Will BitTorrent harm my computer?

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If the receiving computer has a current and active firewall, antivirus, antispyware, etc. is the risk of becoming infected greater because more pieces have to be scanned? How does this compare to scanning an entire file from a single source?

I would consider it roughly equivalent. It depends somewhat on the anti-virus program's architecture and configuration. There's a theoretical hole if a virus spans two different pieces that are downloaded separately. It's a low probability to begin with, and some virus scanners may handle it anyway.

Anti-spyware scans typically kick in when (or after) you've actually run the downloaded file, so that's after the download's done regardless of how you got the file.

Firewall doesn't actually apply in this situation.

The viruses/spyware myth is perpetuated by organisations who want to control what you can and can't do with your pc and everything on it.
(MPAA, RIAA and others)

If you have installed a good
- Antivirus (eg Bitdefender/kapersky)
- Firewall (not just windows xp firewall)
- Anti-spyware (eg Webroot Spysweeper)
then any potential harm is minimised.

In 10 years of downloading everything from p2p, I have had less than 5 viruses and 25 spyware. All of them detected and removed automatically within seconds my software before anything happens.

The trick is not to be stupid, read other peoples comments where possible to avoid downloading something already flagged as bad.

If retards supported and authorised by the MPAA/RIAA would stop posting fake/corrupt/spyware ridden programs on p2p then the world would be a better place. ;)

no it wont harm because the only way to get a virus us for the contents downloaded from the torrent to be packed with a virus.

torrents are not like gnutella,napster or limewire where you share directly.

a torrent you have to pack the files and assign a hash to the files .

and even if someone packs a virus it will be caught by someone and then reported to the tracker and they will remove the torrent and possibly ban the poster

Hi i want to destroy someones computer they have really given me a problem. They refused to pay my money. so I kindly ask you to assist me out i already have a backup of all his files as soon as he pays will return his computer normal

Jack, Pick a hammer and destroy his computer. Simple! :)

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Can the usage of linux(ubuntu) while downloading from torrents, reduce the risk of getting virus,spywares etc??

I'm terrible with technology. I've never bit-torrented anything before, but I'm curious. If I bittorrent virus-corrupted files onto one computer, then transfer those files to another computer via flash drive, would that corrupt the second computer with the virus?

It depends on a number of things, but yes, in short, it's possible. Avoid viruses, period.

14-Sep-2009

I used both Bit Torrent and Limewire for a little over 2 years but will never use them again. I was hit with a Trojan virus that cost me $218! Never again!

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