New version of

By +Frank B.
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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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New version of uTorrent getting advertisements in the form of 'featured' torrents

uTorrent has long been ad-supported software ? how else would BitTorrent, Inc. pay its bills ? but until now that has been in the form of a sponsored toolbar offered during the installation process. The latest version of the free BitTorrent client is going to get advertisements that are a bit more abrasive, however: an upcoming version of the application will include a banner ad just below the main navigation toolbar. The news was revealed in an official forum post, which states that the advertisement space will be used to highlight "featured torrents" for films, games, music, software, and more.

Of course, all of the material advertised will be legal torrents that have been authorized (and paid for) by content creators. The space will also be used to highlight new offerings from BitTorrent, like updated features, new software, and other news.

An anonymous source "close to the company" informed TorrentFreak that BitTorrent, Inc. had $15 to $20 million in revenue last year ? some part of which is undoubtedly accounted for by its $24.95 uTorrent Plus software. Owners of the premium version of the client will not be subjected to the new ads. The new revenue stream will likely win the company few fans, and it admits that "we may not get it right on the first try but we will continue to improve our efforts based on your feedback."

Source: The Verge

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https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1097877-new-version-of/
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jasondefaoite

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Posted
This update includes improvements and changes that we think you are going to like
Comedy gold.

utorrent is going downhill... I understand they need revenue for development... I wouldn't mind donating

Don't think it is needed.

From TorrentFreak...

However, a person close to the company told TorrentFreak that even without the uTorrent ads the company is doing very well. Current annual revenue is estimated at somewhere between $15 and $20 million and the company is backed by millions in venture capital.

With ?sponsored torrents? BitTorrent Inc could possibly bring in millions of added revenue and grow even further.

Grand Master

Vice

Posted
Posted

I'm on 2.0 (stable) what is this DLL exploit you speak of? :p

You're running a very very old version of uTorrent. Almost 3 years old. You can imagine that a lot of bugs have been discovered in the old version that are now fixed. Things like malformed .torrent files being able to take over your computer by having uTorrent execute arbitrary code etc

It's always risky running outdated software especially things that interface directly with the internet and continually receive files from unknown sources. I can understand your reluctance to upgrade due to the interface changes to uTorrent 3.0 and what a lot of users consider unnecessary features but really for security people should be keeping up to date or switch to a different client.

  • Steven P. and Glassed Silver
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xdot.tk

Posted
Posted

Still on version 2.0.4, the last version before the GUI went down hill, its also patched against the DLL exploit.

Me too.

Not that anyone is going to sneak a .dll file into my μTorrent directory so even without the patch... ;)

μTorrent 2.0.4: http://www.filehippo.com/download_utorrent/8660/

Grand Master

Osiris

Posted
Posted

Does 2.04 have the patch included? Im a pretty old version myself (with downloading apps once they are working I usually don't touch em).

I dislike change, I dont want to spend ages researching a good replacement. Hopefully the patched 2.x version ad free will keep me p2ping for a long while yet,

Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Does 2.04 have the patch included? Im a pretty old version myself (with downloading apps once they are working I usually don't touch em)

Yup:

There is a DLL vulnerability in all versions of Windows affecting a great deal of software applications. Subsequently attack code targeting the uTorrent client surfaced on a third-party website, and while so far no attacks have been reported to us, we have released uTorrent 2.0.4 to fix this vulnerability,? uTorrent Community Manager ?Firon? explained.

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