Deluge BitTorrent Client. Deluge is a cross-platform Mac torrent client for High Sierra. It's built on GTK+, so its interface looks a lot like Linux Gnome. This app can be complicated for some users, it is quite heavy weight, but supports various plugins, which may arouse interest for more advanced torrent fans. The uTorrent app is an incredible lightweight client managed by the BitTorrent for Mac OS X. The client was developed around the year 2005 and since then it has revolutionized the downloading process of the users. It is the most widely accepted and used a Mac torrent client.
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If you’re one of over 100 million uTorrent users, you should immediately upgrade to the latest version of the BitTorrent client.
In November 2017, Google’s Project Zero identified a vulnerability, which BitTorrent Inc. (the company that owns and develops uTorrent) patched just in the nick of time. While the patch was only deployed to the Beta version at first, it has progressed to the Stable version in the meantime.
It’s not the first time that uTorrent came under pressure.
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Criticized for bundling bloatware and containing annoying banner ads, one of their biggest faux-pas yet was revealed in 2015: uTorrent bundled the cryptocurrency mining software Epic Scale and essentially tricked users into its installation.
These are prime examples of user deception and exploitation. Can you still trust uTorrent? You don’t have to. Here are five great uTorrent alternatives.
The Best Alternative to uTorrent: qBittorrent
Key Features:
Widely considered the best uTorrent alternative, qBittorrent is a free open-source torrent client, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. While open source software isn’t automatically saferIs Security Through Obscurity Safer Than Open Source Software?Is Security Through Obscurity Safer Than Open Source Software?Open source software comes with clear security benefits. The opposite approach is security through obscurity. Is one approach actually safer than the other or is it possible that there's truth to both?Read More, the fact that you could theoretically review the code does make it more trustworthy. Moreover, qBittorrent is free from bloatware and ads, which leads to a smooth installation experience.
The legal notice shown once before launching the software for the first time reminds users of their responsibilities.
The qBittorrent interface is clean and organized. And if you’ve used uTorrent, it will seem familiar, which is not a coincidence. qBittorrent set out to be an open source alternative to uTorrent.
At a glance, you can see the status of all your downloads, and you can view them by category, tags, or trackers. Through the menus at the bottom, you can bring up background information about peers, your downloading and seeding speed, and more.
You can drag-and-drop .torrent files and magnet links onto the tool to initiate the download. If you don’t want the download to start automatically, head to Tools > Options > Downloads and check the box next to Do not start the download automatically.
qBittorrent includes a Search Engine that comes pre-loaded with a selection of Torrent sites that you can search simultaneously. Note that this tool requires a Python Interpreter; the installation files are included. You can enable the Search Engine through View > Search Engine.
You can add additional Torrent sites: open Search, click on the Search plugins button in the bottom right, click Install a new one, and either click Local file if you want to add a qBittorent search plugin you’ve downloaded or Web link if you’d like to add a URL. Use the Search Engine to avoid overblown search websites.
Download:qBittorrent for Windows | Mac | Linux
Runner-Up Alternatives to uTorrent1. Tixati
Key Features:
Tixati has a no spyware, no adware, and no-nonsense guarantee. Unlike the other clients on this list, however, Tixati is not open source. The installation takes a moment, but it’s free from third-party offers and appears clean.
When you first launch Tixati, you’ll have to confirm your initial configuration, which mainly concerns the download folder, incoming port, and bandwidth throttle (off per default). Next, the Windows Defender Firewall will pop up and you’ll have to give Tixati access to your network.
Mac mini. They can also run in 32-bit mode on Windows platforms, including Windows XP (although Photoshop Extended’s 3D features and some GPU-enabled features on XP). Windows, however the CS6 Master Collection suite will run on Vista and Adobe does not restrict users from installing and using it on their Vista systems with Service Pack 2. Photoshop CS6 and Illustrator CS6 run 64-bit native on Mac OS X, Microsoft ® Windows Vista ®, and Windows ® 7 platforms. 64-bit users should realize noticeably greater gains in performance, in some cases as dramatic as ten times the 32-bit speed.
You can switch between different interfaces, including Transfers, Bandwidth, or the DHT (pictured below). The Home tab displays Tixati’s log file and a summary of all your transfers and incoming connections. Like qBittorrent, Tixati comes with an internal search engine, which lets you avoid potentially seedy torrent sites.
Among the clients covered in this article, Tixati’s interface is the most complex, which is also reflected in Tixati’s comprehensive options. Nevertheless, it’s one of the more lightweight Torrent clientsBeat the Bloat! Try These Lightweight BitTorrent ClientsBeat the Bloat! Try These Lightweight BitTorrent ClientsGuns don’t share illegal files. People share illegal files. Or, wait, how does it go again? What I mean to say is, BitTorrent shouldn't be dissed based on its potential for piracy.Read More.
Download:Tixati for Windows (32-bit, 64-bit) | Linux
Download:Tixati (Portable) 2. Transmission
Key Features:
Like uTorrent, the open-source client Transmission has had bouts of malware infections4 Transmission Alternatives for Mac BitTorrent Users4 Transmission Alternatives for Mac BitTorrent UsersTransmission was struck with malware twice in one year, so you might want to consider a new Mac torrent app.Read More. Having overcome these unfortunate setbacks, however, it remains the default BitTorrent client on many Unix and Linux distributions, including Solaris, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Puppy, and GNOME (an openSUSE flavor).
One of Transmission’s benefits is that it’s a lightweight BitTorrent client. The installation is fast, free from nag screens, and concludes with a brief notification about the tool’s file sharing nature. The interface is functional and minimal.
Note that you have to start a local or remote session before you can download anything. Go to Edit > Change Session to launch a new session. When you first start a Transmission session on Windows 10, the Windows Defender Firewall will pop up to let you know it blocked some features. Click Allow access to give Transmission permission to communicate on your network.
Download:Transmission for Windows | Mac | Linux
3. Deluge
Key Features:
Deluge, originally known as gTorrent, is a free, open source, and cross-platform BitTorrent client that heavily draws features on the libtorrent library. By adhering to the freedesktop standards, it can “work across many desktop environments.”
The installation took a little longer and several more clicks than any of the other clients. Fortunately, Deluge is free from bloatware, toolbars, or ads. The interface is similar to qBittorrent, though slightly more crowded.
You can add additional details to the download section of the client through View > Columns.
Download:Deluge for Windows | Mac | Linux | Unix
Which Torrent Client Will You Choose?
We have a clear recommendation: qBittorrent.
But maybe it’s lacking a feature that another client offers. Whichever client you choose, if you need to share or download sensitive torrent files, we strongly recommend using a VPN that has an integrated VPN kill switch6 Logless VPNs That Take Your Privacy Seriously6 Logless VPNs That Take Your Privacy SeriouslyIn an age where every online movement is tracked and logged, a VPN seems a logical choice. We've taken a look at six VPNs that take your anonymity seriously.Read More, so that you won’t accidentally leak your IP in case your secure connection drops.
Wondering why Vuze isn’t featured in this list? We tested it and decided not to recommend it. Vuze was the only client on this list that came with bloatware: Avast, the Spigot toolbar, and a Google Chrome extension. Moreover, the free version of Vuze contains animated ads and has a busy interface with unnecessary features. If you’re looking for a clean and trustworthy uTorrent alternative, Vuze isn’t it.
Explore more about: BitTorrent, Download Management.
Remember when uTorrent was great? The upstart BitTorrent client was super lightweight and trounced other popular BitTorrent clients. But that was long ago, before BitTorrent, Inc. bought uTorrent and crammed it full of crapware and scammy advertisements.
Screw that. Whether you need to download a Linux ISO or…well, do whatever else you do with BitTorrent, you don’t have to put up with what uTorrent’s become. Use a better BitTorrent client instead.
qBittorrent: an Open-Source, Junk-Free uTorrent
We recommend qBittorrent. It aims to be a “free software alternative to uTorrent”, so it’s the closest thing to a junkware-free version of uTorrent you’ll find.
qBitTorrent strives to offer the features most users will want while using as little CPU and memory as possible. The developers are taking a middle path–not cramming every possible feature in, but also avoiding the minimal design of applications like Transmission.
The application includes an integrated torrent search engine, BitTorrent extensions like DHT and peer exchange, a web interface for remote control, priority and scheduling features, RSS downloading support, IP filtering, and many more features.
It’s available for Windows as well as Linux, macOS, FreeBSD–even Haiku and OS/2!
Deluge: a Plug-In Based Client You Can Customize
Deluge is another open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client. Overall, Deluge and qBittorrent are fairly similar and have many of the same features. But, while qBittorrent generally follows uTorrent, Deluge has a few of its own ideas.
RELATED:What Is the New Copyright Alert System, and How Does it Affect You?
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Instead of being a feature-filled client, like qBittorrent, Deluge relies on a plug-in system to get you the advanced features you want. It starts off as a more minimal client, and you have to add the features you want through the plug-ins–like RSS support, for example.
Deluge is built with a client-server architecture–the Deluge client can run as a daemon or service in the background, while the Deluge user interface can connect to that background service. This means you could run Deluge on a remote system–perhaps a headless server–and control it via Deluge on your desktop. But Deluge will function like a normal desktop application by default.
Transmission: a Minimal Client Overcome by Security Issues
Transmission isn’t as popular on Windows, mostly known as a client for macOS and Linux. In fact, it’s installed by default on Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux distributions. The official version doesn’t support Windows, but the Transmission-Qt Win project is an “unofficial Windows build of Transmission-Qt” with various tweaks, additions, and modifications to work better on Windows.
Warning: Since the original writing of this article, Transmission has had some serious security problems. In March 2016, Transmission’s servers were compromised and the official Mac version of Transmission contained ransomware. The project cleaned things up. In August 2016, Transmission’s servers were again compromised and the official Mac version of Transmission contained a different type of malware. That’s two major compromises in five months, which is practically unheard of. It suggests there’s something seriously wrong with the Transmisison project’s security. We recommend staying away from Transmission entirely until the project cleans up its act.
Transmission uses its own libTransmission backend. Like Deluge, Transmission can run as a daemon on another system. You could then use the Transmission interface on your desktop to manage the Transmission servicerunning on another computer.
Transmission has a different interface that won’t be immediately familiar to uTorrent users. Instead, it’s designed to be as simple and minimal as possible. It dispenses with a lot of the knobs and toggles in the typical BitTorrent client interface for something more basic. It’s still more powerful than it first appears–you can double-click a torrent to view more information, choose the files you want to download, and adjust other options.
uTorrent 2.2.1: a Junk-Free Version of uTorrent That’s Old and Out of Date
RELATED:Defend Your Windows PC From Junkware: 5 Lines of Defense
Some people prefer sticking with an older, pre-junk version of uTorrent. uTorrent 2.2.1 seems to be the old version of choice. But we’re not crazy about this idea.
Sure, you get to keep using uTorrent and you won’t have to worry about updates trying to install garbage software onto your system, activating obnoxious ads, and pushing BitCoin miners on your PC. But uTorrent 2.2.1 was released in 2011. This software is over five years old and may contain security exploits that will never be fixed. It will also never be updated to contain new BitTorrent features that could speed up your downloads. So why waste your time when you could use the similar and much more up to date qBittorrent?
It may have made sense to stick with uTorrent 2.2.1 years ago, but modern alternatives have improved dramatically.
Sure, there are many more BitTorrent clients for Windows, but these are our favorite ones that won’t try to install junkware on your system. With the exception of the old versions of uTorrent, they’re all open-source applications. Thanks to community-driven development, they’ve resisted the temptation to overload their BitTorrent clients with junkware to make a quick buck.
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