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General discussion

Quicktime woes

Sep 24, 2006 11:00PM PDT

Nostly I'm curious if anyone else is noticing how invasive QuickTime has become.

They now seem to have begun using embedded links in their pages; if I click on the page, and then back off from the it without even touching the links to the program or the movies, when I check the computer it turns out that QuickTime.exe has been set up, the registry is now full of bits and pieces of it, and I have to spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning it out.

There is no warning on the pages that QuickTime is required to view, until you get to the page, and then of course it's too late.

I had a problem last year with Quicktime loading itself, taking over my WMP, and along with it came a piggy backed CoolWebSearch bit of adware. Took a month to find it, and longer to get rid of it.

Since then I've been careful to avoid the whole mess, but now and then I come across a page that is apparently directly linked to quicktime, and all you have to do is be there, and they have you.


I tried putting QuickTime in the ''forbidden'' zone, but there are hundreds of pieces of it, and just blocking some of the components still leaves the door open for the rest. There is also QT, qtt, .qt, apple (and I dont have a mac), and all the combinations as well. Does anyone have a solution for this?

Discussion is locked

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Not sure of the problem here
Sep 25, 2006 3:29PM PDT

QuickTime is much too large to "sneakily" install itself on your system. The download file is around 50MB and requires a number of user interventions to complete the install. I believe a restart is also necessary.

Visiting a site that has content requiring QT to view it will not, usually, start a download of QT.
Trying to view media that requires QT, when it is not installed, should create the same, "Unable to open" errors as you get when trying to view any file where you do not have the required program. WMP should attempt to read the .mov file.

WIthout the URL's to the offending sites it is not really possible to research your problem. Could you supply the URL's?
QT also has a decent uninstall program so getting rid of it should not be as difficult as you describe.

P

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experiment
Sep 25, 2006 8:31PM PDT

what I am finding when I visit a site that requires QuickTime to run the videos on that site is, when I exit that page or pages without ever having clicked on the movie (which then often automatically begins a download of QuickTime), and then check my registry or files and folders, there is QuickTime. Along with a host of other peripheral files, some hidden, some just there like kittens on the doorstep.

Last year when I uninstalled Quicktime because I HAD downloaded it, it was one of those partial uninstalls that looks good but doesnt mean much, since the entire program was still spread throughout the registry, and only the surface ''user visible' portion was gone.

i just visited a site http://www.kevision.com/timelapse.html
and without clicking on the 'quicktime is required' app backed out and returned to my desktop. This is what has been placed on my computer.

QuickTime (folder)

and if I click on that

QTocx (Active X Control)
qttask.exe (application)

My objection is that this is invasive, and difficult to avoid, and I was mainly wondering if anyone else had found the same problems in eliminating it. I will later go into the registry and remove all the bits that QuickTime has left for me *s* The key is, the uninstall program works nicely, and you think the program is gone, but if you look in the registry there are literally hundreds of bits, including the entire program, all tucked away should you ever need it again. Once you have it, it appears, you have it forever, and all it takes is typing in QuickTime in files and folders to summon up the entire program.
Right now this is all I have visible, since I have not downloaded anything.
I guess my point is, I shouldnt have any of this just by visiting a site. Some of the cheesier game sites do this, too. You sorta expect more from a place like QuickTime.

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registry check
Sep 25, 2006 9:54PM PDT

this is what was installed just from my visiting that site just a little while ago. Before that there was nothing of QuickTime in there

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\ActiveX
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\Installed Files
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\Installed
Files\QTPlugin.ocx
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\Installed MIME
Types
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\Installed Plugins
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer,
Inc.\QuickTime\QuickTimeUpdateInProgress
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\Registry Backup
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\Registry
Backup\Media

All of this was located under the top heading of Apple. And I do not have a Mac...*g*

All I'm saying is, you may think you're clean, but any time you go to a site like this, you will come home with all sorts of free gifts. This, to me, is Apple preparing a nest on your computer for the expected download which never comes.

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Certainly strange
Sep 26, 2006 11:58AM PDT

but I doubt this is anything to do with Apple.

The coders of the site are probably the ones to blame here. Just going to a site that contains links to QT media is not enough to install anything, by itself, unless it was directed to by the sites code.

While I sympathize with you, and agree that the move is sneaky, I feel you should lay the blame where it is needed and not a the feet of the company that produced the free software.

My local TV station has a web site that constantly tries to install WMP for me when I visit their news pages. Only problem? MS no longer make a WMP for the Mac! Reason it happens? The site coders believe that everyone should be using IE and watching WMV with WMP and so they attempt to load that software on my machine. Nothing to do with MS and everything to do with my local station.

Hope you stay QT free if you feel that strongly about the program.

P