pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. To
This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or all language in a specific dialect—"correct" or "standard" pronunciation—or si ...
), is a
proprietary
{{Short pages monitor
mitigating possible concerns.
A later version of the software has, instead of ads, a "search all sites" feature, which is a keyword-based search bar that delivers listings of torrent files at different trackers. A frame at the top displays advertisements (server-side) in the browser when the search function is used. In version 1.5, no ads are present in the program itself.
As of build 463, a redirect bypass feature became available in the Advanced options.
As of version 1.8.2, the μTorrent installer gives the user the option to download and install the Ask.com toolbar. This is done on the first run of the program and the user may explicitly opt out of this feature by deselecting it. The developers stated the addition was needed for funds to continue development. In late 2010, this was replaced with the Conduit Engine.
Currently, μTorrent generates revenue through in-content advertisements (in the free version for Windows) and the "pro" version, which is available in 3 bundles (available for both classic & web client for Windows).
Toolbars
In late 2010, some controversy arose with the release of μTorrent which included
adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying Online advertising, online advertisements in the user interface or on a screen presented during the installatio ...
in the form of the
Conduit
Conduit may refer to:
Engineering systems
* Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids
* Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables
* Conduit cur ...
Engine, which installed a toolbar, and made homepage and default search engine changes to a user's web browser. A number of users reported that the installation was made without the user's consent. There were some complaints that the adware software was difficult to remove.
In 2011, μTorrent bundled the Bing Toolbar.
Paid version
On July 15, 2011, BitTorrent announced that they would offer a paid version of μTorrent called "μTorrent Plus". This new version would offer extra features, such as integrated file conversion, anti-virus, and a built-in media player. On 6 October 2011, the Pre-alpha of μTorrent Plus was released to an invitation-only community. As of December 2011, μTorrentPlus 3.1 was available for $24.95; as of December 2014, the Plus version was available as a $19.95 yearly subscription.
Ads and malware
In August 2012, BitTorrent announced the addition of
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
in the free version of μTorrent which could be individually dismissed by users. Due to response from users, a few days later, the company stated that ads could be optionally turned off. A user-created tool known as "Pimp My μTorrent" was also created to simplify the process of disabling ads in the Windows version. Starting with μTorrent version 3.2.2, the software also contains in-content advertisements described as "Featured Torrent". As with ads, it is possible to disable this content.
In March 2015, it was alleged that μTorrent had automatically installed a program known as Epic Scale: a program classified as " riskware" by some security programs, which mines the
cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
Individual coin ownership record ...
Litecoin
Litecoin (Abbreviation: LTC; sign: Ł) is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was the second cryptocurrency starting in October 2011. In te ...
in the background for BitTorrent, Inc. (allegedly giving a portion to charity), utilizing
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...
and GPU power. A μTorrent developer disputed the claim that it was automatically installed and claimed that as with all other "partner" programs bundled with the software, users could decline the installation. On 28 March, Epic Scale was permanently removed from the installation and as a software bundle partner.
In 2018, advertisements for Yandex Browser and other Yandex-produced software were included in Russian and Ukrainian versions of μTorrent.
Pronunciation
In 2005, an admin on the μTorrent forums wrote: "I don't really know how it's pronounced, I usually say 'you torrent' because it looks like a u". While stating they were not sure, they mentioned that the correct pronunciations for "μTorrent" could be "microtorrent", "mytorrent" (as "my" is the Swedish pronunciation of the Greek letter μ) and "mutorrent". In Greece, where the software was widely used, it is called ''me torrent'', since the letter μ of the Greek Alphabet is pronounced mi in modern Greek.
The symbol μ is the lowercase
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
SI prefix
The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official st ...
"
micro-
''Micro'' (Greek letter μ, Mu (letter), mu, non-Italic type, italic) is a metric prefix, unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of one millionth (10−6). It comes from the Ancient Greek, Greek word (), meaning "small".
It is the ...
". It refers to the program's originally small footprint.
Contributors
The original development was performed by
Ludvig Strigeus
Ludvig "Ludde" Strigeus (born 15 January 1981) is a Swedish programmer, best known for developing software such as the BitTorrent client μTorrent, '' OpenTTD'', and Spotify.
Early life and education
Strigeus was born in January 1981, and he gra ...
("ludde", from
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
), the creator of μTorrent. Serge Paquet ("vurlix", from
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
) acted as release coordinator, and had intended to work on Linux and macOS ports. He maintained the μTorrent website and forum up until the end of 2005 but is no longer affiliated with μTorrent.
Since its purchase in 2006, development has been performed by various employees of Bittorrent Inc. Strigeus is no longer affiliated.
Reception
μTorrent has been praised for its small size and minimal computer resources used, which set it apart from other clients. ''
PC Magazine
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues .
Overview
''PC Mag ...
'' stated that it "packs an outstanding array of features" in 2006 and listed it in their 2008 "Best free 157 software tools". It was also in ''PC World'''s "101 Fantastic freebies". The website
TorrentFreak
__NOTOC__
TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.
The website was started in November 2005 by a Dutchma ...
.com said it was the most feature rich BitTorrent client available, later summarizing a 2009
University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...
study which concluded that "μTorrent Download Speeds Beat Vuze By 16%" on average and "on 10% of he 30 most usedISPs, μTorrent users were downloading 30% faster than Vuze users".
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...
said it was the best BitTorrent client available, citing its small size and "minimal impact to the rest of your computer's speed." Wired.com said its "memory footprint is also ridiculously small". ''PC & Tech Authority'' magazine (Australia) gave it 6 stars (out of 6). Lifehacker.com rated it the best BitTorrent client available (Windows) in 2008, 2011 (Windows and Mac) and a follow-up user poll rated it the most popular torrent client in 2015.CNET.com gave it 5 stars (of 5) saying it features "light and quick downloading".
In November 2009, 52 million users were reported to be using the application, and in late 2011, 132 million.
According to a study by
Arbor Networks
Arbor Networks is a software company founded in 2000
, the 2008 adoption of
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communication protocol, communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic ...
by μTorrent caused a 15-fold increase in IPv6 traffic across the Internet over a ten-month period.
See also
*
Comparison of BitTorrent clients
The following is a general comparison of Glossary of BitTorrent terms#Client, BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent, BitTorrent protocol.
The BitTorrent protocol coordinates se ...
traffic shaping
Traffic shaping is a bandwidth management technique used on computer networks which delays some or all datagrams to bring them into compliance with a desired ''traffic profile''. Traffic shaping is used to optimize or guarantee performance, improv ...