does downloading torrentz harm your pc “This file may harm your pc” warning when downloading. Hello so i made a program in java that i want other people to download. But everytime someone downloads he sees a message with a warning prompt saying the file could harm his computer. He then gets the option to dismiss it or he can choose to download it anyways. How do you avoid this message? 1 Answer 1. This is normal behavior for most browsers. It exists to protect users who get tricked into downloading and running "software." Usually it's a file with a naming scheme like totallylegitfile.pdf.exe . Normal Windows users don't change the default to hide known extensions, so it just looks like a pdf file. Just let your users know that this might happen and tell them that it is safe. 3 Simple Reasons Why Downloading Torrents Can Be Harmful for Your Computer. This might sound unbelievable at first, but the bitter truth is that the greed of torrents might risk your computer! First of all let me ask you. Why do you depend on torrents for downloading stuff? If you want a free and legal app, you would surely find it directly using a search engine. Right? You want to download paid apps for free. Or you want a game which costs you something actually for free. You might even want your favourite movie (btw, there are other alternatives for movies, such as 123movies app) Even if you use torrents legibly, they are still harmful! I caught you this time! HAHAHA! And you should know the fact that what you are doing here is ILLEGAL! Are some ISPs mad to prevent you from downloading torrents if you use them for connecting to the world wide web? They want to prevent illegal acts happening and that is the reason why they do it. Now, you might think that. I agree with the fact that this is illegal, but how will it harm my computer? There are three simple and plain reasons for it! But before that, let me specify that torrents are not harmful, but the files attached to it might be! Ok! Ok! I wouldn’t say more on introduction. Let’s get to the reasons! 1. Peer-to-Peer exchange system can bring in viruses. Torrents run on P2P exchange. The person who downloads a file becomes a LEECHER and after downloading he can become a SEEDER. Seeders upload the file while leechers download it from them. As the seeders increase, the download speed increases as one can download bits of files from different sources! Now you might wonder about the bad side! 2. Your computer can be hacked. When you download a torrent, your IP address can be seen by everyone. If a hacker find your IP address and notices that your firewall is turned off, he can come into your PC and get all your data! The hacker finds your private IP through your public one and then attempts to enter to your system. Wolaa! He then gets access to all your data. Hackers sometimes even pay torrent uploaders for that! The greed of getting an application worth $20 for free might risk all your important stuff. Are you willing to give away your personal data, account info etc. like that? 3. You can get into legal trouble. This is where the government steps in and wins! Wondering how? Government officials sometimes keep track of torrent files with illegal content and find out who all are downloading that. They note your IP address and report it to your ISP. You then receive a notice from your ISP stating that you’ve been caught! Remember, you won’t get another chance. Thus, exposing your IP is equal to giving away your home address…… How to stay safe? Final Words. RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR. How To Create Fake ? WhatsApp Conversations On Android, iOS and PC? ? 7 Dirty Google Secrets Every Internet User Should Know. How To Enable Gmail Desktop Notifications? (Chrome/Safari) 6 COMMENTS. There are some issues with this article. Point 1: Theoretically, yes, torrenting can bring in viruses. However, that is where the community really shines. The torrenting community is exceptionally vibrant in reporting any torrents that have many issues, including viruses. However, the community goes even further. Even if the torrent may not have viruses, it may get reported if the content does not match the description. Once reported, such torrents are classified as "bad." These "bad" torrents will almost immediately plummet in their activity (seeders + leechers), and the torrent will soon die. So, if you are reasonably sensible, you will never end up with viruses. Point 2: A simple firewall setting can prevent the potentiality of being hacked. An outgoing connection monitor such as Little Snitch can add another layer of protection if you are particularly concerned. Point 3: While many people torrent to get content for free, there are also many that actually pay for content but also torrent because of the horrendous restrictions on legal content delivery systems. There is a meme which shows how much stuff you are forced to go through before you can watch a movie, for example. The torrent of the movie lets you bypass all that, and go straight to the movie. Not to mention, regional restrictions. I moved to another country. And all my dvds/blurays do not work on the player I bought in this country. I don't think it's reasonable for them to expect me to pay all over again for that content. If the content producers and distributors make it easy to buy the content and the freedom to watch/use that content the way we customers please, torrenting would substantially reduce. Geographical restrictions in the age of the Internet is outdated, and needs to go. It's in their hands, now. i suggest use a cheap dedicated machine only for torrents.. What about the ability to be tracked? and seriously a machine just dedicated for torrenting? As an author, I LIKE the fact that there are more karmic restrictions to downloading Torrents. So thank you, Yashraj! Don’t download anything to do with utorrents. My unfortunate experience: Just three days ago utorrents was unknown to me. I was at a mates place and he had it, explained what it was and showed me all the movies and games you could get amongst a host of other mouth watering files. No trouble, I’ve never had a virus and it perfectly legal he told this old pensioner. Went home, utorrent downloaded okay, went to ’10 best and safest torrents’. 10 mins later, I was talking to a very important person in the States. It’s totally illegal he informed BUT the next bit hurt. IT WILL COST YOU $US 1.000 for your computer to be repaired. You have picked up the RUSSIAN VIRUS and now have 2501, YES 2501, virus’s which has also attacked your own IP address. As I had said, ‘at that price I could buy a new nice laptop’ but he answered NO, as you carry your IP ADDRESS with you, so the problem will travel with you until cleaned. I now have no wife (just jocking!!) but I had to take the barrage she aimed in my direction. LOOK, DON’T TOUCH TORRENTS, NEVER, NEVER NEVER. I HOPE THIS WILL HAVE SAVED SOMEONE. Will Roblox give me a virus or harm my computer on download? Roblox is one of my favorite games despite it being free and I'm getting tired of playing the same limited games with limited control on mobile. I asked my parents if we can get it on the family gaming computer so I can have more control and play better games on Roblox but they think Roblox contains malware and is going to destroy the computer. The computer is very high end, an Alienware Aurora R10. I already know about the free robux scams and all that stuff but will any games infect the computer if there's like a malware script in the game or something? Thanks and I really need this because they think the game is harmful and I really want to play it on a computer for once. Thanks. 8 Bad Habits That Are Destroying Your PC. We all want our computers to last forever, but if yours seem to die before their time, your habits could be to blame. Here's some behavior to avoid. Nothing lasts forever—especially tech—but your computer can last you quite a few years if you treat it well. If your laptop tends to break down earlier than you feel it should, there's a chance you're helping it along with some especially bad habits. Here are some of the worst things you can do to a PC without even realizing you're doing anything wrong. Leaving Your Laptop on a Plush Surface (and Other Overheating Problems) Heat is your computer's mortal enemy. If your computer gets too hot, the processor may slow down, throttling itself to keep temperatures reasonable, or even shutting down completely. Running at high temperatures for extended periods can reduce the lifespan of your processor, fans, and battery as well—not to mention make your computer loud and sizzling to touch. For desktop computers, the solution is pretty simple: make sure your case has adequate airflow, with enough vents and fans to keep cool air moving through the components. That means keeping it out of tight cabinets and other spaces that trap heat. You probably want to clean out the dust once in a while with an electric duster (more on that below). And if you’re overclocking, take extra care to watch those voltages and temps. Laptops, on the other hand, require a bit more care. Their portability leads to a lot of bad habits, like putting it on a blanket or other plush surface. This blocks airflow under the laptop, and potentially through the laptop (if the blanket covers the fan vents). When possible, use your laptop on a flat surface (where the rubber feet usually raise it up off a desk), or at least make sure your lap is free of blankets and other things that can block airflow. Lap desks are a good way to ensure things stay cool. Other than that, the same rules apply to laptops as desktops: Don't leave it in hot places (like a car on a sunny day) and blow out the dust once in a while. Letting Dirt, Dust, and Liquids Run Wild. All computers accumulate some dust over time, heating up the components and making those fans work harder. While cleaning it regularly can help, you also want to prevent stuff from getting into your computer in the first place. For example, cigarette smoke and pet fur will exacerbate those problems, and putting your desktop PC on the floor will ensure more of that dust, hair, and debris will get sucked into the intake. And if you have carpet on your floor, you’re probably blocking the power supply’s intake fan. Keep your computer on a desk or other riser, if at all possible, and make sure there are filters on your intake fans. Secondly, don’t eat or drink near your PC, or at least take some care when you do. Getting crumbs in your keyboard is not only disgusting, but it can damage the switches or make certain keys harder to press. And I’m sure you’ve heard enough horror stories about people spilling coffee on their laptop, which can straight up destroy the machine. Even well-intentioned moves, like cleaning your screen with Windex, can introduce liquid where it shouldn’t be (also, Windex is too harsh for your monitor). Spray your gentle screen cleaner on a microfiber cloth, not on the screen, and don’t go crazy—a little goes a long way. Handling Your Laptop Carelessly. Again, while desktops have the luxury of sitting comfortably in your office, laptops are subject to all sorts of abuse. I've seen people pick up the laptop by its display, open the hinge from one side with way too much force, and toss the laptop onto the couch from the other side of the room. (Sure, a couch is rather soft, but one day, you're going to miss and hit the table or floor, and you'll be sorry.) I've even seen people use closed laptops as a coaster for their drink, which makes me grit my teeth in anxiety. Laptops are meant to be portable, and some can be pretty durable, but the more you abuse it, the more likely you are to damage something. At best, you'll just have to deal with a worn-out laptop hinge or a crack in the casing. But if your laptop has a traditional spinning hard drive instead of an SSD, tossing or shaking the computer—especially if the drive is active at the time—can even cause its head to dislocate or touch the surface of the disk. It isn't common, but if that happens, you're going to have a bad day, especially if you haven't backed up your data. Your laptop is an expensive piece of property: treat it as such. Mismanaging Your Old Battery. Just because your laptop's battery starts with "eight hours of battery life" doesn't mean it'll stay that way forever. Batteries degrade over time—you may get eight hours on a full charge when you first buy it, but after a few years, that may degrade to six or seven hours. There's no escaping this decline, but you may be degrading it faster than necessary if you always run your laptop down to 0 percent. To prolong your battery's long-term health, it's best to perform shallow discharges, and recharge it frequently. Don't over-stress about this, of course—if you're on a plane and need to work, an occasional discharge won't kill your battery—but over time, it's best to err on the side of charging regularly than running it down to empty. You should, however, stress out if your battery is swollen. If your battery is bulging so much that it’s pushing against the case of your laptop, creating a gap between the panels, you need to stop using your computer now and (safely) replace the battery, lest you encounter an explosive failure. When you replace the battery, don’t buy a cheap knockoff from eBay—buy it from the manufacturer or a respected third-party store. Low-quality batteries will, at best, not hold a charge very well, and at worst, can be dangerous. The same goes for third-party chargers—just stick to the manufacturer’s official offering or, in the case of laptops that charge over USB-C, a certified USB-PD charger. Disregarding Electrical Safety. Your PC draws a sizable amount of power, and it's susceptible to damage from power surges—small, temporary increases in voltage coming through the power line. These can happen after power outages, after turning on another high-power device in your home, or an unreliable power grid in your city. The power supply inside your PC includes some basic surge protection, but you'll get longer-lasting protection from a dedicated surge protector. Note that this is different from a power strip, which provides multiple outlets without the protection from surges. Be sure to replace it every three to five years, since that protection wears out over time—if yours is old, there's a good chance it's offering zero protection. Keep in mind that surge protectors won't protect against high-voltage spikes (like lightning), but it can protect you from smaller surges and extend the life of your PC. If you have a few more dollars to spend, you might even want to get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). This device contains a battery backup that prevents your PC from losing data during a sudden power outage. Lastly, laptops require a bit more care due to their portability. While a desktop's power cable can sit stationary for years at a time, your laptop cable goes with you everywhere, subject to kinking, hard yanks out of the wall, and other mishandling. This can not only make the cable unreliable, it can pose a fire hazard, so always pull the charger out of the wall from the plug, not the cable—and don't wrap it too tightly. Stressing the Cables and Ports. While damaging a USB port or cable isn’t as dangerous as mishandling the power adapter, it can still cause avoidable damage to your computer. This may seem obvious, but don’t force cables into ports if they aren’t sliding in properly (I once knew someone who forced a USB cable into a FireWire port and broke both). Similarly, if you leave something plugged in, take care not to bend it—if you have a flash drive in your laptop’s USB port, using your laptop cross- legged may bend the flash drive, damaging either the drive, the port, or both. And with USB ports at such a premium on today’s laptops, you definitely don’t want to ruin one of them. The same goes for your cables. If you constantly make sharp bends back and forth, you’re more likely to break the connection inside, which can render the cable finicky or useless. Keep them away from hungry children and pets who might chew through the plastic, and when you coil them up, avoid wrapping them too tightly. Thankfully, a damaged cable is cheap to replace compared to your PC, but why waste money when you don’t have to? Wasting Time on Unnecessary Maintenance. Back in the days of Windows XP, when hardware was limited and computers were slow, PC maintenance may have made a difference. But these days, deleting unused and temporary files is unlikely to give you a noticeable speed boost. Many "PC Cleaning" utilities are scams meant to scare you into buying their product—and the free, less scammy ones are still unnecessary most of the time. Furthermore, certain types of "maintenance" may actually be harmful. Registry cleaners provide almost no benefit, but if they delete a registry entry you actually need, they can actually cause problems. Similarly, these new "privacy" apps that claim to stop Windows 10 from "spying" on you can break certain features without you knowing why. The internet is full of people confused about why something stopped working, only to find that it's the fault of one of these tools. You're better off going through Windows 10's settings, learning what they do, and tweaking them yourself. If you want to clean up your hard drive, use Windows' built-in Disk Cleanup utility and delete any movies, music, and other files you aren't using. And if your computer is running unbearably slow, try removing startup programs or resetting your PC—if that doesn't work, it's probably time to upgrade your hardware. Browsing the Web Unprotected. Contrary to popular belief, "common sense," while very valuable, should not be your only malware protection. Even legitimate sites can become infected with malware, passing those problems on to you, and browsing carefully won't save you. You need to use antivirus on your computer. Thankfully, Microsoft's built-in Windows Defender feature has gotten quite good, after a few years of sub-par ratings. Just leave it on and let it do its job. If you want extra protection, though, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a bit more aggressive with its protection, and I've found that it catches a lot of stuff that Chrome and Windows Defender miss. The free version is good if you just want to run an occasional scan, but the paid version includes always-running anti-exploit features that block potentially harmful sites before they make it to your screen. When used in conjunction with a traditional antivirus like Windows Defender, you'll be pretty well set on protection. On top of that, other basic security practices still apply: keep your software up to date (both Windows and the programs you use), use a good password manager (instead of using the same password on every site), and learn how to spot phishing scams. Don’t pirate software (which often contains malware) and keep your home Wi-Fi secure with a WPA2 password. It may seem trivial, but a bad piece of malware or ransomware can cause you a world of hurt, so check out our guide to staying secure online for more tips. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. Is a torrent downloading app likely to come on Windows RT? Or does the OS in some way prevent torrent clients? There are legitimate uses for torrents - so there may be a torrent client in the app store at some point. However, look at the iPad: got any torrent apps there? None that download directly - but a couple (at least) that allow remote control of a desktop torrent application. Which - given the capacity of the system in question really - makes some sense. Report abuse. Was this reply helpful? Sorry this didn't help. Great! Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback. Report abuse. Was this reply helpful? Sorry this didn't help. Great! Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback. Referring to your last statement only: iPad: no torrent apps. OS X: plenty of torrent apps. It's a matter of easy control. Report abuse. Was this reply helpful? Sorry this didn't help. Great! Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback. Report abuse. Was this reply helpful? Sorry this didn't help. Great! Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback. Unsure why the jump to Android when I specifically only mentioned iPad (because the manufacturers of the devices/OSes are involved in both the full desktop and tablet arenas - not just one or the other.) ;-) Report abuse. Was this reply helpful? Sorry this didn't help. Great! Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback. Report abuse. Was this reply helpful? Sorry this didn't help. Great! Thanks for your feedback. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback. I know it's about 2 month from your answer, but will like to ask.. *My* Product? (quoting you, "that only shows how unsure are you with your product .") I still use Windows RT, Windows 8 Standard and Windows 8 Pro. I still use several Apple iPads. I still use various Android devices. Like practically everyone else that frequent these forums, I am just someone who * uses * the products. The only way any of the products being asked about or answered about (in most cases) are "mine" are ownership of one and daily use of one. I do not "own" them in any other manner. If you felt I was representing Microsoft in *any* way, then I have to wonder how you missed the fact that most responders here are volunteers - peers, people just like those asking the questions, no more interest in Microsoft than most people you know in your daily life (unless *you* happen to work at Microsoft?) - and the products being spoken about are theirs. I would think you, Ariel Chechelnitzky, having been a member of these forums since February 13, 2008 (although not necessarily "active") would have picked up on that by now? Why would I compare Windows RT to iPad? I am a consumer. Windows RT is a *mobile device* OS. That means the comparison is not only valid - it is what was obviously intended. I also compare it to the Android OSes with the same reasoning and understanding of what Windows RT is.