Incompatibilities

What programs have been known to cause problems with µTorrent?

I have an incompatible software installed, and am getting disconnected from the Internet

• If you are using ESET NOD32 Antivirus, see this bit of information.
• If you are using Kerio Personal Firewall or Sunbelt Personal Firewall, then the problem may be another manifestation of the high CPU usage problem.
• If you are using NetPeeker, make sure you upgrade to a newer version, as a bug was fixed in NetPeeker v2.72 that would cause an accumulation of connections stuck in FIN_WAIT_2 state, eventually stopping all Internet connection.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent becomes unresponsive

If you are using any software known to cause unresponsiveness, then try updating it to the latest version. If that doesn't help, then currently, the only option is for you to uninstall that application (and maybe use a compatible alternative) if you wish to use µTorrent. You may also want to try searching the forums for any workarounds that may not have yet been added here.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent crashes or freezes

• If you are using ESET NOD32 Antivirus v2.7.x, you should either disable NOD32's IMON component, or add µTorrent to the exclusions list in the IMON setup's "Miscellaneous" tab. If you are using ESET NOD32 Antivirus v3.x, you can add µTorrent to the HTTP web browsers exclusions list in the "Web Access Protect" section of the antivirus and antispyware setup.
• If you are using Norman Antivirus, you should disable the Internet Protection component.
• If you are using NVIDIA Firewall, and you experience crashing on a multi-core CPU, then you should try upgrading your NVIDIA nForce drivers to a version that includes v73.12 or newer of the Network Management Tools. If that is impossible, then you must either uninstall NVIDIA Firewall (ForceWare Network Access Manager in the Windows Add or Remove Programs applet), or you must set µTorrent's processor affinity to a single core from the Task Manager's processes list context menu (make sure only one core is checked).
• If you are using any other software known to cause crashes, then try updating it to the latest version. If that doesn't help, then currently, the only option is for you to uninstall that application (and maybe use a compatible alternative) if you wish to use µTorrent. You may also want to try searching the forums for any workarounds that may not have yet been added here.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent has missing text in various places in the interface

Norton AntiVirus and McAfee VirusScan each have a buffer overrun protection feature that causes this to happen. To fix the problem, disable the feature in the application.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent has trouble accessing files

• If you are using PC Tools ThreatFire, then the problem may occur because of the software's proactively defensive nature against zero-day threats based on application behavior. To prevent any problems, add µTorrent to ThreatFire's trusted applications list:
  1. Open the ThreatFire GUI
  2. Select "Advanced Tools" on the sidebar
  3. Click "Custom Rule Settings..." in the "Advanced Rule Settings" tab
  4. Add a new item to the "Trusted Process" list in the "Process Lists" tab
  5. Select µTorrent from the list, or manually find it in the lower section of the dialog
  6. Make sure the newly-added µTorrent process in the list is checked
  7. Press "OK" in the dialog
• If you are using any desktop search or indexing software (whether or not it is known to cause file access issues), then you should either configure the application's indexing service to exclude any directory µTorrent is using from being indexed. Such directories include any directory µTorrent is downloading to or uploading from, and µTorrent's settings directory. If excluding the directories doesn't help, then currently, the only option is for you to uninstall that application (and maybe use a compatible alternative) if you wish to use µTorrent. You may also want to try searching the forums for any workarounds that may not have yet been added here.
• Although indexing services are the most common source of file access issues in µTorrent, other real-time scanning softwares (like anti-malware packages) have also been known to sometimes cause access problems for users.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent has trouble connecting to trackers

• If you are using ESET NOD32 Antivirus, see this bit of information. Tracker connectivity issues may manifest themselves in the form of a HTTP 400 error.
• If you are using BitDefender Firewall, then the only solution is for you to uninstall the software and find an alternative security software.
• If you are using Norton GoBack, try updating the software, as the issue is supposed to have been fixed in Norton GoBack v4.1. If it doesn't help, try exiting the system tray icon for Norton GoBack before you run µTorrent, as it has been known to cause problems in older versions of Norton GoBack.
• If you have are using any other software firewall, try uninstalling (not disabling) it. If the problem is fixed, please inform us on the forums about your discovery.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent uses a lot of CPU

• If you are using avast!, then the problem may manifest itself because of the software's P2P shield, which scans all P2P activity. To disable the feature, perform the following:
  1. Open the "On-Access Scanner" for avast!
  2. Press the "Details" button for more options
  3. Select the P2P shield on the window to the left of the "On-Access Scanner" window
  4. Press the "Terminate" button
  5. Confirm the changes
  Alternatively, avast! has a "Customize" option besides the sensitivity slider through which programs can be excluded from the P2P shield. Using this to exclude µTorrent's executable may solve the problem.
• If you are using Kerio Personal Firewall or Sunbelt Personal Firewall, then the problem may manifest itself because the firewall is constantly resolving IP addresses. Since BitTorrent clients tend to use a large amount of connections, the firewall has to spend a lot of resources trying to resolve that many IPs. To disable the IP resolving, perform the following:
  1. Stop all torrent jobs in µTorrent
  2. Open up the firewall GUI
  3. Select the "Overview" tab
  4. Look in the "Connections" section
  5. Right-click in the window where all of the programs currently using a network connection are listed and uncheck the "Resolve Address" option
• If you are using SpamPal, then try switching to SpamPal v1.594, which is the last version reported to have been working fine with µTorrent. Otherwise, the only option left is to uninstall SpamPal, as it is known to cause the same issue with other applications (it isn't limited to µTorrent only).
• If you are using Spyware Doctor, then try switching to Spyware Doctor 4, which is the last version reported to have been working fine with µTorrent. Otherwise, the only option left is to uninstall Spyware Doctor.
• If you are using any other incompatible software, then currently, the only option is for you to uninstall that application (and maybe use a compatible alternative) if you wish to use µTorrent. You may also want to try searching the forums for any workarounds that may not have yet been added here.

I have an incompatible software installed, and µTorrent uses a lot of memory

• If you are using NVIDIA Firewall, then you should try upgrading your NVIDIA nForce drivers to a version that includes v73.12 or newer of the Network Management Tools. If upgrading the firewall doesn't help, then you must uninstall NVIDIA Firewall (ForceWare Network Access Manager in the Windows Add or Remove Programs applet) if you wish to use µTorrent.