Time to uninstall QuickTime for Windows

[Jordan]

Time to uninstall QuickTime for Windows

 

Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative published two security advisories, ZDI-16-241 and ZDI-16-242, affecting Apple QuickTime for Windows yesterday.

Both vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute code remotely if exploited successfully by getting users to visit malicious pages or open malicious files.

Trend Micro furthermore revealed that Apple deprecated QuickTime for Windows. This means that the company won't release updates for the product anymore including security updates for it according to Trend Micro.

This may come as a surprise as the last QuickTime for Windows update dates back to January 2016. Back then, Apple released QuickTime 7.7.9 for Windows.

QuickTime for Windows

 

I could not find verification for Trend Micro's claim on Apple's website yet. The QuickTime for Windows download page is still up on the company website and while it is outdated, the last supported operating system is Windows 7, there is no indication that it is no longer maintained by the company.

If you compare that to how Safari for Windows is handled by Apple, another software the company deprecated for Microsoft's operating system, you will notice that things are different. Safari downloads for Windows are not offered anymore by Apple on its website.

Time may be a factor here though and Trend Micro may have received information directly from Apple that the company deprecated QuickTime for Windows.

Fact is, QuickTime for Windows has two vulnerabilities that are not patched right now. If you trust Trend Micro, Apple won't release fixes for the product which means that all versions of the application for Windows will remain vulnerable.

It is suggested to uninstall QuickTime for Windows if it is still installed on PCs to protect against these vulnerabilities.

However, even with protections, ultimately the right answer is to follow Apple’s guidance and uninstall QuickTime for Windows. That is the only sure way to be protected against all current and future vulnerabilities in the product now that Apple is no longer providing security updates for it.

 

To remove QuickTime for Windows, do the following:

1. Tap on Windows-Pause to open the Control Panel.
2. Click on Control Panel Home when the window that opens.
3. Select Programs and features from the listing.
4. Locate QuickTime, for instance by clicking on the "installed on" column to change the sort order to installation date.
5. Right-click on QuickTime 7 and select uninstall.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove the application from Windows.

Tip: Apple installs other software alongside QuickTime which does not get removed when you remove the video player. Find Apple Application Support and Apple Software Update in the listing and remove those as well provided that you don't have any other product by the company installed.

There are plenty of QuickTime alternatives available when it comes to watching videos on Windows. Even Apple's Trailer website no longer requires QuickTime. Suggested media players are VLC Media Player or SMPlayer.

 

Side note: it is rather interesting to see how Apple's and Microsoft's strategies vary. While Microsoft is pushing more and more of its products to Android and iOS, Apple seems to do the opposite and keep everything Mac and iOS exclusive.

 

Source

[truemate]

who use this 40mb installer nowdays?

as of same/less then its size we can have all the codecs in one pack..thats k-lite

k-lite is answer for every media files.

[psyko666]

I use VLC for everything these days..

[LOQUILLO]

I prefer K-Lite, it's the better choice.

[pc71520]

QuickTime for Windows Is Dead, and You Should Uninstall It to Stay Secure (by HTG)

[Karlston]

iTunes for Windows is still OK, but QuickTime is serious bug bait and Apple is no longer providing security updates

Apple has failed to warn its customers, but Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative issued a call to action and last night the US-CERT team confirmed: If you have QuickTime on your Windows system, uninstall it now.

 

Many people picked up QuickTime when it was a required component of iTunes for Windows. That's no longer the case -- iTunes now works fine without QuickTime. While opinions on iTunes vary (I can hardly mention it without hyperventilating), there's no ambiguity about QuickTime. Uninstall it now.

 

Here's what Trend Micro says:

Apple is deprecating QuickTime for Microsoft Windows. They will no longer be issuing security updates for the product on the Windows Platform and recommend users uninstall it… Our Zero Day Initiative has just released two advisories ZDI-16-241 and ZDI-16-242 detailing two new, critical vulnerabilities affecting QuickTime for Windows. These advisories are being released in accordance with the Zero Day Initiative's Disclosure Policy for when a vendor does not issue a security patch for a disclosed vulnerability. And because Apple is no longer providing security updates for QuickTime on Windows, these vulnerabilities are never going to be patched. We're not aware of any active attacks against these vulnerabilities currently. But the only way to protect your Windows systems from potential attacks against these or other vulnerabilities in Apple QuickTime now is to uninstall it.

The US-CERT alert TA16-105A essentially repeats the Trend Micro/ZDI announcement, with no additional information.

 

I looked high and low on Apple's website and couldn't find any notification about QuickTime for Windows getting tossed to the dogs. All I could find is this lame uninstall primer, last modified more than a month ago, which at its heart points you to an old Microsoft page with generic instructions for uninstalling programs.

 

Microsoft's removal instructions (which include a -- gasp -- Silverlight video) work for Windows 7 and Vista: Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features, then double-click on QuickTime (or click once and click Uninstall). For Windows 8.1 or 10, right-click Start and choose Control Panel, then follow the Win7 instructions. There's a cooler interface in Win10: Start > Settings > System > Apps & features, then click on QuickTime and click Uninstall. They all work the same way.

 

I've seen published reports all over the Web that Apple is ending support for QuickTime for Windows. But I have yet to hear anything from the horse's mouth. It's hard to understand why Apple would keep that kind of pronouncement under wraps for months.

 

Source: Uninstall QuickTime for Windows now! (InfoWorld - Woody Leonhard)

 

[thunderpants]

Thanks for posting the info.

I sometime use old versions of quicktime for old pc games .

I suppose the whole lot needs to be removed .

[Jordan]

Same infos already posted here.

[Jordan]

i use no codecs packs at all! (My players: MPC-HC and/or MCBE, Splash, PotPlayer)

i install some of them only for authoring programs whitch needs external codecs

[steven36]

The FBI  bought  exploits to hack IOS  now Homeland Security urges you to uninstall QuickTime on Windows. LOL. whats wrong with this picture ? 

 

It didn't install on  windows 10 with out a workaround no ways only the last updates were meant for Windows 7 . People in government  and people on old O/S  use outdated IE  needs to be patched for vulnerabilities  like these  every month but dont be patched anymore . 

 

Video production software like Source Filmmaker and Gopro studio requires QuickTime  , Lightroom wants QuickTime to play videos,  also AfterEffects needs it, Most installed  it for a codec not as a media player . And with all the free codecs  packs  and all the open source ones none can replace it for lots  of legacy software . This shows you what crap most shareware is that they still use close source codecs  and requires you too install 3rd party  programs  with vulnerabilities .  I tested the work around to QuickTime for windows 10 last summer and got it too install  and then i ended  up uninstalling it because i use open source  Video production software and no one needs it play videos for years its needed for its codec if you use certain  software 

 

 

[pc71520]

QuickTime for Windows Is Dead, and You Should Uninstall It to Stay Secure (by HTG)

[steven36]

 

Quote

 

Apple Stops Patching QuickTime for Windows Despite 2 Active Vulnerabilities

 

Apple:

If you no longer need QuickTime 7, here’s how to remove it from your PC.

 

They don’t say why you might want to do this, though.

Juli Clover:

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team today issued an alert recommending Windows users with QuickTime installed uninstall the software as new vulnerabilities have been discovered that Apple does not plan to patch.

Christopher Budd:

First, Apple is deprecating QuickTime for Microsoft Windows. They will no longer be issuing security updates for the product on the Windows Platform and recommend users uninstall it. Note that this does not apply to QuickTime on Mac OSX.

Second, our Zero Day Initiative has just released two advisories ZDI-16-241 and ZDI-16-242 detailing two new, critical vulnerabilities affecting QuickTime for Windows. These advisories are being released in accordance with the Zero Day Initiative’s Disclosure Policy for when a vendor does not issue a security patch for a disclosed vulnerability. And because Apple is no longer providing security updates for QuickTime on Windows, these vulnerabilities are never going to be patched.

Dan Goodin:

The retirement of QuickTime for Windows has been in the planning stages for at least a few months, and possibly much longer. Apple has never supported QuickTime for Windows 8 or 10, although some users found ways to work around the restriction. What’s more, the January update removed the browser plugin for QuickTime, making it impossible for video on websites to seamlessly play in a user’s browser. As a result, there’s little chance QuickTime vulnerabilities could be harnessed into a drive-by download exploit. Instead, exploits would have to rely on social engineering that convinces a user to download a video and open it in QuickTime.

Even so, Apple officials should have shown the courtesy to tell Windows users QuickTime was no longer receiving security updates, rather than leaving it to Trend Micro.

Rosyna Keller:

As for Adobe apps needing QuickTime on Windows, there’s also irony there. All indications were that Apple didn’t tell Adobe until everyone else found out. The same thing happened when Apple announced during a Carbon WWDC session that 64-bit HIToolbox was cancelled. This was the first time Adobe or anyone else learned about the cancellation.

Apparently, Lightroom 6 for Windows relies on QuickTime.

Update (2016-04-16): Nick Heer:

It’s easy enough to uninstall QuickTime, but a surprising number of programs on Windows list it as a dependency, including GoPro Studio and Cubase to run, and Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Traktor for various features.

Pierre Lebeaupin:

As far as users go, the average user now has a number of alternatives, starting with VLC, but there are a number of people working on Windows in media and media-related industries who will miss having a reference media player on their machine (iTunes’ just not the same thing). However, software developers who were still building against the QuickTime SDK and relying on QuickTime being installed on Windows should have seen it coming for some time: the writing has been on the wall for QuickTime for Windows since QuickTime X in 2009, when there was no corresponding update on the Windows side, which stayed on QuickTime 7.

http://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/04/15/apple-stops-patching-quicktime-for-windows-despite-2-active-vulnerabilities/

 

Sounds to me Apple only wants to make software for MAC OSX  because its only effects winders  . Microsoft tried to steal  QuickTime code once  Apple sued Microsoft and wom.

 

Quote

 

QuickTime for Windows vs QuickTime for Video for Windows 

Apple brought QuickTime to Windows by simply porting large chunks of the Macintosh's native drawing system. QuickTime performance on Windows was vastly better than Microsoft's Video for Windows because Apple bypassed the GDI Windows graphics subsystem. 

 

Microsoft and Intel were both shocked to find that Apple could deliver smooth video on the PC that was beyond what either company had imagined to be possible. When Microsoft requested a free license for QuickTime for Windows in 1993, Apple refused. 

 

Meanwhile, Intel wanted to accelerate Microsoft's Video for Windows in hardware. It approached Apple's partner Canyon to develop a video driver that would provide similar performance to QuickTime.

 

While knowing that Canyon possessed Apple's code, Intel did not specify that Canyon needed to do clean room development, and gave the company an unrealistically short timeframe to develop the code.

 

As expected, Canyon simply delivered Apple's code to Intel, which then licensed it to Microsoft. When Video for Windows suddenly improved in 1994, Apple investigated and found that Microsoft had simply stolen code from QuickTime in order to compete with QuickTime.

 

Apple sued and won an injunction that stopped Microsoft from distributing portions of the stolen code, and the case was eventually resolved as part of the 1997 agreement between the two companies.

 

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/592FE887-5CA1-4F30-BD62-407362B533B9.html

 

 

Another  software full of bugs  Microsoft  got sued for stealing  was Java and they lost in that case too  . I have  to ask what good does patching do?  every month they patch IE ,Java  and flash  and every month it needs patched  again for exploits   Its just a false sense of security  .  Reality is anything  man made  is a security vulnerability . You should never put you're faith in man to protect you . Millions  of people are on XP its not got and official  patch in 2 years  and they still used it .

 

Stop installing  programs  you dont really need the more software you have the more security vulnerabilities you have .