NO, this is not the torrenting client you're looking for.
In 2010, Vuze was purchased by Spigot, became proprietary, was parallel named µTorrent, is now considered ADWARE and should be avoided. <--
I personally use the latest version of Transmission along with an up-to-date blocking list. If you like bells and whistles, aka Geek Meter in the RED, you want BiglyBT. Again, a blocking list is suggested. Both of these apps are Open Source.
HISTORY TIME for NEWBIES:
"BitTorrent" (BT) is the name of a file sharing protocol. It is also the name of the original, very first BT client, created by Bram Cohen in 2001. The BitTorrent company was formed in 2004. Versions 1 - 4 of their software were Open Source via various licenses. Azureus and its descendents are based on this code. As of version 5 in 2006, BitTorrent came under the scrutiny of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) due to copyright infringement by BitTorrent users. As a result, BitTorrent was forced to 'play nice' with the media industry or face lawsuits. As of version 6, BitTorrent became proprietary software. The cryptocurrency TRON Foundation bought the BitTorrent company in 2018, at which point creator Bram Cohen left the company. BitTorrent is currently considered ADWARE and should be avoided. <-
Meanwhile, in 2004 the Open Source Azureus project was started and continued on via Vuze. In 2010, Vuze was purchased by Spigot, became proprietary, was parallel named µTorrent, is now considered ADWARE and should be avoided. <-
In 2005 the Transmission Open Source project was started and continues on as such today. It is considered the most simple to setup and use reliably.
The BiglyBT Open Source project began in 2017 in response to the Vuze situation. It is considered the descendent and revival of the Azureus/Vuze project. As such, it provides considerably more options than Transmission.
The BitTorrent protocol has a steep initial learning curve, but is well worth the effort. Keep in mind that BT sharing remains under scrutiny by the media industry. Also note that BitTorrented WAREZ software is now infamous for being infected with malware. As such, never use WAREZ, or at least first scan such software with a high quality and up-to-date anti-malware app before using it. Please take this warning seriously.
Thus ends today's lesson. Head over to Wikipedia for excellent introductions to all these topics and applications, with the exception of BiglyBT, which apparently hasn't yet hit Wikipedia's radar. You can read about BIglyBT here at MU as well as at the URL provided below by Barry5p. Be extra careful out there! And again, an up-to-date blocking list is recommended. Please DIY finding and using a suitable blocking list for your chosen BT protocol application.
Vuze 5.7.5 stopped launching. I installed 5.7.6 on top of it. It installed a really ugly "Search the Web..." toolbar at the top of my desktop, and I can't get rid of it! I deleted all Vuze files on my Mac, but this ugly toolbar is still there. Please help! I'm thinking of doing a fresh install of Mac OS and just rewriting everything. Searching in the toolbar takes me to a weird search engine, and I worry that everything is just being tracked and recorded.
Bad. The app iDoctor is installed with Vuze 5.7.5 and Intego VirusBarrier quarantaine it with differents virus. It claims to be a anti-virus, and it can be correct that detects it to VirusBarrier by error like in other cases.But I do not understand because one settles without being able to reject it with Vuze. Both applications do not offer confidence when thus acting.
The installer for Vuze 5.4 needs Lion, as does Java 7, so the related links part is wrong. I think 5.3 is what you need for Snow Leopard. 5.6 is for Lion. I think 5.3 is for Snow Leopard.
Why is MacUpdate so out of touch with updates ???
I have been using Vuze version 5.7.3.0 for at least a couple of weeks or more.
What really bothers me about MacUpdate is that I have a PAID account and really can not rely on MacUpdate keeping my applications up to date.
I've used Transmission for years on my old PPC iMac G5 and it was great until I discovered the iMac had an issue with power management on OS 10.5.8, so I came back to 10.4 where it works perfectly (with software such as Awaken or ACP).
Unfortunately, only version 1.54 of Transmission runs on Tiger, and it soon appeared that many torrent files were not recognized correctly (or at all)... :-(
After trying some of the others (Frostwire 4.18.6 recognized more torrent files but not all), I finally found that Vuze seems by far the more efficient on PPC 10.4.
You can't directly install the latest version, but you have to find a 4.4.0.0 version, then it will auto-update to the latest. :-) Great!
To the usual "why do you still use an old Mac?" rant, I'll answer "because I have one, and it's still good enough for downloading while I use my latest machine for better purposes". ;-)
Vuze used to be a great torrent program, but now I would recommend you steer well clear of it and use Transmission.
Vuze now tries to install malware/adware when you first download it or later when you go to upgrade it to the latest version.
It is also riddled with ads in the attempt to get you to purchase Vuze Plus.
It uses Java which is not great for Macs and you get bugged continually to upgrade Java.
Its also quite a CPU hog and slows my iMac down.
Also be aware that Vuze as it comes straight out of the box will not find you any torrents - you need to search online for Vuze search templates and install these manually.
Nasty piece of crapware!!
Requires Java, a problem in itself. Installer is packed with obnoxious, performance-draining, privacy-stripping adware. Most users will not identify and decline each of the several offers the installer deliberately tries to obscure. I can't recommend anyone install it other than the most technical users requiring features irrelevant to 99% of torrent users
So, I blindly installed the file I downloaded through here (it redirects to Sourceforge and downloads a small installer app). Well, soon after a window popped up on my desktop notifying me of the presence of an app called PremierOpinion. I deleted the PremierOpinion folder in Applications. Is that the end of it, or am I screwed? I'm scared!
The installer tries to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
After installation Little Snitch asked for permissions
for programs I never heard of.
This is one convoluted piece of SW!!!
Your better off not messing with this.
Thanks ... Ken
Any software that tricks you into installing Spigot Malware should be banned. (No, I'm not stupid and I can read, but the design routine of the installer makes it super easy to overlook what the installer is actually doing.) Considering the many flaws of this software, I think it's clear what's going on when you see these generically bubbly 5-star reviews.
I used Vuze for years and loved it. About a year or two ago, the developer RUINED IT. Most unforgivably, it installs Spigot malware. (Yes, you can elect not to, but I suspect 4 out of 5 people are tricked into installing it because of the design of the installation routine and that is intentional. The time and effort it took me to research how to uninstall all the components of Spigot made me furious!) Second, Vuze constantly plagues us to install extra JAVA components and, even when I did install the unwanted JAVA several times, it continues to ask for it, so that's just one of many bugs and flaws in Vuze that others have documented here. For me, Transmission is the best: elegant, quick and simple to use.
I've used Vuze occasionally for a year or two, so when it asked for an update I didn't have any reason to fear. However upon installation of the update my mac popped up a window asking to access my Safari keychain. I pressed 'Deny' and my Safari re-started (dropping my downloads and losing my pages) and Chrome quit and restarted with a Spigot Malware infestation pointing me toward Yahoo search.
This is totally unacceptable, as well as causing both browsers to quite and restart losing valuable time and context, I had to research about how to remove the dreadful Spigot changes to both browsers. I had to strip and clean Chrome files and run AdwareMedic to identify the affected config files so I could remove them.
Oh and I'm a professional software consultant - not a novice.
While they have been adding features (I never needed) previous version remained tolerable.
5.4 does not let me install a customized version declining all the crapware and malware. Install process tells me: cannot create this file and this file etc.
Tried 5.4 install several times.
So, I can only assume that if the crapware install is not accepted no 5.4.
Will try an alternate.
WARNING! THIS SO BADLY CODED THAT I URGE EVERYONE TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO!!!!
And to MacUpdate: This is just as bad as the buggy software from the company behind MacKeeper and you put up a note recommending avoiding software from that company.
Got the new 5.4.0..0 Release a few hours ago and this version is worse than the beta versions before it. It quits and crashes every 5-10 minutes and is totally useless! In my 30 years as a professional troubleshooter of badly written software, I honestly can' remember anything as bad as Vuze. After the current sending of big files to another branch, any traces of it will be deleted. As a Mac/iOS developer, I was asked to write a note with the crash report:
"You asked for easy steps to reproduce the crash: Just open the Vuze App and wait for it. It will crash sooner or later.. This is todays fresh release of Vuze 5.4.0.0, it is buggier than the beta version and it refuses to open unless Java 6 is downloaded from an Apple web page. This was a great application for exchanging very big files across branches located somewhere else. It is 2014, the 7 something was released ages ago. To avoid the use of Java, you should delete any links to Java of any version. The bugs are driving me mad. The Vuze App is a perfect App for crashes all the way back to version 4."
MacUpdate should introduce minus scores. My score: Minus 10 stars. It proves that nothing is better than using this rotten software!
I am done and will never look back unless they completely rewrite it an leave the Java bugs far away from it!
I have been a Vuze user almost from day one, but I am considering changing to another client. After the introduction of version 5, it has been crash after crash, malware and even, I know it's a strong word, crapware.
There has not been a day the last year without Vuze freezing or crashing and it's not that I have no idea how to troubleshoot buggy software after working as a professional helping clients get a stable Mac by figuring out what software is failing.
I know that Vuze is one of the fastest Torrent client out there, but after spending days and weeks trying to make it work for more than 24 hours without crashing, I will happily jump ship to a simpler client that might be slower, but considering all the troubles and waste of time caused by Vuze, it has to be very slow compared to Vuze to have a real impact based on all the down time using Vuze. If it where possible to give a minus rating i would choose -5. Sore Vuze fans, I am fead up with Vuze, so only recommendations from non Vuze diehards on using another client, please. And as mentioned below, it's full of "traps' offering free content with non existing warnings about other bad software and fooling people to sign up for services from other companies, so stay away from anything free they have to offer. I did it once ant spent weeks trying to get a backup via cloud to stop bothering me. NOTHING indicated that I would be signed on to the service, so at least stay away from those offerings.
I know that suggesting paying for this kind of software is probably a bad thing for a Torrent client, but I have been a Vuze Plus user for years, with no real useful functions added, so I suggest that they charge a small amount for the client to be rewritten from scratch and get rid of the crappy Java stuff they use now.
The perfect Torrent download tool. Just gets on with it.
It has several User Interfaces from the default simple up to expert.
I like the degree to which I can manage priorities and start stop DLs, see the sources and check for warnings.
The integrated search used to be better and I had added a wide range of filters previously, but now I just search on websites which manage the torrent magnets directly and double clicking those opens them in Vuze and off she goes.
Generally I love Vuze, and it is my Torrent browser of choice, but have they been hiring ex-Apple employees? Vuze just downloaded 5.4 updater which installed VLC [already on my Mac] which in turn shutdown both Safari and Firefox in mid download. Without warning . Not happy Janette!
The best just got better! THANK YOU.
There is nothing out there that has the features or the stability to compare. Proxy and VPN not a problem because it is FULLY supported. Unlike other so called BitTorrent Clients they care about your PRIVACY.
Anyone who is having problems with the extra features, I suggest that you learn to read first.
1st time installer. No hassles for me like others say they had with installation. I chose customize and deselected free spigot extensions. Then declined music offer. No big deal. Vuze works much better than Transmission and utorrent. More features too. I liked the classic Vuze view better IMHO.
Thanks Vuze guys.
It worked as announced / shown on youTube, letting pop up a video from my computer on the TV, BUT it installs malware, changes preferences and extensions in your browser!
Beware! Hands off!
That should be obsolete today!
Chrome on iMac 27" late 2009, Panasonic Viera plasma Smart-TV
lots of people crying about having to actually learn how to use an app.. I've used them all and this one is way above the others..
1. The use of PROXY'S a must have feature..
2. In house searches..
3. Being able to see who you're connected with and BAN & BLOCK the fake iPs permanently.
4. Installing Block iP lists.
thats just a few must have features. I wouldn't listen to these trolls sent here to bad mouth their competitor..
I turned off the auto-update feature, and was using ver 4.8.x, but today when I started it up, it was version 5.0 and my library was emptied, i.e. the torrents I had completed or were partially completed.
Vuze 5.X is officially one big, hot, steaming load of execrable software.
I hate how the Vuze company hijacks the updating system, as well as trying to surreptitiously hijack's one's browsers with all sorts of plugins. It's become the MacKeeper of torrents.
Use Transmission. Use just about anything else. This software stinks.
Too many features for a simple torrent client. All I need is a simple display, and Vuze gives way more features than I need. I am not saying is doesn't do what it advertises - it does - but it was like getting a DVD player and it has a bazillion buttons and all I want to do is hit play. There should at least be a simpler version with estimated times.
Even for a free application, people are much better off with other clients on this site.
Vuze is woking great.It has great download speed and it is easy to use.I decided to give this Vuze app a try even if some of the reviews from this site are not positive. During Vuze installation i read carefully all the texts and i denied all the additional offers. In the end no suspicious program was installed on my pc, my search engine did not change and no toolbar was installed. So everything is ok. 5 stars for Vuze!
Vuze is a great program for downloading torrents. It is very easy to use and provides many useful features and plugins. The download speed is really fast.
Vuze is the perfect tool. It has a simple interface, great download speed and even a build in player. No bugs, works perfectly and it even has a tag feature that helps me organize the downloads. Big like!
I have been using Vuze since it was last called Azureus (?). It cannot be beat for security all in one package. But of late, the push to alter the users system an impinge upon sanity has finally reached critical mass. Time to walk away.
Vuze is the best BitTorrent available today, period.
Your PRIVACY is EVERYTHING.
Proxy and VPN must be supported. You would be a FOOL to use anything that does not support these BASIC functions.
It contains so many ads and marketing-junk, that the application itself becomes almost unusable:
- Wherever you click it will open an external link or pop-up window with a commercial
- downloaded files are not visible in the sidebar
- extremely sloooooooow!!!!
- crashes when you have more than 5 files in the download-cue
- installs unwanted extensions/add-ons
...
Installed 5.0 update and it installed a ton of browser extensions and changed my search engine without even asking. I've used this app before and it was fine but it really turns to crap now with these shady tactics. Avoid 5.0 as a plague, it's not you friend anymore, it's a malware designed to reconfigure your system to supply traffic to toolbar makers.
F**k this shit.
Forcing the users' browsers to use yahoo search engine and change the startup page to yahoo sucks! Always have to change it back with each update. Crap.
Well, with ver. 4.9 the Vuze dev. team finally got around to re-incorporating the vuze icon onto torrent files. That only took three or four months... And frankly, that was a bit of a pain having one's .torrent files look like generic document files for so long.
In addition, while updating, it caused Safari to restart -- without any warning. This occurred during a large download, thereby really pissing me off.
I also don't much care for Vuze distributing its updates via itself, i.e. via torrent. It's a bit pushy in that way.
Crap like these three issues cause me to have to deduct a couple of stars from my overall rating.
It is a feature-filled bit-torrent client, with many plug-ins. The number of features makes it a bit overwhelming at first -- not unlike Opera, if you look into configuring the extensions in that -- but there is good documentation online, along with a good support forum. And one can be up and running with Vuze, knowing next to nothing -- just download a torrent file and double click it and Vuze will open up and start doing its thing.
I also use Transmission and it is certainly a lot more streamlined and user friendly. But if you want options and ways to optimize your torrent experience, then Vuze is the way to go.
Great app, but I have a huge rant! After each update, the installer changes my home page to Yahoo and changes my preferred search engine to Yahoo. NOT APPRECIATED, or wanted!
Still the best and most reliable client. And the only client capable of of working with my bad ISP.
I do have one suggestion for the makers of Vuze. How about a dual product? Vuze standard with all the extras and the paid stuff. And a light version with only a Classic view torrent client.
Thanks for continuing to improve this Vuze team and for your fast support too!
Just wanted to stick up for Vuze a little here. A love note almost.
Yeah sure if you've become from a Transmission etc background and you first see this program, you're likely to feel ABSOLUTELY BAFFLED AND OVERWHELMED.
But.
Once you delve in, if you aren't too time-poor for that, you'll find the sheer array of functionality makes this thing the absolutely daddy of torrent. There can really be no question about that.
Any power-user, reasonably savvy, i.e. sharp enough not to download the silly bloat they try to lure you with on the install (which is pretty easy, surely, you press the button clued 'Decline' each time, kapeesh?), will find Vuze pretty cool once hang is gotten of.
The detail it offers in terms of the forensic minutiae of torrenting and changing every conceivable parameter and observing every possible statistic is absurd and ridiculous in a good, slightly mindblowing way.
Going back to Transmission or something like that pretty much unthinkable. And since Transmission took the internal proxy support away, trying to do stuff encrypted, on the d-low, you might say - double unthinkable.
So delve in, learn to enjoy, yes?
I'm really, really bummed that in order to implement a VPN solution, now I have to leave the streamlined, minimal, intuitive app that was Transmission, and delve back into this unbelievably lame, PC-esque sh*tshow that is Vuze. This program is utterly baffling, with 42000 options nested in 70 diff stacked options screens--truly a PC mentality program that neglects UI ease for functionality. Sure; properly configured, it'll do anything you want...I'm sure. But c'mon, things don't have to be this way: I REALLY HATE programs like this. Worst? When you install this crapper, it tries to trick you into installing a search bar, changing your search page to Yahoo, all sorts of crap. UGH.If you're to truly understand how to use this program properly, you'll need to get a second PhD....figuring it out
why doesnt the automatic "checking for updates"" ever find the current update??? had the same problem a few days ago with 4.7.1,my solution was to remove it from the list of apps allowed to pass through my firewall,then re-add it to the apps list,relaunched vuze and selected check for updates,then it worked. ..this time its not working.
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Use Transmission or qBitTorrent instead.