After uTorrent and BitTorrent, qBittorrent was the most popular. qBittorrent is better than other torrent clients in various ways.
It has a built-in search engine, allows you to manage torrent files effectively, download/upload speed control, theme support, and what’s not.
While all these features are great, what if you can’t download qBitorrent because of ‘Virus Detected’ warning?
qBittorrent: Virus Detected!
You may get the ‘Virus Detected’ warning message while downloading or installing. Although the web browser may successfully download the qBittorrent installer, your antivirus program might flag it as a virus during the installation.
Many users on the Reddit forum have asked about this problem. For example, one Reddit user posted this:
The user clearly states that all web browser rejects the qBittorrent download by saying ‘Virus Detected’. On Chrome, you may get a different error that reads ‘Unverified downloads’.
Another Reddit user questioned, ‘Qbittorrent disappeared, and I cannot download it again due to Virus Detected’ error.
So, what exactly is this mess, whether qBittorrent is really malicious files or ‘Virus Detected’ is just a false positive warning? Let’s explore it in detail.
What exactly is qBittorrent?
qBittorrent is a full-fledged torrent client for PC that downloads torrent files from different websites.
It compares well with other torrent clients, such as uTorrent and BitTorrent, but what makes it unique is its simplicity.
qBittorrent shows no ads, has a built-in search engine, dark theme support, and more. It also offers all sorts of torrent management features, excluding the full-fledged torrent scheduler.
Is qBittorrent a Virus?
The qBittorrent client isn’t a virus, but it’s possible that your Antivirus program may block it from downloading or installing for some definite reason.
We will discuss the reason in the next section, but if you want a straightforward answer, qBittorrent is 100% safe to download & use without worrying about security or privacy issues.
Why Antivirus is Detecting qBittorrent as Virus?
qBittorrent or any similar torrent client are Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications. The goal of P2P apps is to connect to different servers to fetch and download files.
The problem is that qBittorrent may connect to a torrent website’s server address that may host malicious content; hence, modern Antivirus programs block the installation completely.
The servers/IP address are often shared by multiple websites, means the files you’re downloading through qBittorrent may be perfectly safe, but some other sites hosted on the same server may have malicious continent.
So, when qBittorrent tries to connect to those websites, your Antivirus flags the app as malicious because it tries to connect to a server that hosts malicious content.
This is the major reason modern Antivirus programs and even web browsers block qBittorrent from downloading and flag it as a threat.
How to Get Rid of qBittorrent: Virus Detected Warning?
If you’re unable to download the qBittorrent client itself, you will have to disable your Antivirus and turn off the Windows Firewall.
Suppose you’re using Malwarebytes. You need to disable the real-time Antivirus protection feature or add the web browser you’re using to download qBittorrent to the exception list.
Also, if you’re using any other security program, you must disable or uninstall it.
If qBittorrent disappeared and you can’t download it again due to ‘Virus detected’, follow these steps:
- Launch the Microsoft Security app.
- Next, switch to the Protection History tab.
- On the Protection history, select ‘This app has been blocked’.
- Click the down arrow and select the Actions drop-down.
- On the Actions drop-down menu, select Allow.
This will allow qBittorrent to run on your system. You can now re-install the torrent client.
What if the web browser blocks the qBittorrent download?
If you use Google Chrome, you can start the file downloading despite blocking it. Otherwise, you need to disable the Chrome browser’s safe browsing mode to allow downloading qBittorrent. Here’s what you need to do.
1. Click the three dots at the top right corner.
2. On the menu that appears, select Settings.
3. On the Settings, switch to Privacy and security.
4. Next, scroll down and click Security.
5. On the Safe Browsing, select No Protection.
You can now download the qBittorrent client without any problems. However, once the download completes, make sure to turn on Standard Protection on Chrome.
This guide explains qBittorrent, whether it’s a virus or your Antivirus shows a false positive warning. If you need more help with this topic, let us know in the comments.
