Real Player = spyware?

Carlosinfl

Loves the juice
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
6,633
I thought I read somewhere that real player is "spyware" and was just wondering how so or if that was resolved with previous version of real player?

Thanks for the clarification.
 
Well it's very possible... It's definetely bloatware from my experience.

I prefer to use Real Alternative. Much better.

Also I like Quicktime Alternative as well.

They work like a charm.
 
Another vote for Real/QT Alternative. The codecs aren't bad, but the rest of their products are.
 
Real should be killed for the shitty software they release. It wasn't too bad until Real One came out. Holy cluster fuck batman! Just shitty ass software designed to take over your whole computer. I hate Real, and because of that, I avoid anything .rm, I wish everyone else would too so their crappy company would die already. :mad:
/rant
 
God I hate QuickTime and RealPlayer
frown.gif
I'll have to try out that alternative thing... but I just use this thing called VLC to play .mov files. It can also play .cue, .bin and dvd files
smile.gif
I have yet to see a file it cannot play.
 
I won't even begin to start ranting on realplayer and quicktime, not enough time for that. I also use Real and QT alternatives, and never going back.

RealPlayer is a virus if you ask me. If you select not to associat files, or place shortcuts during the install, it does anyway. To top it off, after I install it, my Windows Media Player icons are gone. Every time I ran RP, they would dissapear. :mad:
 
Ironically, Real One for Mac OS X is actually a very good light media player, and every version before it sucked royally. It does exactly what it's supposed to do, is not bloated at all and doesn't place any files anywhere outside its ~/Library/...folder. QT is also actually quite good in Mac OS X, but that's hardly surprising.
 
If you're talking Quicktime for Windows, there's a lot wrong with it. It is very bulky just like RealOne Player, and the codecs are rather inefficient due to the conversion from RISC computing. I've even had cases where iTunes would take full control of someone's CDROM without it even running and wouldn't let them eject their CDROM, the button wouldn't even work!

I uninstalled iTunes and the computer was fine again.
 
Hiyruu said:
Actually, there is nothing wrong with Quicktime.

For starters, no fullscreen option unless you buy the pro version, and the annoying nag screen you get every other time telling you to buy the pro version. :rolleyes:
 
jimnms said:
For starters, no fullscreen option unless you buy the pro version, and the annoying nag screen you get every other time telling you to buy the pro version.
rolleyes.gif
Those are the two biggest reasons I dislike it. and it also starts up when you start the comp when I didn't tell it to
frown.gif
 
Realplayer was one of the first "spyware" programs out there that was discovered by someone who noticed it was communicationg back to Real's servers with information several years ago. When he wrote Real about it they originally denied it, but one of the online rags got a hold of the information and Real came out and admitted they were doing it. They since had added some clause in the EULA that gives them permission to do it. So if you install it, you are agreeing they can do it.
 
jimnms said:
For starters, no fullscreen option unless you buy the pro version, and the annoying nag screen you get every other time telling you to buy the pro version. :rolleyes:
Plus a user interface from hell. I can't stand it.
 
...Which is exactly why I don't let Real player within 1000 feet of my computer. Media Player Classic + Real Player alternative codec is better, and I never liked the Real player interface.
 
I got the version they give to BBC listeners. It doesn't nag, or have spyware, but perhaps it is a little bloaty... works fine
 
ChingChang said:
Those are the two biggest reasons I dislike it. and it also starts up when you start the comp when I didn't tell it to
frown.gif

Yes, forgot about that. I disabled it, and it's a pain to get rid of. If you just remove the startup item with msconfig, it puts it right back when you run QT again. You have to go to the QT directory and delete/rename the qttask.exe file so it wont start.

lomn75 said:
Plus a user interface from hell. I can't stand it.
I didn't say that was all I disliked about it, those were just the two biggest ones. When I get a few hours free, I'll write down everything I hate about QT. :D
 
just from what I read, all dislike this media player but there is no prrof that it is actually spyware...
 
carloswill said:
just from what I read, all dislike this media player but there is no prrof that it is actually spyware...
Even if it's not spyware, the package still sucks ass. It is too dominering, it likes to try and be your only program. Shortcuts here, auto launchers there, popups somewhere else, shitty codec to begin with over there, etc...
 
i dont believe that the player itself is spyware, but some of the applications bundled with it are questionable. And it so naggy that you might as well call it adware.
 
Yes, forgot about that. I disabled it, and it's a pain to get rid of. If you just remove the startup item with msconfig, it puts it right back when you run QT again. You have to go to the QT directory and delete/rename the qttask.exe file so it wont start.

Try going into the Quicktime preferences and turning it off, the system tray icon.


just from what I read, all dislike this media player but there is no prrof that it is actually spyware...

Go check out in options all the crap they are sending back to thier servers and come back and tell me it isn't spyware.
 
Real has always been a big stinking tolet wash of crap . I used it once a long long time ago, and never again. I will never use it or install it. may it die...
 
lomn75 said:
Plus a user interface from hell. I can't stand it.

For just playing short clips (say, a recently downloaded low-res clip from HL2 or whatever), I'd say the interface in QT is actually quite good. For watching movies and such, full screen things, a more light weight, smaller and separate controller is, IMO, vastly superior.
 
Zlash said:
Try going into the Quicktime preferences and turning it off, the system tray icon.
All that does is hide the icon, it still loads that qttask.exe on startup.
 
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