back to article US-CERT advice says kill Quicktime for Windows, quickly

US-CERT has echoed The Register's advice to the effect that if you're running Quicktime for Windows, it's time to delete it. Right now. The United States' Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Response Team's advice comes after Apple took Quicktime for Windows for its long drive down a country road. As noted by …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MYOB

    Shame for MYOB users. Most MYOB products have a bizarre dependency on Quicktime for putting logos on forms.

  2. a_yank_lurker

    Next

    When will the advisory to eliminate Flash coming?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Next

      Soon as very expensive enterprise equipment stops requiring Flash for their control panels...

    2. gollux

      Re: Next

      As soon as Stooge Software, err, ahem, Sage stops pushing it for their Visual Workflows tripe.

      Their SOP install for their Sage 100 product leaves the central server wide open for ransomware takedown. You'd think that Client Server meant that the client wouldn't run with enough rights on the server to directly access and modify files, oh, who am I kidding. Every workstation on the network should automatically have read/write access to the data table files, 'cause, you know, Crystal Reports... even though it's only server processes on the server that actually modify the files.

    3. big_D Silver badge

      Re: Next

      I haven't had Flash on my machines for over a year and I can't remember the last time I used QuickTime, probably around 2009.

    4. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Next

      Ugh. I had to reinstall Flash since that buggy POS known as Firefox can't get its act together on Linux and properly support fragmented MP4s and streaming for YouTube.

      And no, I'm not upgrading from 38.7.1ESR since I lose things like fine-grain cookie control and LOTS of other things I need.

  3. gollux

    Is Crapple still trying to get you to reinstall Quacktime 7.7.9 when you run Apple Update?

    They announce it's abandonware and are still pushing it, must not like Windows users.

    1. Don Dumb
      Facepalm

      Quicktime is very much still there

      Just checked Apple Software Update on my Windows box. Quicktime is there (although not checked). However the text on the description is fantastic. This is the first line-

      "QuickTime 7.7.9 improves security and is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users on Windows."

      Considering this is text pulled from their servers today, you would think Apple might want to be responsible and put some sort of health warning up front. But apparently no.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Quicktime is very much still there

        Improving security is not the same as making it good.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      iTunes

      I'm used to unchecking QuickTime when I update iTunes. I last did so last fall, but I can't recall if it still wanted to (or gave the option to) install QuickTime as well.

      Hopefully Apple has removed that option, at least for those who don't have QuickTime at all (it would make sense to preserve the option if you have an older version installed)

  4. Mystic Megabyte

    Serious question

    Can iPad owners view the BBC News videos and watch iPlayer content? If so, I could spoof my user agent and dump Flash forever.

    1. Teiwaz

      Re: Serious question - News Flash

      "view the BBC News videos and watch iPlayer content?"

      You don't need Flash for iplayer, I can use iplayer without adobes nasty, but I still get no news vids without Flash.

  5. TeeCee Gold badge
    Facepalm

    Yeah.....right.....

    If and when HTML5 takes off, HTML5 exploits (especially WebKit ones) will become highly valuable.

    I strongly suspect that the gap between it becoming really popular and the first mass pwnage using it as an attack vector will be measured in picoseconds......

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yeah.....right.....

      You're half right. HTML5 browser features are surely full of holes (check any webkit/chrome/firefox changelog in the last few years). No need for web developers and users to embrace HTML5, though - it's in everyone's browsers and one cannot simply uninstall it like Flash.

      HTML5 largely is a JS port of Flash.

  6. x 7

    problem is......a lot of video editing packages depend on Quicktime to provide hi-def playback

    1. TRT Silver badge

      It's actually not a bad little program. With the editing functionality as well in the premium version (I got a free serial number as an educator way way back which still works!) it was a quick and dirty transcoder and trimmer. Run it in a sand box?

      1. Loud Speaker

        Personally, I would run it in the cat litter box. Much more appropriate.

        If you want any security, why are you using Windows?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    US-CERT advice says kill Quicktime for Windows, quickly

    FTFY. Actually, kill them both, and Flash too.

    1. Charles 9

      And for those of us with software that REQUIRES Windows and/or Flash to run and has no alternatives (oh, and is WINE-unfriendly)?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I have a bit of it myself, confined to a crap laptop along with all my other shit-for-security software. If I couldn't do without it, I'd be desperately searching for alternatives now. The shit is really starting to hit the proverbial fan.

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