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Why You Need to Uninstall Apple QuickTime

by on April 21, 2016
in Software & Games, News, Computers and Software, Computer Safety & Support, Blog :: 10 comments

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Apple QuickTime icon

If a software program with serious security holes is installed on your computer and no fixes for the holes are forthcoming from its developer, what’s the best thing to do? Ditch the program, of course. This is exactly what the Department of Homeland Security‘s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is advising users to do with Apple QuickTime, a program that's was used by iTunes and websites to play video.

Citing a call to uninstall QuickTime for Windows by Trend Micro’s Global Communications Threat Manager Christopher Budd on the Trend Micro blog, the US-CERT is advising users to get rid of Apple QuickTime on their Windows computers.

Now that Apple will no longer be updating the QuickTime multimedia platform for Windows, Budd says, security patches and updates for the software will no longer be sent out to users and security vulnerabilities will to unfixed. Computers with QuickTime for Windows will be left vulnerable to remote attacks or exploitation by malicious users. The same can be said of Microsoft Windows XP and Oracle Java 6, for which developers have stopped plugging security holes.

Through its Zero Day Initiative program, Trend Micro found two crucial vulnerabilities in Apple QuickTime for Windows, although the company has not yet observed any attacks against the weak spots. But why wait for the attacks to come?

Both Apple and Trend Micro advise QuickTime users to shield their Windows computers from possible attacks by uninstalling QuickTime as soon as possible. In the words of the US-CERT:

Computers running QuickTime for Windows will continue to work after support ends. However, using unsupported software may increase the risks from viruses and other security threats. Potential negative consequences include loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of data, as well as damage to system resources or business assets. The only mitigation available is to uninstall QuickTime for Windows. 

Uninstalling the software is the “only way to protect your Windows systems from potential attacks against these or other vulnerabilities in Apple QuickTime now,” notes Budd. While there are no known active attacks against these vulnerabilities, it's best to uninstall QuickTime now. 

Not sure how to uninstall a program? Windows PCs have an easy uninstall feature that removes everything associated with an app. On all versions of Windows, head to Control Panel > Programs and Features, select a program and select uninstall. For Windows 10 and 8 users, hit the Windows key + X, and you'll see Control Panel in the list. 

Concerned about how what uninstalling QuickTime will do to your computer? Apple's iTunes no longer uses QuickTime and most websites don't require the program for playing videos, so it's safe fore most people to uninstall. There are only a few professional content creation tools for Windows that still require QuickTime.

[Image credit: Elmer Montejo/Techlicious]


Discussion loading

Thank you!

From Buster Chappell on April 21, 2016 :: 5:35 pm

Thank you!

Reply

Helpful

From spy android on May 03, 2016 :: 11:10 pm

I get notification about apple quicktime installation but ignores everytime. How can i disable this notification on my desktop. I’m using windows 10. Thanks

Reply

Question

From Kitty Petmecky on April 21, 2016 :: 8:47 pm

What about the videow that we have downloaded that require quicktime to run? Is there anyway to change the way to watch these videos?

Thank you!!!

Reply

There are other players you can use

From Josh Kirschner on April 21, 2016 :: 11:45 pm

I would recommend VLC Media Player. It is a far better than QuickTime and can handle almost every video format out there (and it’s free). You can download it here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html.

Reply

You may need to remove copy protection first

From Josh Kirschner on April 25, 2016 :: 12:25 pm

I forgot to add that in order to play the files on VLC or another media player, you may need to remove the Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection first. You can do tis with a number of video conversion tools out there which you can find in a quick Google search (I don’t have a specific recommendation).

Reply

I'm confused...I followed your instructions

From Deena Shorkey on April 22, 2016 :: 9:52 am

I’m confused…I followed your instructions to try to remove Quicktime, but in my programs and features list,Quicktime does not show up. However, iTunes do. Do I remove iTunes? Or, because Quicktime itself doesn’t show, do I perhaps have a version of iTunes that does not use Quicktime?I wasn’t sure if I should go ahead and remove iTunes or not…please clarify. Thanks in advance!

Reply

No, do not remove iTunes

From Josh Kirschner on April 25, 2016 :: 12:31 pm

You can continue to use iTunes for downloading and watching movies. This only applies to separate installs of QuickTime.

Reply

I have read this news

From Tim Berty on May 07, 2016 :: 1:39 am

I have read this news before and already uninstall the Apple Quick Times from my Windows computer. Too risk, right?

Reply

It seems Apple has released a new update

From Tony Tran on August 07, 2016 :: 3:06 am

Last month, I got a notification from Apple to update the QuickTime. So it seems Apple has updated its application and fix this zero-day error.

However, for sure, I have uninstalled this application. In fact, I have used both VideoLan (VLC) media player and QuickTime on my computer.

Reply

Angry with my Windows OS

From marian danciu on November 18, 2016 :: 1:16 pm

Wow, two months ago I was so angry with my Windows OS, so I started to use Linux Mint. The major problems on Windows was 2 players Bsplayer and of course QuickTime. Great info.

Reply

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