Author Topic: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime  (Read 3081 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline CT27

  • 211
Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
http://www.cnet.com/news/you-should-uninstall-quicktime-for-windows/
http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/15/technology/windows-quicktime/
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3056650/security/uninstall-quicktime-for-windows-now.html

Due to there apparently being no incoming patches for some known security issues with Quicktime, Microsoft Windows users of the product are being advised to uninstall it (especially since iTunes no longer needs Quicktime to work)...though they say Mac users of Quicktime can leave it installed.

 

Offline Klaustrophobia

  • 210
  • the REAL Nuke of HLP
    • North Carolina Tigers
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
I was all, "Hahaha, who still has quicktime anyway?", and then I second guessed myself and checked.  Apparently I do.  Well, not anymore.   :blah:

I'm guessing it snuck itself in with itunes, which is only used for converting and transferring music to the ipod.
I like to stare at the sun.

 

Offline CT27

  • 211
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Good news is that iTunes can work fine without Quicktime these days.

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

  • 211
  • The Cthulhu programmer himself!
    • Skype
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Unfortunately, this means that Escape Velocity: Nova is no longer safe to install.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
I was all, "Hahaha, who still has quicktime anyway?", and then I second guessed myself and checked.  Apparently I do.  Well, not anymore.   :blah:

Exactly what I did :D

 

Offline headdie

  • i don't use punctuation lol
  • 212
  • Lawful Neutral with a Chaotic outook
    • Minecraft
    • Skype
    • Twitter
    • Headdie on Deviant Art
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Unfortunately, this means that Escape Velocity: Nova is no longer safe to install.

Quite a few games from that era on the quiet used quicktime to handle video playback
Minister of Interstellar Affairs Sol Union - Retired
quote General Battuta - "FRED is canon!"
Contact me at [email protected]
My Release Thread, Old Release Thread, Celestial Objects Thread, My rubbish attempts at art

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Kind of ironic for MS to do this, given the memories of one of the almost-to-have-been darkest moments in PR history for Microsoft, when Apple found out media player had copy pasted huge chunks of code from quicktime.

  

Offline Mongoose

  • Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
  • Global Moderator
  • 212
  • This brain for rent.
    • Minecraft
    • Steam
    • Something
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Unfortunately, this means that Escape Velocity: Nova is no longer safe to install.

Quite a few games from that era on the quiet used quicktime to handle video playback
I somehow doubt that having something like QuickTime 5 installed for an old game is the focus of this security alert. :p

 
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
If it's integrated into your browser then it's a massive concern. If it isn't then it's still a pretty major risk. On a normal desktop machine a remote execution exploit pretty much translates into owning the entire machine.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Unfortunately, this means that Escape Velocity: Nova is no longer safe to install.

Oh son of a *****, I was just going to get that for my new computer...
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline jr2

  • The Mail Man
  • 212
  • It's prounounced jayartoo 0x6A7232
    • Steam
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Put QuickTime + the game in SandboxIE or an alternative?

Would QuickTime Alternative work?
« Last Edit: April 24, 2016, 07:22:53 pm by jr2 »

 

Offline Klaustrophobia

  • 210
  • the REAL Nuke of HLP
    • North Carolina Tigers
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Or, accept the small risk while you have the game installed.  If you want to get super paranoid about it, unplug from the internet, install, play, uninstall.
I like to stare at the sun.

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

  • 211
  • The Cthulhu programmer himself!
    • Skype
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline deathspeed

  • 29
  • i can't think of a good avatar
    • Steam
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
I know nothing about the game, but will it run with K-Lite Codec Pack installed in lieu of QuickTime?  I installed K-lite years ago to play QuickTime files thru VLC rather than the QT program.
Maybe someday God will give you a little pink toaster of your own.

 

Offline MP-Ryan

  • Makes General Discussion Make Sense.
  • Global Moderator
  • 210
  • Keyboard > Pen > Sword
    • Twitter
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Thread title filed under "duh."

Quicktime is a plague upon the technological world and long since should have been purged, with fire if necessary.  No one on PC should install that bull****, ever.
"In the beginning, the Universe was created.  This made a lot of people very angry and has widely been regarded as a bad move."  [Douglas Adams]

 

Offline jr2

  • The Mail Man
  • 212
  • It's prounounced jayartoo 0x6A7232
    • Steam
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Why is QuickTime such a POS?  Apple supposedly can do no wrong with their OS (according to some).. did they just drop the ball on this, or what?  I mean, they care about their brand, right?

 

Offline The E

  • He's Ebeneezer Goode
  • 213
  • Nothing personal, just tech support.
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Yes, but quicktime is increasingly irrelevant at the consumer level ever since web streaming in the form of youtube really took off. It's a piece of technology that has been overtaken by other things, and so I guess Apple has decided to focus their efforts elsewhere (Plus, QuickTime X, the current version shipped on and for MacOS, isn't easily portable to other OSes).

The reason why Quicktime is a POS has to do with it being an entire multimedia framework. It's not just an audio-video container thing, there are a lot more components to it, and as shown in the vulnerabilities discovered in the OP, some of those vulnerabilities allow for remote code execution. Those things can happen; they're not a sign of ball-dropping.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Like Java, I never enjoyed having to install QuickTime. Doesn't mean one is stupid for installing them, just that they had necessities.

For decades I also had to have installed Windows XP. Doesn't mean I liked it.

 

Offline The E

  • He's Ebeneezer Goode
  • 213
  • Nothing personal, just tech support.
    • Steam
    • Twitter
Re: Windows users are advised to uninstall Quicktime
Yeah, pretty much. Couple years ago, having quicktime installed for those few videos that needed it (for me, old stuff from LoadingReadyRun's back catalog) was a thing I felt compelled to do.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns