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When opening torrents, I would always download the .torrent file and manually open them using uTorrent.

There's an alternative way called the magnet links. How safe are magnet links compared to manually opening .torrent files?

enter image description here

What are the chances of getting a virus just by clicking Launch Application?

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  • Don't think so. I think it is referring to the torrent its self, which like to have viruses.. I believe that the downloading of the torrent is what it is considering a potential attack
    – cutrightjm
    Apr 29, 2012 at 1:28
  • @ekaj I mean assuming the torrented file itself is clean, is launching it through a magnet link a potential attack zone?
    – Pacerier
    Apr 29, 2012 at 1:47

2 Answers 2

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Its about as safe as launching any other third party application to run an arbitrary file.

Lets say you go to www.dodgysite.notreal, and you get a popup asking you to run a external application without prompting, hit do nothing, and run like hell. The worst case scenario here is you end up launching an application with a known vulnerability, and your system is compromised through that.

On the other hand, this will happen if you launch any filetype not handled by chrome or explicitly stated as being safe. Its just a sanity check type warning not to run random crap. As such, as long as you're actually clicking and running a magnet link, from a reasonably trustworthy site, you should be safe.

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  • The image does shows the link requested (magnet:?xt=urn:), I was wondering is it possible that there is something else linked instead of a torrent file?
    – Pacerier
    Apr 29, 2012 at 3:44
  • Its about the same. If its a non magnet file link thats opened, your torrent client will just barf on it, and refuse to have anything to do with it, really
    – Journeyman Geek
    Apr 29, 2012 at 3:50
  • how do we tell if it is targeting another app besides the expected uTorrent magnet links? (For example, I wouldn't want to allow it to run any other app besides the one linked to .torrent)
    – Pacerier
    Nov 26, 2016 at 6:46
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I got brave (or stupid?) and launched the application and checked "remember my choice". Utorrent opened, I loaded the torrent and all was fine.

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    thanks for your first answer! Just a tip though: While past experience is great, always try to answer the question directly as possible when using an answer. I'd recommend using a comment for such past experiences.
    – Jeff F.
    Mar 20, 2014 at 15:19
  • @bic, Ok... but if there was a virus it is not going to be so easily seen...
    – Pacerier
    Nov 26, 2016 at 6:46

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