Windows 7: Is it Illegal To...

Download Software from a Torrent Site, If you have purchased the Full Product But Broke the Cd/dvd for the installation?


Not Saying i have i was just wondering

I don't think so. Using torrents is treated as crimial as I know.

Some would throw a fit but if you have a valid license/key ... go ahead!

Haha i did say, Its not for me

This was more a Discussion about would it be considered illegal?

What would companies think?

Providing you have proof of purchase and have kept the product key, vendors will probably supply a replacement disc at a reasonable price if you ask nicely.

Better still, burn a copy as soon as you buy any new software. It'll save you a lot of grief in the long run.

However, unless there is a law banning torrents, how can they be illegal?

Companies would hate it if you take away from them to nickel & dime you 'nuff said about them! lol!

Companies from a legal standpoint will usually approach the torrent site directly and legally push on them to get the torrent removed directly. They aren't usually going to go after the end user who downloaded it.

However, I strongly discourage the use of torrent sites for any commercial software of any kind. I simply cannot trust that the software wasn't tampered with and thus leaving me open for a security breach. Also, you can sometimes run into strange and wacky error messages caused by the manipulated code (which is often changed to bypass activation, etc). With the plethora of good free and open source software, there are always alternatives if you cannot afford to pay for the commercial version.

Legality aside ..

How do you know if what you downloaded is legit?
What was removed or "added" to it?

Most software can just be re-downloaded from the official source.
In some cases, going to the official site and downloading the latest trial version works too. Just apply your key and it unlocks to a full version.

If its legit, why not go this route? You know 100% for certain what you are getting. That can not be said for the same thing downlaoded as a torrent.
Also, if its legit license, there is no reason what-so-ever to download a pirated copy.
Worst possible scenario you'll need to contact Customer Support and they will help you.

Or as mentioned, you can just request a disc version sent to you, for a small fee.

Any software I purchase & downlaod gets burned to a DVD/CD, along with the keys, reciept etc and stored away. That way I always have a copy.

Most license agreements allow you to make a backup copy of your disc... I always make a physical disc and create an iso (just in case) I also copy the reg key into the folder where I store iso file.

My main concern with getting a copy from a torrent site is that the copy may have a little extra something-something you do not want!

Absolutely not. You bought the license (or 'lease') and technically not just that copy of the software itself. Go for it. I do it all of the time, because to be frank, ripping a copy off of disks that I've bought is too time consuming and stresses out my system too much to do it, especially in the case of movies, (and yeah, even with 4GB RAM and Core 2 Duo), so I torrent instead to speed up the process. I've never had a problem. Up to you of course, but I really do not think that they can go after you on any grounds if you have the product key/license.

As for ripping copies as soon as you get the new software/disks etc.: this isn't always possible because of the spyware security crap they lace into the disks. It takes more experienced people to crack that and get rid of it and to then unlock the contents so they can be copied and whatever else you want to do with them (ESPECIALLY software and movies). This is reason No. 2 that I personally torrent instead of rip as well, because I'm not a programmer and can't do it.

Oh, and FYI... the FED's predominately only go after people who are moving a heck of a lot of data over Torrents (we are talking over 100GB's in a week or more here). Pretty sure you will be safe with this bit of software.


This all said, be smart and DO NOT download torrents that have little or no information, and always check the feedback or comments on them to make sure its legit and that there aren't any 'extras' in it!