Warning: EpicScale "riskware" installed with latest uTorrent

[john12345]

Just like other users, registered to say goodbye. uTorrent and EpicScale is malware. I hope you and your company will burn in hell. Thanks, OP!

[N4TE_B]

For those still having troubles uninstalling the software, please refer to new installation process provided by Epic Scale:

 

http://www.epicscale.com/how-to-uninstall-epic-scale

[john12345]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH WE ARE BEAUTIFUL BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

So much damage control. I hope someone will file a lawsuit.

[tunafish]

 

Can anyone recommend alternatives to uTorrent?

 

 

Here's a link to wikipedia because thats so useful to anyone....lol

but no qBittorrent is a good way to go if you like utorrent from 3+ years ago or Azureus from way back.

 

 

 

 

I actually stopped using utorrent a while ago when it became bloated and started including "partner offers" (adware). As most of you know the "u" in utorrent is actually the symbol for micro, at one point this made sense because utorrent (microtorrent) was a nice slim, low resource using torrent application. It was a wonderful alternative to Vuze (after Azureus turned into Vuze and was full of bloat and BS people didn't want) now uTorrent is just as bad as Vuze and seems to have forgotten the whole point of having a slim torrent client. 

I have since been using qBittorrent and it works great, its very no frills but it gives 95% of the features that 95% of users would use (limit down/up global and per torrent, change dl location, recheck data, labels, seed until X ratio, stat tracking, and something utorrent doesn't have DOWNLOAD PIECES IN ORDER! i always hated that utorrent lacked that, just because utorrent is too dumb to know what a mp4 or mkv is doesnt mean i shouldnt be given the option to get pieces in order). qBittorrent has NO adware and doesn't feast on your memory or mine litecoin for "charity" (LOL, what 1% goes to the 'EpicScam needs cash foundation'?)

 

Anyway if you're like me and you started using uTorrent because it was MICROtorrent and Azureus turned to Vuze and you just want a simple, slim, not-for-profit torrent client (that can actually download pieces in order) go get qBittorrent.

http://www.qbittorrent.org/

 

 

I dont work for them or anything, they arent for-profit anyway, I just wanted to post here because I'm sure this last bit of news is finally getting people to get away from uTorrent and i just thought i'd share whats worked good for me.

[GoodJoke]

Wow uTorrent this is absolutely trash. Good riddance to this garbage malware and I hope you guys get cancer

[warezwally]

 

We design our software to ensure that partner software downloads don't occur without approval by the user.

 

I just want to add something here which seems clear to me, and probably most other users feel the same. Just because someone has 'accepted' the offer (that you have covertly and sneakily bundled in, obviously to look like an official part of your programs TOS / EULA), this doesn't actually mean that said program has been 'approved' by the user as you like to put it.. What it actually means is that your sneaky attempt to trick users into installing the crapware has actually worked (undoubtedly knowing full well a vast amount of people don't actually read EULA's, and that many people skip through installations as we don't all wish to read a manifesto outlining our legal responsibilities to every company for every program we ever use) .. THAT'S ALL.  It simply means your trickery and sneaky behavior has paid off the way you designed it to.. Period...

 

If you think my previous statemt is incorrect please then design your installer in a less sneaky fashion where it is more than obvious that a 3rd party program will be installed, if you fail to do so its obvious your agenda (or at least your hope) is to trick people into unknowingly installing these things.

If you didn't try these sneaky tactics to get users to erroneously install your bundled 'offers', this problem wouldn't be, well, a problem right now... But then again Im sure your company already knows this FACT quite well. Perhaps at the next board meeting you may wish to discuss ways to improve the installer as to not trick people into installing this software, unless that of course is your only goal, then of course keep on with what your doing tricking people.

[tunafish]

So much damage control. I hope someone will file a lawsuit.

 

It's likely in the user agreement that by installing utorrent the user agrees to install 3rd party software, that utorrent and 3rd party adware is not responsible for any damage or performance issues to your computer. Plus you generally have to prove that you have actually incurred a tangible loss due to negligence or malfeasance of the other party. Decreased computer performance that you waived the right to and consented to anyway doesn't have a chance.

 

Not trying to be a dick here, I just think it would be better to just not use uTorrent anymore instead. and to encourage others not to use it anymore.

[sanu738]

I swear to GOD that I disagreed with that stupid miner crapware and when I checked my C drive today,

 

it was hiding in C:\ProgramData directory (which is not detectable normally because it's "hidden" by default)

 

For sure I deleted it right away, yet still pissed. What's even worse is that when I checked the date it's installed, it was not

 

the same as the date I installed my Mutorrent!!!! It seems very suspicious now, and I think that randomdude's theory 

 

based on his PHP analisys seems pretty solid. (Check the second page of this thread!!)

 

Plus, EVEN if it was just a mistake of you guys, that doesn't change the fact

 

that you guys always attempt to trick users with that dirty and sneaky way.

 

U should have seen this coming...

 

 

Just like other users, registered to say goodbye. 

 

I hope you and your company will burn in hell. Thanks, OP!

[YouDoneGoofed]

Saw this in Reddit, changing over to new torrenting software. Adios uTorrent. Can't believe you'd do this.

[flatbush71]

Well, the Epic Scale module has made major news media headlines here in the U.S.

Its going to be interesting to see how it plays out under the new Net Neutrality Regulations.

[Anonymous1]

Excessive CPU, GPU and RAM usage,
more and more new bugs and issues with each new versions,
old bugs and issues aren't fixed in new versions,
making ads unblockable and unhidable like hard adware,
censor on the forum where "someone" deleted and removed the same topic about this issue before here, good that we have a google copy here and other internet archivers got it too,

the same issue was also in the past with Conduit Engine adware,
and now on update Epic Scale riskware and mailware which is probably a crypto coins miner botnet...

 

µTorrent is really going down the hill and getting more and more pushy bloatware with each new versions.

 

Looks like it was a perfect idea to change program many years ago.

[Deluge]

From 3.* µTorrent became a crap. 3.4.2 - LOL

 

Only 2.0.4, only hardcore!

[OneTimeUser]

Hi, all! I've just registered to share my experience with the uTorrnet client with you...

The first time I started using uTorrent client was back in 2004 and it was the best torrent client at the time. It was very small, too - if I remember correctly, only about 100KB and had a very small footprint... Then, a few years ago, the guy who coded the uTorrent client sold his work to a big company... You all remember this... I continued using "older" versions (up to 2.0.4) of uTorrent client until 2009, when I switched to Windows 7. Then, reluctantly, I started using newer builds and versions (2.x, 3.x). And this was going on until a couple months ago (early 3.4.2. builds), when I finally got fed up with ads that were coded into the client ever so aggressively... For a while, I've managed to block the ads through advanced settings and hosts file, etc., to keep the interface as clean as possible, without the annoying ads... Then, I switched to qBittorrent - and guess what - I've never looked back!

Today I've read in the news that the newest build of uTorrent comes bundled with EpicScale software, which installs quietly and is not as easy to get rid of as the admins would like you all to think... EpicScale then kidnaps your machine and uses it for bitcoin mining for a third party! Well, if that is not an Epic fail on the side of uTorrent team! How much lower could they possibly get?!

To all you users - please check qBittorrent - and you'll never regret it! It's freeware,  it's open source, it also comes in 64-bit verson and it will be a very easy transition for everyone (e.g. just change path to point to qBittorrent in your firewall and continue using the same rules)...

To admins of this forum: you can delete this post, I don't care. I will never come back here again... But this won't stop thousands of your current users to find out about alternatives to your (now very much crappy) torrent client...

[Anna Parker]

Hello, just registered to say I've uinstalled uTorrent because uTorrent didn't respect their users (was using it for more than 10 years ago), it's a good time to move to some fresh torrent clients. I have tested qBittorrent and Deluge and I have choosed qBittorrent.

 

Links:

http://deluge-torrent.org/

http://www.qbittorrent.org/

[jimmcwibb]

Stealing people's CPU cycles for money is atrocious behaviour and I wouldn't tolerate it from any company. I'm using an older version of utorrent but even so, I'm uninstalling it right now. So long.

[Himeko]

I checked out those other few torrent clients, and sadly nothing comes close to something I'd like to use. You have Vuze..java crap, and the rest are the usual cross-platform linux-looking UI clunky stuff I'd rather avoid. Been a user of uTorrent for many years as well since the early versions through 3.x.

 

While bundled crap is awful, it's common practice these days in many popular free apps everyone's using, and the embedded ads in the app can at least be disabled in the settings. I don't get all this backslash about the app, people are QQing about a FREE software, they have been using FREE for years, mostly .. to obtain pirated stuff for FREE.

 

This whole thing is nothing more than an idiot who accepted the bundled offer by mistake and then was too ashamed to admit it, coming out with this whole "installed sillently without permission" bullshit without any evidence whatsoever, false claims as has already been beyond proved; and then the rest of sheeps following the drama as if a crime or something happened and all talk like they are offended even while they are mostly ignorant about the matter.

 

Not defending the bundled shit.. I hate it myself, but this is all we have here: someone accepting the extra software and lying about it.

 

~

[Amosqu]

After joining private trackers, I happened to be spared from this by using utorrent 2.2.1, which is almost universally whitelisted, due to multiple issues with 3.4.2. Utorrent 2.2.1 was the peak of its time and was truly micro. The installer was 500kb and it took up 25mb. Now it's very bloated and crashes all the time. But utorrent 2.2.1 is handling 1500 torrents with no issues whatsoever and barely any cpu usage.

 

After doing it on a VM, I did not get the offer, but chances are it was removed after this. If you happen to be affected, Malwarebytes and Adwcleaner should help you. Stealing cpu cycles to mine bitcoins for someone else instead of seeding a torrent affects the tracker itself.

 

Everyone should use 2.2.1 build 25302 when utorrent was at its peak just after the aquisition by Bittorrent Inc.

 

And there are also many other open source clients such as Deluge or Qbittorrent that you can use. If you're on linux, Deluge and rtorrent are the way to go. If you're on Mac, then it looks like utorrent Mac is pretty much your only choice besides Deluge.

 

If we can compress utorrent 4.0 a lot more, than very likely it will be reinstated on tracker whitelists. But as for now, many private trackers are blacklisting it at this time, therefore helping people away from the newer versions. The newest version of utorrent no longer holds the biggest market share anymore, and it will decline as better, open source clients show up. The best client for now is utorrent 2.2.1 since there is no migration needed, so look it up on oldapps.com and use it.

[guvnor]

When Sony did their folding@home thing on the PS3, it was a separate app that the user launched manually before going idle for the sake of "giving back". If they made it a background process, I guarantee no one would've ever used it or downloaded it.

uTorrent(and every other software) should make it very clear if it wants to offer an installation of a completely different program instead of trying to sneak it in like it's a part of the regular installation process.

 

And for what a lot of people consider to be invasive software like Epic Scale, it should always need to be manually started by the user.

 

I'll be switching because I definitely don't like the direction uTorrent is headed.

[xriothhh]

To all those saying use 2.2.1... You cannot search your list of torrents with that version using the search box on the top right.

 

Some older versions lack RSS support.

 

2.2.1 does not have support for UDP trackers, it leaks your IP when using a proxy server

2.2.1 lacks uTP support. 

 

Older uTorrent versions except going back to 1.6.1 have the dreaded "Disk overloaded 100%" problem because from version 1.8.x to 3.4.1 (fixed in 3.4.2) uTorrent had HORRIBLE disk I/O cache code/management. 

 

Also various open source torrent clients have the fugly GTK or Qt interface that looks positively dreadful on Windows. Or worse use Java. 

 

Unfortunately, because of knee-jerk reactions from staff on private trackers, I am forced to use 3.4.1 instead of 3.4.2 which was working just great for me with nothing being installed without my permission. Hopefully facts and objectivity will supercede FUD after a week or so and trackers will again allow 3.4.2. 

[Silver_Telperion]

Personally, my uTorrent is updated to the latest version and I see no signs that this spam has installed itself.

 

However, such behaviour is not going to fly with me. I am permanently uninstalling and migrating to some other software. Other friends and family members' PCs will soon be following suit as soon as I get the chance.

 

Well done uTorrent team! Enjoy your revenue.

[torrentoidus]

This whole thing is nothing more than an idiot who accepted the bundled offer by mistake and then was too ashamed to admit it, coming out with this whole "installed sillently without permission" bullshit without any evidence whatsoever, false claims as has already been beyond proved; and then the rest of sheeps following the drama as if a crime or something happened and all talk like they are offended even while they are mostly ignorant about the matter.Not defending the bundled shit.. I hate it myself, but this is all we have here: someone accepting the extra software and lying about it.

 

You are clearly an arrogant idiot. What's more, you are suspiciously promoting such practices (in a unsuccessfully veiled manner) by dismissing all other clients. uTorrent 3 has been offering such questionable bundleware for a long time on an accept/decline basis and now suddenly, everybody is conspiring against BitTorrent, Inc? Of course, that must be it. It would've been much more honest if the uTorrent team admitted there has been a server mix-up or whatever that caused Epic Scale installation on some users with absolutely no user consent, warning or notification. But no, denying everything and blaming the users who had been successfully avoiding such offers for a long time seems the chosen path. Let's see how that goes then.

[Orillion]

i allso got the newest version of uTorrent on my pc.

 

No epic scale in add/remove programs or in programData folder

 

I only use because of the labeling option/automove it have built in.

[Zeptinune]

 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We design our software to ensure that partner software downloads don't occur without approval by the user. But given your report, we’ve also double-checked this particular offer, and have determined that it cannot be installed without user approval.

 

Epic Scale is a cryptocurrency miner that uses a portion of your CPU cycles to contribute to the mining effort. A portion of the proceeds from this effort go to philanthropic initiatives. Please visit http://www.epicscale.com/ for more information. Epic Scale is a great partner for us to continue to generate revenue for the company, while contributing funds to good causes. In the future, Epic Scale plans to contribute CPU cycles to other initiatives, such as Genome mapping and other academic studies that require a great deal of processing power.

 

As Groundrunner stated, it's easy to uninstall the software via Add/Remove Programs. Per the Epic Scale CEO's response in comments on the link you shared, the only data left in ProgramData\Epicscale is a simple UUID (Unique User ID). This remains so that in case the software is reinstalled, BitTorrent would still be associated with the user. Feel free to delete this folder. You certainly won't see any persistent auto-reinstalls of the software, it will be gone from your machine for good.

 

 

You guys are pricks seriously. You employ some of the sneakiest tactics ever to get people to install the crap bundled with your software by changing buttons and employing a different 'accept' or 'decline' method for every piece of junk you try to bundle with uTorrent, and you have drowned the client itself in advertising. You are the absolute lowest of the low. The whole "We need money to pay for this app" is absolute horses***. The original uTorrent before you Malware asshats bought it was free to use and had no problems with funding. After you bought it from them all you have done is pollute it with ways to try and monetize the client. I don't know how you guys can seriously sleep at night.

 

Do you know what happened to IObit when they declined to own up to their bastardry? They lost hundreds of thousands of users and just about every tech site on the web took it upon themselves to prove them wrong and take personal offence at their behaviour. Yet here you are now, just trying to cover your asses and are blatantly lying about your intentions. No one would be remotely surprised if you tried to bundle anything with uTorrent that would install regardless of what the user wants.

 

Do you know what happened to Lenovo after the whole 'Superfish' debacle? Do you guys seriously not know the kind of fury that you can invoke in your users by pulling this kind of stunt? You have millions of users, you are losing more each day and you still think that it's okay to behave like this?

 

Do you know what happened to ESEA when THEY DID EXACTLY THIS to people using their software? They got FINED a MILLION dollars for it. I am sure you guys could easily pay that, but you do realise that a company with more money (like yours) is just going to get a BIGGER FINE!

 

We understand your feelings about this, and if anyone could video capture the process of installation showing it without notification, we very much want to know. We have not been able to reproduce that it is installing silently.

 

As for uninstall issues, I'm chasing that with the the engineers right now and will post what I learn.

 

EDIT: Looks like the Epic Scale software is not uninstalling as it was intended to by design. C:\ProgramFiles\Epicscale (and any variation of the folder name) should be deleted to wipe any residual files in addition to the Removal via Add/Remove Programs.

 

No you don't understand our feelings. You don't care about anything other than making money, and saving your asses. So at least be honest about it and come clean when you're caught.

 

Here's a screencast of my tests to see if I can get Epic Scale to install with utorrent:

 

 

You sir are an idiot. The fact that you say you are using a 'fresh' install of Windows, and yet it's so obviously pirated (with the addition of KMSpico) and yet you don't even know what it is. But then go on in the video to mention "Oh lol! I know what that is" proves nothing except that you are a total moron using a pirated version of Windows. Installing a pirated copy of Windows with KMSpico isn't a 'fresh' installation at all. You do know right that KMSpico, (in exchange for activating your copy of windows unlawfully) sends your user-data, key-strokes, browsing history etc. to a third party, remote computer right? If you block it in your firewall, it will remove the activation. It's basically a rootkit.

 

You're a moron and your screencast was absolute rubbish. If you're going to pirate software fine, but don't pirate the most important part of your computer. The OS. Especially if you don't know what KMSpico is at a glance, and why it is so bad for your computer.

 

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As for people who are like "Oh it's time to change". Are you guys serious? Wake up, it's been time to change clients THREE YEARS AGO. This client has always been trash, ever since it was bought by this company that has done nothing but monetize it. How could you fools seriously keep using it when ads and other crap started to pop up onto your computers? It's just utter laziness that you have continued to reinstall uTorrent instead of just moving to one of the other hundred better clients out there.

 

You have no one except yourselves to blame for letting uTorrent think that they can get away with this.

[NIghthawke]

Just signed on to say this:

 

You are fired.

 

 

Gang: Use Revo to strip out the offending software. Use the Advanced option when it prompts you to and check all items in the registry and files, then delete.

[Zeptinune]

Just signed on to say this:

 

You are fired.

 

 

Gang: Use Revo to strip out the offending software. Use the Advanced option when it prompts you to and check all items in the registry and files, then delete.

 

Are you crazy? Just boycott this nonsense. Don't put up with this garbage behaviour from them and continue allowing them to throw ads and other nonsense into your face whilst you just want to torrent...

 

Move to a different client already! How lazy are you people! Install some program that tries to prevent you from getting hit by their tactics, or JUST MOVE TO DIFFERENT SOFTWARE!