I’m a little peeved today. About 3 weeks ago I installed Quicktime, a site that I visit often seems to be obsessed by it, and I finally decided that I might as well just install it. See I don’t really care that it’s Apple (I’m even thinking about getting one of those touch iPods), it’s just I’m really picky about what software I install on my machine, years of dealing with Windows has taught me that the less you install, the more reliable and speedy your PC. When I did install it, it of course tried to push iTunes onto me, something common to a lot of software packages these days (the Google toolbar being the main offender), it was an offer that I declined. Windows Media does it for me, I don’t have an iPod, and I don’t plan to shop at their DRM crippled store thank you very much.
This morning, as I was rushing out the door, I got a note from Apple saying that some of their software needed to be updated (note updated, not installed). Stupidly I didn’t read anymore than that, I just assumed that it was just a Quicktime update. Knowing the importance of security, and keeping your patches up to date, I said go ahead and install. I have just got back now, to turn on my PC and find that I was actually installing iTunes!
Now, let me just say this, if Microsoft ever pulled this dodgy sort of move, they would have been hauled over the coals three or four times. I have never wanted to install iTunes, I have never proactively gone to any Apple site to download it, and I don’t want it on my machine. To prompt me to install it via their “Software Update” tool is very near fraudulent! What right have they to stick a sign on my computer screen asking if I want one of their products, its like some kind of pop-up advert.
Now I have to go through an uninstall, and hope that it doesn’t leave any rubbish behind, which by the way, I’m sure it does. I’m uninstalling Quicktime while I’m at it…
Of course this makes me feel stupid. I long ago gave up on Virus scanning software, and turn off Windows Defender. They don’t really work, they just slow your PC down, and I have never had a malicious software problem. This is just a little reminder about how vigilant you have to be, and how hard it is for the average PC user. ARGH.
I agree with you on that mate.
Although I do have an iPod and I use iTunes, I get crazy when I open iTunes and the Apple Software is trying to download automaticaly a newer version of the software.
I want the version i have now! Not the Newer!
I hope that Apple will stop being so aggressive on such things!
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative_Lite.htm
A different way of dealing with the problem.
I know antiviruses are a pain : I can’t say what has kept you safe unless you do not surf as administrator.
AVG Free is what I usually see recommended if you decide to use one. Some use Spybot and AdAware as clean up utilities that are not pinned to the start menu and only run on a weekly basis or so. Then again, I’m all over the web and have to watch out for trouble.
Come to think, the BBC had a no-malware version of Realplayer – but I found it useless and always wanting updates.
By far the most commmon hack today is one based on social engineering, basically tricking people into running malicious software. While this demonstrated I can be suckered, there are a few things to be said here:
1) In the 18 months I have been running without virus scanning, I have not had a single issue, but then I know what to look for.
2) Virus scanners are never up-to-date enough anyway to protect against this sort of thing, and give faaaar too many false positive. Defender could help, but is it worth the overhead? not to me, I make sure I have excellent backups.
3) Vista provides much better protection, and have been running that since the very earliest on internal Microsoft Betas.
Of course browser exploits are possible, but they appear first on sites I steer clear of (mostly spend my days in my RSS reader, with known sites anyway), and the fixes come out pretty quickly, quick enough to make that risk pretty low. The blog Coding Horror has had some great post on the waste of time that is virus scanners.
AVG I use on my shared computer, but again, its never really going to be up to date enough, and as far as I know it is not real-time anyway.
Appreciate the suggestion on the codec alternatives, tried these a while back but it didn’t work out for me, I thought you still had to install Quicktime? Real player I stay away from ever since they went spamware a while back. Anyway, will revist it.
Thanks for dropping by and contributing!
Exactly! Isn’t that the Apple user’s argument- that their computers don’t come with a buch of software you don’t want? When I bought my laptop, I think I uninstalled 4 things- things related to using Media Center which I wouldn’t have bought if it wasn’t already installed. In the meantime, I have been fighting I Tunes updates EVER SINCE!