[Animorc]

I heard someone on Slyck forums say that µTorrent 1.5 contained viruses. Can't really say how they would know that since it isn't even nearly released. They said it had an installer too, so I guess there are packages on this program causing these rumors.

I just searched around a bit and found an interesting internet folder: http://www.irtehwin.nildram.co.uk/uTorrent/

All the latest releases of µTorrent, but with doubled size. Suspicious?

[kibblenbits]

I have used Azureus and Bitcomet and now uTorrent. I have found uTorrent to be better than the others.. My firewall prompts at weird times but I am not too worried... I check for viruses, ad and spyware almost everyday and I have not found anything yet...

[jroc]

Animorc :

I just downloaded 2 of the oldest version from that site. Someone added installers to all of em.

I wonder why.....

[winMX_67]

thats weired... who added installers?

[Firon]

The same wanker that put it up on that site, I guess.

[Animorc]

I would doubt that the owner of that site is the one who made the installer looking at the other stuff on it.