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uTorrent starts automatically, repeatedly despite auto-start unchecked

yoshm

By yoshm
in Troubleshooting

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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When I have auto-start on Windows (Win7 Home Premium) startup turned off, usually uTorrent starts anyway. I have checked all the startup entries using various tools (msconfig, soluto, autoruns, whatinstartup, etc.) - removed any trace of uTorrent I've found or verified there is no trace, but somehow it always runs regardless.

So I Exit the program and many times - after a few minutes - it starts up again! Usually by the third time I turn it off - it stays off.

Something clearly seems to be wrong here... I cannot prevent the autostart of uTorrent.

Is there some other option I've missed that causes this behavior? Is there something I can do to fix this or should I be reporting it in the Bugs forum?

Thanks,

Yosh

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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Thanks for the quick reply.

Preferences - General - "Start uTorrent when windows starts"

When I wrote:

I have auto-start on Windows... startup turned off, usually uTorrent starts anyway

I meant that I had already done exactly that.

Despite my unchecking the option "Start uTorrent when windows starts" - it still starts. And re-starts. Automatically. I have to turn it off manually 1-3 times before it stays off.

Any idea why?

thanks,

Yosh

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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Probably because someone put other shortcuts or other entries in besides the one uTorrent knows how to manage.

ummm... as I wrote in my original post:

I have checked all the startup entries using various tools (msconfig, soluto, autoruns, whatinstartup, etc.) - removed any trace of uTorrent I've found or verified there is no trace, but somehow it always runs regardless.

so there is no other shortcut or entry there. Also that would not explain why it RE-starts after I manually kill it, sometimes twice! Something else is going on here - any ideas what it could be?

Thanks,

Yosh

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ciaobaby Advanced Member

ciaobaby

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It could be in the registry "Run" settings twice or it could be in the "Start Menu" as a 'startup' item.

Hold down the "Windows" key, press 'R', type msconfig -> Look in the "Startup" tab

and the startup program group is at %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

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njegan76 Newbie

njegan76

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yoshm I have been having the same problem as you and have tried the same fixes with no effect.

The problem started for me when I changed the setting to start uTorrent on window startup because I wanted it to temporarily but it wouldn't change back- kept reopening itself every 5 minutes.

The solution for me was to un/reinstall uTorrent and uncheck "Start when windows starts" during installation. So far the problem has not reappeared.

I hope this helps.

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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yoshm I have been having the same problem as you and have tried the same fixes with no effect.

The problem started for me when I changed the setting to start uTorrent on window startup because I wanted it to temporarily but it wouldn't change back- kept reopening itself every 5 minutes.

The solution for me was to un/reinstall uTorrent and uncheck "Start when windows starts" during installation. So far the problem has not reappeared.

I hope this helps.

Sorry for the delay - this post was inaccessible for a few days for some reason...

Thanks very much for your input njegan76. I must admit that's a pretty radical "fix"... If what you describe is really the only way to fix this, I'd say this should be reported as a bug.

FYI, I have been checking from time-to-time the registry (using autoruns) and it seems that no matter how many times I delete the entry for uTorrent, it keeps reappearing. Just now I deleted two copies of it!

Here's a guess: Something else seems to be starting it up (not sure what) and then it updates the registry (even though the option is disabled). I wonder what else could be making it start up?

Any other ideas or input?

thanks,

yosh

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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Any other ideas or input?

Did you read post #6?

Yep. I used Autoruns (instead of msconfig) as I reported in Post #8 - and in fact deleted two copies of it. This is after I've deleted one or more entries multiple times. The option has always stayed unchecked - yet it keeps auto-running & the registry entry(ies) keep reappearing.

Any idea why?

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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Nope. uTorrent doesn't do that.

Thanks @DreadWingKnight - that is exactly what I would hope/expect - and is the reason I posted in Troubleshooting rather than Bug reports.

However, I haven't heard from anyone as to what could be causing that behavior. Besides, @njegan76 reported the same phenomenon - and the only solution he found that worked was to uninstall & reinstall uTorrent. That suggests the cause is either:

1) a bug in uTorrent

2) a bug in some other software that was "neutralized" by uninstalling/reinstalling uTorrent

With regard to the "bug in uTorrent" possibility - it could be something blatant - like code that inadvertently ignores the setting to not auto-start - or something more subtle, e.g., code that makes some change in the registry that affects another program, e.g., Windows Explorer or scheduler or something else, that makes it fire up uTorrent in some state that re-instates the uTorrent registry entry. Or it could be something even more complex and subtle. But it definitely exists as both I and njegan76 have reported.

In any case, I am continuing to live with the annoyance for now for one reason only - in case someone reading this has some idea of tests I can perform to help isolate the bug (whether it's in uTorrent or elsewhere) so that it can be squashed once & for all for everyone. If no one has such an idea in the next week or two, I'll probably take njegan76's advice & eliminate the problem for myself (for now).

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ciaobaby Advanced Member

ciaobaby

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Hmmm... what could it be? uTorrent, maybe?

Nope, but most Internet security, anti-spyware and some anti-virus apps have "registry monitors" that check the "Run" entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER hives for changes and reset them. The keys are located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

&

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

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yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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Hey, @Kitsoran - thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I have almost no experience with ProcMon. I downloaded the latest version & tried to figure out how to configure it to get what you suggest. It was a painful process. Every single thing I tried to do generated a message that it was re-filtering - which took anywhere from 15 minutes to hours...

If you are able to give me (or point me at) some guidance of how to set it up, I'd love to see if it can pinpoint the culprit.

thanks,

yosh

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  • 2 weeks later...
yoshm Newbie

yoshm

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Well, if no one seems to have any further input or advice for me. I suppose the next step is to try the solution proposed by @njegan76

I was hoping I could help zero in on what causes this behavior, but I've reached a dead end. If no one else has any suggestions, I guess I'l try the radical surgery approach.

One other observation I have is that uTorrent is starting up automatically at login - even though there are no entries in all of the autoruns locations - nothing. But there it is - starting up anyway. Weird...

Thanks,

Yosh

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SkeldraK Newbie

SkeldraK

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Backup .torrent file and download data usually in %appdata%, delete or uninstall utorrent completely and check autorun, if still persist another program maybe trying interfere like progam do run on windows service to make active utorrent, if not / solved make portable utorrent

To make portable utorrent, put downloaded latest file to folder and make empty file settings.dat in that folder, open utorrent and add .torrent file again but destination is your previous download directory, force re-check if not checked

Edit:

Try this first, cut settings.dat and settings.dat.old to other directory then open utorrent it will create new default setting

The problem is not bug , just something wrong inside os

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