The latest versions of uTorrent include software called Epic Scale. This uses the processor in your computer to help mine for the virtual crypto-currency Bitcoin, potentially slowing your system to a crawl by forcing it to constantly use all its resources solving the tricky equations.
Your computer becomes part of the Litecoin bitcoin farm, generating money for third parties whilst consuming your computer’s processor and wasting electrical power.
The issue was first reported on the uTorrent forums by users. Epic Scale’s presence was confirmed by a senior support manager who acknowledged its existence while denying that it “silently” installs without asking for the permission of users.
This contradicts some reports which state that Epic Scale is installed without any user acknowledgement. The support manager’s claims have been verified by some news sites however, who found that users were asked to install it during uTorrent’s setup wizard.
The program has proven difficult to remove. Simply uninstalling it appears to leave a large amount of junk behind on your PC in the program’s install directory and the system registry. Technology site How-To Geek reported that running the uninstaller repetitively on different computers “seemed like every time it did something different.”
Many users of uTorrent have bemoaned its acquisition by Bittorrent in 2006. What was formerly proper freeware has since been inundated with intrusive advertisements in the program and large amounts of bundled junk in the installer which can prove difficult to avoid, especially for novice users.
