uTorrent said a torrent I was downloading may have a virus?

I think they (BitTorrent, Inc.) are doing that partially to promote utorrent plus (and advertise it), it doesn't mean the content actually contains viruses.

If you have a real threat your antivirus program should notify you, not utorrent.

It's the first, it COULD have viruses.

When you right click a torrent and select 'open containing folder', if the downloaded files are of the type that can contain viruses (any .iso, .exe, .zip, or other compressed files) uTorrent will show you a dialog that says “Attention - this torrent contains files that may harm your computer. Upgrade to uTorrent Plus to protect yourself from viruses hiding in torrents.” This is just a way to promote their plus service which includes automatic virus scanning. You don't really need this if you manually scan the files yourself using a virus scanner and malware scanner. Don't ever open downloaded files without first scanning them, unless you want to be mining bitcoins for someone else.

Certainly not. Im using utorrent for almost 3years now.. Till now no virus problem for me.. Before downloading just check the ratings of the file.. Also check the seeds and peers.. If both are good, it means that the file is good and lots of people have already downloaded it.. The user ratings will also give us a clue whether the file is good or bad.. For being safe use a good anti virus too while downloading.. I use bitdeffender 2010..

Upgrade Utorrent

dont worry, the program is only trying to tell you that its POSSIBLE that the file contains virus but its not sure..i guess you're either using µtorrent for the first time or you just installed it..