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Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

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Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#2

Post by MikeUt »

It's the official Microsoft stance that torrent software is considered PUA (potentially unwanted application) on Enterprise. Perhaps they're expanding that to consumer versions? They define PUA very vaguely, with rather disturbing language. Phrases like "safeguard productivity" and "help deliver delightful Windows experiences" are not what I would expect in security software documentation:

Our PUA protection aims to safeguard user productivity and ensure enjoyable Windows experiences. This protection helps deliver more productive, performant, and delightful Windows experiences.

Microsoft uses specific categories and the category definitions to classify software as a PUA.

Torrent software (Enterprise only)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-pro...

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#3

Post by AbrahamParangi »

MikeUt wrote: post #2

It's the official Microsoft stance that torrent software is considered PUA (potentially unwanted application) on Enterprise. Perhaps they're expanding that to consumer versions? They define PUA very vaguely, with rather disturbing language. Phrases like "safeguard productivity" and "help deliver delightful Windows experiences" are not what I would expect in security software documentation: Our PUA protection aims to…

It does seem that torrent software is very likely unwanted by the customer on enterprise, where the customer is the business.

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#4

Post by spijdar »

MikeUt wrote: post #2

It's the official Microsoft stance that torrent software is considered PUA (potentially unwanted application) on Enterprise. Perhaps they're expanding that to consumer versions? They define PUA very vaguely, with rather disturbing language. Phrases like "safeguard productivity" and "help deliver delightful Windows experiences" are not what I would expect in security software documentation: Our PUA protection aims to…

Interestingly, that document states that "PUAs are not considered malware."

PUA detection and removal also seems to be a separate toggle from general malware protection, so running

  Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection Disabled
From an admin powershell session should prevent this behavior. It sounds like a bug/unintentional if it's being flagged on non-enterprise SKUs of Windows, though.

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#5

Post by marcodiego »

I wonder if the MAFIAA can pressure software vendors to ban classes of software. I think agreements like: "We'll only make it legal to run our streaming service on your OS if you can prevent these specific set of software from running". I think this already happens with TV's but anyone knows if there is already pressure in this direction in the software world?

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#6

Post by deepstack »

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #3
MikeUt wrote: post #2

It's the official Microsoft stance that torrent software is considered PUA (potentially unwanted application) on Enterprise. Perhaps they're expanding that to consumer versions? They define PUA very vaguely, with rather disturbing language. Phrases like "safeguard productivity" and "help deliver delightful Windows experiences" are not what I would expect in security software documentation: Our PUA protection aims to…

It does seem that torrent software is very likely unwanted by the customer on enterprise, where the customer is the business.

Hmm, many Linux distro are distributed via Torrent. As well as many video platform also use webtorrent. It is a just protocol like http. And when one is downloading a really large file, torrent can arguably be much better than direct download.

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#7

Post by underscore_ku »

MikeUt wrote: post #2

It's the official Microsoft stance that torrent software is considered PUA (potentially unwanted application) on Enterprise. Perhaps they're expanding that to consumer versions? They define PUA very vaguely, with rather disturbing language. Phrases like "safeguard productivity" and "help deliver delightful Windows experiences" are not what I would expect in security software documentation: Our PUA protection aims to…

F Microsoft! use linux

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#9

Post by gruez »

deepstack wrote: post #6
AbrahamParangi wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does seem that torrent software is very likely unwanted by the customer on enterprise, where the customer is the business.

Hmm, many Linux distro are distributed via Torrent. As well as many video platform also use webtorrent. It is a just protocol like http. And when one is downloading a really large file, torrent can arguably be much better than direct download.

That might be true, but let's be real here: torrents are overwhelmingly used to pirate software/videos/music. The categorization is "potentially unwanted", not " definitely unwanted", so I think the classification is justified. Also, despite "linux iso torrents" being a meme in many circles I have rarely actually used that to download isos. The default option of http is almost always fast enough and the increased hassle of booting up my torrent client isn't worth it.

Re: Windows Defender blocks qBittorrent

#10

Post by Subsentient »

Well you'd really have to be crazy to try and torrent stuff on a Windows machine nowadays anyways. That's just getting on your knees and begging for malware. Maybe this will help some of the more savvy users realize that Windows should be relegated to a virtual machine for when you need a specific Windows app that doesn't run under Wine, and never given access to real hardware. I only use my Win10 VM for compiling stuff with MSVC that refuses to build with MinGW.
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