Will the bittorrent download (bittorrent.com) cause any viruses?

[Wyatt]

When i was on the website my iternet security advisor told me that the download may cause my home page to change, or cause other problems for my computer. The reason im asking is because i was on a website that offered downloads for a game called garry's mod, the webiste had changed its download types from zip. files to torrents. the site usually checks green across the board (no viruses, spyware, etc.), but i dont know about these new torrent files. any info about the new garrys mod files, bittorrent, safety issues, legal issues, general info about torrents, etc. would be helpful

, thanks!

[austin]

Essential, bittorrents allow you to download little pieces of a file simultaneously from many different people. The bittorrent program then pieces these little files together to make 1 large file.

This makes it possible for someone to tamper with the file they are sharing. Although this is usually rare, it has been known to happen.

There are many legal issues with bittorrent. It is commonly believed that all Bittorrent is used for is sharing illegal games/music/etc. This is not always so. I don't know about your game in question, but if the game is available for free, then there shouldn't be any legal problems with it.

As I mentioned before, Bittorrents can contain viruses. You must open a port on your computer in order for these files to come to your computer. This can cause your computer to become vulnerable to attack. This is also rare, and usually, a good firewall can protect you.

[juicyfrootz]

The actual site bittorrent.com is where you download the software that is used to handle torrents.
Download the bittorrent software, and then download the torrent files from the website. Then open the torrent files with the bitttorrent software.

If the game is free, then it should be legal (unless it is a mainstream game sold in stores or online)

If you want to learn more about torrents go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_protocol

[f00thePirate]

bittorrent is a program for downloading torrents
the files from the torrents might give you viruses though

just have a good av and check the comments

[chris]

use uTorrent instead
much smaller, and more user friendly
check it out

[Rip_SouLjah]

lol ok let me try to explain in a simple matter. bittorrent.com is a website for downloading only torrent files wich take a snap second to download, they r special files that carry download links to your download that can ONLY be read and downloaded from a torrent downloading program or p2p (peer2peer), such as utorrent , u have to download these downloaders b4 u can download torrents, and yes torrents are safe, just makesure u always read the feedback and only download the torrents with the most "SEEDING" those will download faster as they have been downloaded and shared by more users. i prefer to use www.mininova.com. find the file u want, read the feedback and the one with the moist seeds then download the torrent file and then open it with "UTORRENT" u can download this just google utorrent. then its simple as that, enjoy faster downloading and a much more wide range