Does uTorrent upload anything when the program is closed?

[uploadingwoes]

Today I had a discussion with the lead systems and network administrator of the company I work for. We were discussing uTorrent specifically because:

- over the last few months there have been periods of unusually high uploading activity during non-business hours and business hours

- our network's internet browsing speeds were very slow during this time frame (3-5 months)

To make a long story short, I never used uTorrent (uploading or downloading) while at work, and the problems we were having pointed to uTorrent sucking up bandwidth. There was another employee who later admitted to using it.

What I want to know is the following:

1. If the uTorrent program is completely closed (meaning not in the system tray and not running as an active process) is it possible for said computer to upload or seed content to the Internet during that time?

1a. If yes, could you please explain how.

1b. If no, could you provide proof of that?

Ultimately, I'm arguing that as long as I never open uTorrent while at work then there is zero chance of ME being the cause of any bandwidth slowdowns or speed changes. I am convinced that our business' prior slowdowns were caused by another employee downloading uTorrent to one of the company desktops and leaving it open and running (or minimized in the tray below) during and after work hours.

Am I right or am I totally wrong?

[DreadWingKnight]

1. If the uTorrent program is completely closed (meaning not in the system tray and not running as an active process) is it possible for said computer to upload or seed content to the Internet during that time?

How can something have activity when it isn't running.

The CLOSEST thing it will generate is post-download traffic in relations to incoming connections and DHT.

[uploadingwoes]

Forgive my ignorance, but could you explain what, "post-download traffic in relation to incoming connections and DHT" means?

[Ultima]

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=44891

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=426203#p426203

Connection attempts may still persist for a few days, but will taper off after a few weeks of not connecting to the swarm. Other than that, your question is akin to asking whether a (desktop) computer will continue to consume energy if it is unplugged (answer: no).

[uploadingwoes]

Are you saying these so-called connection attempts (post-download traffic in relation to incoming connections and DHT) could slow down the wireless network I work in?