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Is the pirate bay safe to use?

Updated: 10/24/2022
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12y ago

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Pirate Bay is a "search" engine or "directory" for torrent file's. The site itself cannot be renounced as safe though as it hosts a list of third party viruses and deadly pop ups. Then with that comes the viruses and trojans of torrents. You never can be quite sure whether a torrent is safe or not, so it is best to listen to the comments of others as they will report viruses and quality of a torrent. Remember that most torrents listed on thepiratebay's server are not affiliated with it and can be uploaded by anyone and may be illegal to download (Copyright infringement)

( a little perspective)

The Pirate Bay is not 100% safe, but it is the best around. I have been using their site for years, with pretty extensive AV coverage, and have not noticed anything. The Pirate Bay did have an issue with a virus on their homepage a while ago, but that is done with. I RECOMMENDED DOWNLOADING ONLY AUDIO FILES FROM TORRENTING SITES. I cannot stress that enough. There are virtually no negative side effects of torrenting audio files, no viruses, and the RIAA has stopped suing everybody and their mother.

( why is it done)

On the contrary to the last post, the reason that the fake "Anti-Virus" has been installing itself on visitors is because it is from pop-ups that come up when you enter onto the Pirate Bay. Therefore you do not even have to attempt to download a file to get the virus. I have spoken on many forums for opinion from veterans on how to counteract this and many people cited popup blockers (an advanced one such as adblock) but those have been verified not to work. I have also read that the pop ups were only for one weekend and that the problem has been fixed. To my chagrin, that is not true. The probably still exists presently (5/3/10)

This is also not confined to the pirate bay. If you use torrentpond, sumotorrent or some other smaller torrent sites, you will have the same pop up with the same virus (Anti-virus 2010). So steer clear. I have downloaded hundreds of gigabytes over several years and have never ever had a problem and consider myself about an 8 when it comes to computer literacy and expertise (out of 10), and have still yet to solve the problem. I do not believe it affects macs though, but I hate buying an overpriced hunk of junk with a brand on it that I can't even upgrade or customize. But if you have an apple, you may have lucked out when it comes to dling torrents.

So you ask "why install garbage viruses on peoples' comps?" To take from the movie "Wallstreet", "What is worth doing is worth doing for money." Unlike regular popups where the webmaster makes only makes pennies or less per pop up, a virus loaded on a victim's computer will net from $2.00 to $2.50 a person! That is a huge mark up. You screw over a ton of people who probably wont go to your site again, but you just made a ton of money (and they're hoping they can make up the traffic later claiming the virus is a "glitch" or something like that). There are actually a small section of advertising companies who specialize in this, and they change names and stuff all the time, for obvious reasons.

Anyways guys be careful because since the beginning of 2010, the torrent game is not how it used to be so if you want to chance it, back up your documents and keep a recovery CD or partition handy.

(pcphantom added):

I would like to add as of 12/11/2010 the viruses on ThePirateBay are still there. If there is another site, I know nothing of this but the same link from my bookmark that is 3+ years old does indeed cause the infection.

I would also like to point out that though I haven't really cared enough to work on a way to browse the site safely (I am sure something like safe mode browsing with no cookies and no pop-ups or redirects would probably do it), I do happen to repair computers for a living.

The virus is fairly easy to remove, AVG and Spybot don't remove it because their worthless. You want safety against this program, or almost any other bogus anti-virus, install "Malware-Bytes". It's free, you can even install it in safe mode. The first sign of a fake av like antivirus 2010, hard power down your PC, don't wait for shut down. Then boot in safe mode with networking. Afterwards, go into internet settings, turn off the bogus proxy that your fake AV installed, put internet connections back to "Auto Detect" (they will be changed to a proxy within seconds of getting the fake av, this is how the AV eventually downloads the whole program). Then make sure malware-bytes is updated, run a quick scan, that's enough, clear the program out. If you have had it a while and it's had a chance to download more, run the whole scan. Then use a program like "glary utilities" or hijackthis and do their "hijack recovery" to restore the settings the AV hijacked. I litterally caught the Antivirus 2010 on this computer 20 minutes before writing this, my computer is fine now, I haven't reformatted a computer I own because of a virus in well over a decade.

(most recent by pcphantom)

If you use a program like "peerblock", have it updated, and block http, the virus will not get through. If the virus has gotten through, when you change the proxy settings back, write down the IP of the proxy, add it to your firewall or peerblock to the blacklist, if you block the proxy IP, the worst that can happen is when the script tries to change it, you'll get no internet connection error, then just go take the proxy off.

To pcphantom (from writer)

Thanx for the great advice because i was going to go on pirate bay to download a antivirus and now i no don't go on it at all thanx will avast free antivirus get rid of the viruses? but thanx again

From

charliruleztheworld277

To writer (from pcphantom)

Simply put, no.

If you keep your settings in a manor in which you avoid the installer all together, one good way is to not use an admin account, use a limited account such as a guest account and like the person below me stated, don't allow the addons or popups to run (addon most important). If it's too late and you already have a fake AV hijacking your computer, follow the steps I listed. If you have the infection there are actually very few AV programs that will remove it. I am sure there may be a couple out there, but none of what is known as "main stream". AVG, Avast, Norton, McAffe, Panda, etc. will remove it. Microsoft Security Essentials does not even remove most of them, though there are a couple it will which is more than I can say for the before mentioned big name ones. I've removed these things from computers with Spybot, Spyware Blaster, Ad-aware pro and many other forms of protection. If you protect yourself, you're "probably" going to be okay, and can even avoid the one from Pirate bay. If you're past that, give up your pride in holding onto whatever AV you're attached to, follow the steps I listed, and you'll be clean. Otherwise, you have a reformat in your near future.

As a side note, I'd considered using the "pro" version of malware-bytes, but I believe most of these fake AV's have an ability in them to detect your AV software, much like windows security center does, and have the ability to deactivate them. I use the Microsoft Security Essentials because it's light, fairly decent, and makes a great decoy. When the fake AV from pirate bay attacked my AV, it shut down MSE, but completely ignored Malware-bytes which is passive. So restarting my computer and running MB in safe mode was easy. Also, consider this, not many AV's or Fake AV's can actually run in safe mode, this is why I found that MB being able to install, run, and clean from safe mode was fairly impressive. As this system works and works very well, I've seen no reason to change it. Cleaning others computers, I've been exposed to all sorts of malware, spyware, viruses, you name it, I've never had one take down my system. I've had ones try, they all fail. My knowledge of other AV's is not from useage, it's simply from knowing those AV's to be installed on computers I am paid to remove viruses from.

(Below this point is not pcphantom)

I am on the PirateBay right now as I type this 12/18/10. I visit the piratebay weekly and I have never had a virus from there, however I did get one from ISOhunt (another torrent site) last year very similar to the one you have described. When I go to the site using IE the information bar reads: "POP-UP blocked. Also, to help your security Internet Explored blocked other content from this site. click her for options".

I never allow the add-on or the pop-up to have permission. I use SpyBots S&D browser Immunity feature and update monthly. All IE security settings are set to medium or medium high. I am guessing that is what keeps me safe. BTW I think the virus uses a vulnerability in flash. If not, I am fairly certain that Fake virus protection scanning screen is using a flash format and your player.

03/11/11-

There is currently a virus on their home page, redirecting you to this site when you attempt to download torrents: http://download.premium.netdna-cdn.com/V1/P32/index.HTML

It installs a toolbar attached to your current one. It is very difficult to remove as well.

Im not going to edit the original answer but i have been using the site 4 6 years and 2 of them with no antivirus and the only problem i have ever had is with popups but u have to do is close them :) the site is a brilliant addution to the internet!

ok seriously just don't use piratebay because your bound to get viruses on your computer. im my oppinon don't use it or Limewire or frostwire. i think you should only use it if you know how to fix your computer of viruses. in all though just don't use it. i use kickasstorrents and i got viruses but those were small and i easily got them off. torrent downloading is fine just as long as you have protection on your computer and you know how to use it. but ya its easy to get viruses from streaming sites too. YouTube is fine though (i hope :) ) anyways just becareful and don't be stupid when downloading because i use to be a bit dumb when it came to computers and i got a tone of viruses because of it. so be smart when your on your computer ok :)

(barry answered)...

Install Web of Trust on your browser. (http://www.mywot.com) As each popup opens WOT blocks it with a warning if the site has a bad rating. You can then close the window with no ill effect to your computer. It's still annoying, but at least you're protected from malware.

In my experience, PeerBlock's "Block HTTP" feature does not stop these popups from appearing, although there's no doubt some protection there.

Lastly: Downloading an antivirus program from ThePirateBay to fight a virus you might get from ThePirateBay may not be the smartest path to take. You can get excellent free antivirus software from Microsoft (www.Microsoft.com/security_essentials) or Avast (http://www.avast.com/en-us/free-antivirus-download).

form ®øøzie1 /roozie1

the pirate bay has virus you can only get if you have no av this is a good av its 100% virus free works on pcs and macs and is free go on http://www.agv.com

it get rid of all harmfull stuff

FROM JOEANYBODY

Another great program to use is K9 Web Protection. I use it to keep my Kids safe but it also blocks popups and Ads excellently. It also blocks potentially harmfull sites due to viruses or adware. It is a definite must have. I also would like to know if this question is about thepiratebay.se or piratebay.com

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Is pirate bay safe to use with a mac?

Pirate bay contains many illegal torrents which may contain viruses and the protection you receive has more to do with your protection software such as Norton than your operating system.


How does the Pirate Bay prevent servers from being detected?

it doesnt!!!! people have just got sued thousands of pounds and put in prison for just USING pirate bay so its not safe!!! it doesnt!!!! people have just got sued thousands of pounds and put in prison for just USING pirate bay so its not safe!!!


Is the pirate bay safe to use with a mac?

yes it is because mac cant 'welcome' any viruses, they get whiped out as they try to attach themselves.


How do you download from pirate bay?

You must use a BitTorrent client


Sites like pirate bay but free?

The Pirate Bay is free...


What is the pirate bay?

The Pirate Bay is a website where you can download BitTorrent files. Elaborating that, The Pirate Bay is a site that can give you access to programs you usually have to pay for. For instance, search NoLimits on google, and go to the website. It's 30 dollars USD price. On The Pirate Bay, you can download it for free. You can't be 100% sure if there's a virus there, so if you do use it, have an anti-virus program running at the same time.


What is pirate bay'?

The Pirate Bay is a website where you can download BitTorrent files. Elaborating that, The Pirate Bay is a site that can give you access to programs you usually have to pay for. For instance, search NoLimits on Google, and go to the website. It's 30 dollars USD price. On The Pirate Bay, you can download it for free. You can't be 100% sure if there's a virus there, so if you do use it, have an anti-virus program running at the same time.


How do you open the Rosetta Stone .iso torrent from The Pirate Bay?

Even if you download it from pirate bay you wont be able to use it because you will need the serial code. Since Rosetta stone has a copyright on it, it can not be downloaded.


What is the legal software alternative to the pirate bay?

Who knew that the UK had blocked the pirate bay site? If you want to get a legal alternative you can download the Canadian IOS Hunt and this will enable you to go to the Pirate Bay site.


Is the pirate bay working?

Yes, but in order to use it you must have utorrent downloaded onto your computer


How do you download from pirate bay legal?

It is legal to download a file for use as a backup IF you already own it.


Is the pirate bay free to use?

yes. it is a free site.. piratebay is a torrent search engine