Torlock.com: is it safe? Ads, notifications and how to remove them
Torlock.com is a torrent search site that has run since 2010. The home page was quiet in our October 2026 test, but it lives on advertising and in 2020 it showed fake Mac alerts and notification requests, so the risk is in the ads and the files you download, not in the site installing anything.
Facts checked October 8, 2026. Removal steps checked against Apple's current documentation and the security vendors' reports. We have not run the malware on a Mac.
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Torlock.com: summary
| Type | Torrent search site (a website); shows third-party ads; not malware |
|---|---|
| Risk | Medium: the site installs nothing; the ads, fake alerts and the files downloaded from torrents are the risk |
| Symptoms | Desktop notifications from torlock.com or a similar address; fake "Mac needs more space" alerts; pop-ups and ad pages |
| How to get rid of it | Take the notification permission back in the browser (steps below); uninstall and scan only if you ran a file from an ad or a torrent |
| Our check (4 October 2026) | No notification request, no pop-ups; one floating video ad; 28 outside addresses; a service worker registered |
| Running since | 6 June 2010 (domain registered, paid until 6 June 2027) |
| Removal | Scan the Mac with security software to find the malware and anything installed with it. Fortect for Mac scans for malware and unwanted programs. Remove it nowTo use the full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Fortect. The scan is free. |
Show 12 more facts
| First reported by us | 11 May 2020 |
|---|---|
| Distribution | Visitors find it by searching for torrents; fake alerts reach those who clicked Allow in 2020 or on a similar site |
| Evidence | Our test of the site, the registry's RDAP record, PCrisk's description, our 2020 report |
| Name | Torlock.com |
| Domains | torlock.com |
| Ads shown as | Desktop notifications |
| Browsers | Chrome, Edge and Firefox |
| Installed on the PC | Nothing; a browser notification permission only |
| First seen | 11 May 2020 |
| Damage | Notification ads that lead to scam pages, fake virus alerts and unwanted downloads |
| Detection names | None: nothing is installed on the PC, so Microsoft Defender and other antivirus programs have no file to detect |
| Facts checked | 4 October 2026 |
Facts checked on 4 October 2026 against our own test of the site in desktop Chromium from Lithuania, the registry's RDAP record and PCrisk's description.
What Torlock.com is and how it works
Torlock.com is a torrent search site, not a program: it lists torrent files and magnet links for films, TV, music, games and software, and the files themselves come from other people's computers. Nothing is installed by visiting it, and the domain has existed since 2010.
- 1
Search or browse
Type a title in the search box, or use the Categories, Fresh, Top 100 and Upcoming menus at the top of the page.
- 2
Open a torrent page
Each result shows a size, a date, and the number of seeds (people sharing the whole file). The page offers a
.torrentfile or a magnet link. - 3
Open it in a torrent program
A separate program, a torrent client, downloads the actual files from other users. The site never sends you the movie itself. Anything that arrives as
.exe,.msior.scrinstead of a video, sound or archive file is a warning sign.
- Page title
- "Torlock - The No Fakes Torrent Site."
- Address
torlock.comforwards towww.torlock.com- What it lists
- TV episodes, films, music, games and software; on 4 October 2026 the front page showed top-10 lists for each
- Also on the page
- A banner for another search site, Torrentz, and a "Waiting room" box at the top
- Paid for by
- Advertising on the page; we saw a floating video ad and many ad-style outside addresses (see below)
Why do people ask whether it is safe? A torrent site earns from advertising and from traffic, not from users, and the files it points to are uploaded by strangers. The "No Fakes" in the title is the site's own claim; we did not download or open any torrent, so we cannot confirm it.
Best torrent sites in 2025, torrent search engines and Torlock on Wikipedia
We do not publish a list of the best torrent sites for 2025, because any ranking would send readers to pages that live on third-party ads.
Torlock is one such torrent search site, running since 2010. On these sites the risk sits in the ads, the fake alerts and the files you download. Judge any site by what it asks of you: a notification request, a download prompt or a fake system alert is a reason to leave.
A torrent search engine such as Torlock does not sell films or software itself. It lists torrents shared by other users and pays its way with advertising. That means both the result and the file come from strangers.
Before opening anything, check the file type: a film should never arrive as an .exe, .dmg, .pkg or script file, and a player you are told to install first is a warning sign.
Torrent sites for Indian movies, and free torrent movie download websites in general, carry the same risks as Torlock. Many films offered there are shared without the rights holder's permission, so downloading them may break copyright law where you live.
If a page offers a free film but first asks you to allow notifications, install a player or update software, close it. The safer route is a licensed streaming service or rental store.
People who search for Torlock on Wikipedia usually want its background. The facts we could confirm come from the domain registration record: torlock.com was registered on 6 June 2010 and is paid until 6 June 2027.
We found no reliable source naming the people who run it. Our reading is that it is a long-running, ad-funded torrent index. You can check any such site yourself in its public RDAP registration record.
Is Torlock.com dangerous?
Our test on 4 October 2026
We opened the home page the way a visitor does: a clean desktop Chromium browser in Lithuania, scrolled through the front page, and downloaded nothing.
Torlock.com · desktop Chromium · Lithuania (EU) · 4 October 2026
- Notification requestNone. The page did not ask to show notifications.
- Pop-ups and new windowsNone opened while we loaded and scrolled the page.
- RedirectsOnly
torlock.comtowww.torlock.com. No jump to another site. - Floating adA video ad box labelled "Advertisement" sat in the bottom-right corner, with a close button. It showed a game-skin offer.
- Service workerThe page registers a background script at
/ps/lJjVnN.js. A service worker is what lets a site show notifications later; we saw no request, but the setup is there. - Outside addresses28 addresses other than the site's own were contacted. Several have names of notification or ad services; we could not match them to companies, so our tool named no ad network.
- DownloadsNone started. We did not open a torrent page or click any ad.
Use with care The home page was quiet in our test: no request for notifications, no pop-ups, no forced redirect. The risk is what sits around it. Ads are chosen by country, device and time, and in 2020 the same site showed fake alerts and notification requests, so a visitor elsewhere can see what we did not.
What changed since our 2020 report
June 2010
The domain is registered
torlock.com was registered on 6 June 2010 and is paid up until 6 June 2027. The registrar is TLD Registrar Solutions Ltd.; the public record does not show who runs the site.
May 2020
Our first report: notification requests and fake alerts
We wrote about Torlock.com in May 2020 after visitors saw "torlock.com wants to Show notifications" prompts, a full-page "Do NOT Download Without a VPN" page and pop-up alerts titled "Your Mac Need More Space" and "Disk is Full?" that offered Mac cleaning software. The pictures show pages and alerts that appeared in the browser; the VPN page was an advertisement.
Torlock.com in May 2020: the Allow/Block prompt, a fake VPN advertisement page and two "Your Mac Need More Space" notifications. Parts of the page contain adult thumbnails. 2020
Those who clicked Allow kept getting the alerts
Notifications from a site arrive until the permission is removed in the browser, even long after the visit. That is why people searched for "Torlock virus": nothing was installed, but the alerts kept coming.
October 2026
Our new check: quieter front page, same ad model
No notification request, no pop-up and no redirect to another site. A floating video ad, 28 outside addresses (several with push-service style names) and a registered service worker show the page still runs on advertising that can change by visitor.
Who else loads on the page
Beyond the site's own files, the page contacted 28 outside addresses. We list them by what their names suggest; a name is not proof of what a company does, and we did not identify the operators.
| Group | Addresses | What we can say |
|---|---|---|
| Names that point to push notifications | notification.tubecup.net, sw.singsw.com, sw.wpushorg.com, js.wpshsdk.com, fp.metricswpsh.com | Contacted while the page loaded. No notification request appeared in our test. |
| Ad and traffic names | adexchangerapid.com, greatdexchange.com, usrpubtrk.com, tds.terelinkman.info, a.adspector.io, js.cabnnr.com, js.capndr.com, nereserv.com, ntvpforever.com, awpya.com, p.a64x.com | Names of ad exchanges, trackers or traffic distributors; roles unconfirmed. |
| Unclear | l.t0r.space, l.t0r.store, two hashed names ending in .com | Purpose unknown. |
| Files and images | velocecdn.com, crcdn.org, picdn.vip, static.bookmsg.com, image.tmdb.org | Content delivery for scripts and poster pictures. |
| Counters and sign-in | s4.histats.com, s10.histats.com, accounts.google.com | A visitor counter and Google sign-in. |
Ad networks rotate what they serve, so this list is a snapshot of one visit, not a permanent description of the site.
The real risks, from most to least serious
"Torlock virus" is not an accurate name: visiting the site installs nothing. These are the ways a visit or a download can still go wrong.
- High
Running a program that came with a torrent or from an ad
Torrents named as cracks, keygens, activators or "full version" software are where bundled adware and trojans are commonly hidden, and a fake player or update offered by an ad is the same trap. Running one is how adware, browser hijackers and real malware reach the PC.
- Medium
Clicking Allow on a notification request
One click lets the page that asked send alerts to your desktop until you take the permission back. Chrome and Edge can show them even after you close the window, because they keep running in the background by default; Firefox shows them only while it is open.
- Medium
Fake alerts and scam pages
"Your Mac needs more space", "Disk is full" and "you are not protected" messages, fake VPN pages and prize or survey forms were all seen on the site in 2020. They push you to install software or hand over details.
- Medium
Mislabelled or infected downloads
A torrent is uploaded by a stranger. The listing's name tells you nothing about what is inside, and a video that comes with an extra "codec" or "player" to install is a trap.
- Low
Copyright
Downloading a film, episode, album or game from a torrent without the owner's permission infringes copyright in many countries, and some internet providers pass on warnings. Torrents of public-domain, open-source and openly licensed files are different.
File types that a film, show or song torrent should never contain
- .exe
- .msi
- .scr
- .bat
- .cmd
- .lnk
- .js
- .vbs
A video torrent normally holds .mkv, .mp4 or .avi plus subtitles; music holds .mp3 or .flac. If you only see one of the types above, delete it without opening it.
How to remove Torlock.com
How to stop Torlock.com notifications
Do this in every browser you use, and in every profile inside it: each keeps its own list of sites allowed to send notifications.
Nothing has to be uninstalled for the notifications themselves.
Which browser shows the ads?
Step 1: Remove torlock.com from Chrome's notification list
Open More (the three dots) > Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications, or paste
chrome://settings/content/notificationsinto the address bar.Under Allowed to send notifications, open the menu next to
torlock.comand choose Remove or Block, and do the same for any other address you do not recognise.Next to Not allowed to send notifications, click Add and enter torlock.com, so the site cannot ask again. The menus are the same in Chrome on Windows 11 and Windows 10, and each Chrome profile keeps its own list.
Chrome on Windows 11: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications. Full procedure with screenshots: Stop website notifications and pop-ups
Still there? More for Google Chrome
Remove extensions you do not recognise
Paste
chrome://extensionsinto the address bar and click Remove on anything you did not install yourself, especially torrent clients or tools, "search" or PDF helpers added recently.Full procedure with screenshots: Remove a browser extension
Clear the site data
Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete, choose All time, tick Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files, and click Delete data.
Reset Chrome
Open Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their original defaults and confirm with Reset settings. This resets the start page, search engine and pinned tabs and turns off extensions; bookmarks and saved passwords stay. To stop notifications after you close Chrome, also turn off Settings > System > Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed.
Full procedure with screenshots: Reset a browser and fix a hijacked search engine
Step 1: Remove torlock.com from Edge's notification list
Edge stores its own permission list, separate from Chrome's, and it is often the browser behind these pop-ups on Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Site permissions > All permissions > Notifications, or paste
edge://settings/content/notifications. Removetorlock.comfrom Allowed, then add it under Not allowed to send notifications. Notifications that show the Edge logo come from this list.
Edge on Windows 11: Site permissions > All permissions > Notifications. Full procedure with screenshots: Stop website notifications and pop-ups
Still there? More for Microsoft Edge
Remove extensions you do not recognise
Paste
edge://extensionsinto the address bar and click Remove under anything you did not install yourself.Full procedure with screenshots: Remove a browser extension
Clear the site data
Open Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Delete browsing data > Choose what to clear, set All time, tick Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files, and click Clear now.
Reset Edge
Open Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their default values and confirm with Reset. Extensions are turned off and the start page goes back to default; favourites, history and saved passwords stay. To stop notifications after you close Edge, turn off Settings > System and performance > Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed.
Full procedure with screenshots: Reset a browser and fix a hijacked search engine
Step 1: Remove torlock.com from Firefox's notification permissions
In Firefox the permission sits in Settings > Permissions and data > Notifications (in older versions Privacy & Security > Notifications > Settings). Select
torlock.comin the list, click Remove Website, and confirm with Save Changes.Firefox only shows these notifications while it is open, so if they stopped after closing Firefox, this is the browser to clean. The steps are the same on Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Firefox on Windows 11: the Notification Permissions window. Full procedure with screenshots: Stop website notifications and pop-ups
Still there? More for Mozilla Firefox
Remove add-ons you do not recognise
Paste
about:addonsinto the address bar, open Extensions, and choose Remove from the three-dot menu of anything you did not install yourself.Full procedure with screenshots: Remove a browser extension
Clear cookies and site data
Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Clear Data, tick both boxes and click Clear.
Refresh Firefox
Open the menu > Help > More troubleshooting information and click Refresh Firefox. Add-ons and custom settings are removed and the home page goes back to default; bookmarks, history and passwords stay.
Full procedure with screenshots: Reset a browser and fix a hijacked search engine
Take back the notification permission
Safari 18 and later on macOS: open Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications, select
torlock.com(or any site you do not recognise) and set it to Deny, or click Remove. Untick Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications at the bottom so no site can ask again.Remove extensions you do not recognise
In Safari > Settings > Extensions, select anything you did not install yourself and click Uninstall.
Clear the site data
In Safari > Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data, remove the site's data, or use History > Clear History > all history. To empty the cache as well, turn on Show features for web developers in Settings > Advanced and choose Develop > Empty Caches.
Check the Mac for apps from the ads
Ads also target Mac users with fake players and "cleaners". In Finder > Applications, move anything unknown to the Bin. In System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, remove unknown items. Then use Go > Go to Folder to check
/Library/LaunchAgents,~/Library/LaunchAgents,/Library/LaunchDaemonsand/Library/Application Supportfor folders and files with the same unknown names, and empty the Bin.
Then, whichever browser you use
Step 2: Scan the PC if you downloaded anything from the ads
Most people who only saw the notifications can skip this step. If a notification or the page it opened made you download or run a file, delete the file and run a full scan, then a Microsoft Defender Offline scan.
In Windows 11 and Windows 10 open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options, select Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) and click Scan now. The PC restarts and the scan takes about 15 minutes, so save your work first.
Windows 11: Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options. Full procedure with screenshots: Run a Microsoft Defender Offline scan
After removal: keep the ads from coming back
If you clicked an ad or ran a file
The browser steps above are enough if you only saw notifications. If an ad or a torrent led you to run something, do these three things as well.
- 1
Uninstall what came with it
Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps in Windows 11 (Apps & features in Windows 10), sort by install date and uninstall anything installed on the day you ran the file (Uninstall a program or app in Windows On uGetFix).
- 2
Scan, then scan offline
Run a Microsoft Defender Full scan, then the Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan), which finds trojans, remote-access tools and backdoors that hide while Windows runs.
- 3
Reset the browser
Programs from ads often change the start page, search engine or extensions, and can start the browser on a given address at every launch. Use the reset step for your browser above.
If you typed a password, card number or other details on a page an ad opened, change that password now and call your bank about the card.
How to keep it from happening again
Do
- Turn off notification requests: in Chrome, Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications > Don't allow sites to send notifications.
- Get programs only from their makers' sites or the Microsoft Store, not from a torrent.
- When an installer offers Custom or Advanced setup, choose it and untick extra programs and pre-ticked offers hidden in the fine print; read the licence and privacy text first.
- Keep Microsoft Defender SmartScreen on, or Chrome's Enhanced protection: both warn before known malicious pages and downloads.
- Keep a current backup of your files (File History or OneDrive), so an infection or a failed disk does not cost you your documents.
- On public networks, a VPN hides your IP address from the sites and ad networks you visit; it does not block ads or malware, and it does not make a download safe.
Don't
- Click Allow on a page that says you must allow notifications to continue, to prove you are not a robot or to see a download.
- Run an
.exe,.msior.scrfile that a film, show or song torrent gave you. - Believe a page that shows your IP address or location and says you are unprotected: it is an advertisement.
- Click the large "Download", "Play" or "Start free trial" buttons that sit around a torrent listing: they are ads, not the file.
- Trust ads on torrent, file-conversion and adult sites: they often come from ad networks that also sell space to criminals, and they are used for drive-by downloads and browser hijacking.
Safer ways to get what you are looking for
Start from the owner's own site: you get the file the maker intended, with no third-party ads between you and it.
| You want | Where to get it |
|---|---|
| A Linux system or open-source program | The project's own download page; many offer their own official torrent |
| Films, shows and music | A licensed streaming or purchase service; your library may lend them free |
| Old films, books, recordings in the public domain | The Internet Archive |
| Games | The publisher's store or a store such as the Microsoft Store, Steam or GOG |
| Paid software | The maker's site; ask for a free trial or a free alternative instead of a crack |
If you do use a torrent site, use a browser profile with notifications blocked, close every ad rather than click it, check file types before opening anything, and scan a download before you run it.
Questions about Torlock.com
Is Torlock safe to use?
In our check on 4 October 2026 the Torlock.com home page showed no notification request, opened no pop-ups and did not redirect to another site, so visiting it was calmer than our 2020 report.
That does not make it safe. It carries a floating video ad, contacts 28 outside addresses and registers a background script, and ads change by country and time.
The bigger risk is the files: a torrent is uploaded by a stranger and cracks or "full version" programs often carry adware. Use a browser with notifications blocked, close ads instead of clicking them, and never run an .exe or .scr from a film or music torrent.
Is Torlock legal?
The site is a search index of torrent files, and visiting it is not itself an offence in most countries. What you download decides it. Torlock lists films, TV episodes, music and games, and getting a copyrighted work from a torrent without the owner's permission infringes copyright in many countries; some providers send warnings and some courts have issued fines.
Open-source software, public-domain works and files shared under an open licence are fine. We are not lawyers and rules differ by country, so check yours. For commercial films and shows, a licensed service or a library loan is the safe choice.
Does Torlock.com have a virus?
No malware was installed in our test, and we downloaded nothing. The "Torlock virus" reports usually come from three things:
- notifications people allowed on the site
- ads that opened scam pages such as fake Mac cleaning alerts
- programs downloaded from torrents or ads
A notification permission is not a virus, but it keeps showing ads until you remove it in the browser settings. If you ran a file from an ad or a torrent, uninstall anything installed at that time and run a Microsoft Defender full scan and the offline scan.
How do I stop Torlock notifications?
Remove the site from the browser's list of sites allowed to send notifications. In Chrome open chrome://settings/content/notifications, in Edge edge://settings/content/notifications, and in Firefox Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications > Settings. Delete torlock.com, www.torlock.com and any similar address you do not recognise, then put them on the blocked list so they cannot ask again.
Do this in every browser and profile you use. Alerts stop at once and nothing needs uninstalling. If they keep coming from changing addresses, also check the browser's extensions.
Why does Torlock show "Your Mac needs more space" or "Disk is full"?
Those messages are advertisements, not warnings from your computer. In 2020 we captured notifications from torlock.com with titles such as "Your Mac Need More Space" and "Disk is Full? Install Mac Cleaning Software", sent to visitors who had clicked Allow.
Your Mac does not report its disk space through a website, and a real warning would not offer a cleaning program. Do not click them. Remove the site's notification permission in the browser (Safari: Settings > Websites > Notifications) and delete any cleaner app you installed after seeing one.
How old is Torlock and who runs it?
The domain torlock.com was registered on 6 June 2010 and is paid up until 6 June 2027, according to the registry's RDAP record, with the registrar TLD Registrar Solutions Ltd. The record was last changed on 26 September 2026.
It does not show who runs the site, and we did not find the operator named on the page. The title calls it "The No Fakes Torrent Site", which is the site's own claim. A domain's age says it is long-running, not that its ads or files are safe.
Do I need a VPN to use Torlock?
No. A page that shows your IP address and location under "Do NOT Download Without a VPN" is an advertisement; in 2020 we saw exactly that page on the site.
A VPN hides your IP address from the sites and the other torrent users you connect to, which is a privacy choice, but it does not block ads, remove malware, or make a bad file safe, and it does not change copyright rules.
If you want a VPN, pick one on its own merits, from the provider's own site, not from a button on a torrent page.
What is the safest way to download a torrent?
The safest way is to choose a torrent the maker publishes: Linux systems and many open-source programs list official torrents on their own sites.
For anything else, use a torrent client from its developer's site, check that the file types match what you wanted (an .mkv or .mp4 for a film, never an .exe), scan before opening, and ignore every ad, "Download" button and "codec" offer around the listing.
Cracks, keygens and activators are the most common carriers of bundled adware, so skip them. A licensed service avoids the whole problem.
Will Fortect remove Torlock.com?
No program removes Torlock.com itself, because there is nothing on the PC to remove: the notifications come through a permission saved in the browser, and only the browser's settings take it away, as the steps above show.
What Fortect can do is check the rest of Windows. Its free scan looks for malware, unwanted programs and damaged system files, which is useful if you clicked the ads, downloaded something from the pages they opened, or are not sure what else changed on the PC.
If the scan finds nothing and the notifications stopped after you removed the permission, this problem is solved. Use Microsoft Defender as a second opinion whenever you have downloaded files from pages like these.
Sources
- Verisign RDAP: torlock.com registration record (read October 4, 2026)
- PCrisk: Torlock.com pop-up ads removal guide (read October 4, 2026)
- Google Chrome Help: Use notifications to get alerts (no longer online) (read October 4, 2026)
- FTC: How to recognize, remove and avoid malware (read October 4, 2026)