I've been recommended transmission by a friend, but when I've looked into it it seems to be a torrent app. I've always been worried about using torrent sites/software on the PC due to viruses/worms/trojans etc. Would you be prone to these on the Mac if you use transmission?
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Transmission, is it safe?
- Thread starter snerkler
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Transmission itself is perfectly safe, it's a well known, trusted, and widely used Mac app.
It is possible that you'll download something nasty from a torrent, bud I would say that on a mac, it's not a big worry. I've certainly never downloaded anything untoward.
As long as you stick to reputable torrents and reputable trackers, I'd say you'll be fine.
It is possible that you'll download something nasty from a torrent, bud I would say that on a mac, it's not a big worry. I've certainly never downloaded anything untoward.
As long as you stick to reputable torrents and reputable trackers, I'd say you'll be fine.
It doesn't matter what torrent application you use to download torrents, the actual torrent could be harbouring malware, thus you can download it with any torrent application anyway.
As malware is only hiding in some pirated application torrents, due to the nature of having to be installed, it is safe to download torrents.
Currently there are zero viruses affecting Mac OS X in public circulation, but there are other kinds of malware existing, that can infect your Mac.
But as long as you don't install software from unknown and untrusted sources, you are safe, as malware needs administrative permissions to run successfully, which means, you need to install the malware yourself, it can't install itself (one of the reasons, why a Mac OS X virus hasn't appeared yet).
To learn more about malware in Mac OS X and what steps can be taken to protect yourself, read the following F.A.Q.:
As malware is only hiding in some pirated application torrents, due to the nature of having to be installed, it is safe to download torrents.
Currently there are zero viruses affecting Mac OS X in public circulation, but there are other kinds of malware existing, that can infect your Mac.
But as long as you don't install software from unknown and untrusted sources, you are safe, as malware needs administrative permissions to run successfully, which means, you need to install the malware yourself, it can't install itself (one of the reasons, why a Mac OS X virus hasn't appeared yet).
To learn more about malware in Mac OS X and what steps can be taken to protect yourself, read the following F.A.Q.:
Mac Virus/Malware Info by GGJstudios
The above F.A.Q. includes the following topics:
The above F.A.Q. includes the following topics:
- Malware terminology - What is the difference between viruses, worms, and Trojans?
- Antivirus apps
- What security steps should I take?
- What about sending files to Windows users?
- Why am I being redirected to other sites?
- Recent threats in the news
It's not really a discussion we should get into here, but there's buckets of information out there about torrenting and the dos and dont's.
A general rule is that private trackers are safer than public trackers, and I'd go do my own research into that.
It's not really a discussion we should get into here, but there's buckets of information out there about torrenting and the dos and dont's.
A general rule is that private trackers are safer than public trackers, and I'd go do my own research into that.
OK. I take it it's not exactly above board then. Think I might stay away, better safe than sorry and all that
If you decide to use Transmission, you can block some dodgy machines from being sources or recipients of your torrent data.
To do this, go to Transmission-->Preferences-->Peers
Under the Blocklist section, tick the "Prevent peers in blacklist from connecting" & "Automatically update weekly" checkboxes, then press the Update button to grab a fresh list.
To do this, go to Transmission-->Preferences-->Peers
Under the Blocklist section, tick the "Prevent peers in blacklist from connecting" & "Automatically update weekly" checkboxes, then press the Update button to grab a fresh list.
Torrents are not inherently dodgy or illicit. Many legitimate uses exist and are used every day (a lot of open-source software that is large uses torrents for distribution). However, like any other P2P software, the fact that torrents are decentralized distribution has made them a popular choice for illegal downloads of various types. Thus, while torrents (and Transmission) are not inherently bad, you must be careful which torrents you are downloading, which primarily means getting them from reliable sources. Finding something off a Google search isn't going to give you much in the way of confidence in most cases. Just exercise good common sense and caution whenever you're looking into something like this.
jW
jW
