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Last active October 19, 2016 03:02
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uTorrent installs Spigot adware silently
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README.md

TL;DR

Recently, uTorrent started to install Spigot adware silently (how to remove it).

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I installed uTorrent 1.8.7 yesterday with Homebrew Cask. I was surprised at the end of the download that Brew asks me to run something manually:

To complete the installation of Cask utorrent, you must also
run the installer at

  '/usr/local/Caskroom/utorrent/latest/uTorrent.app'

I was even more surprised that during this install, the installer closed Google Chrome to change my home page for Yahoo and install 2 or 3 extensions like a "Ebay Shopping Assistant".

I've used uTorrent for years and I never had this sort of problems.

After some Googling, it appears that this is the work of a well-known adware called Spigot.

uTorrent started to install it silently few months ago (August 2016?).

Kind of funny: I found this official blog post where uTorrent claimed in March 2015:

we want to reiterate: there is no silent install happening.

I guess ethics can change over time.

Any suggestions to replace uTorrent?

Remove Spigot

A guide to remove Spigot from your Mac.

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