Realplayer security and privacy issues?

Realplayer security and privacy issues?

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Subject Author Date
Realplayer security and privacy issues? nemo 05-31-2005
Posted by nemo on May 31, 2005, 11:42 am
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I haven't posted here for ages so I suppose I'd better introduce myself as a
Newbie again.

I accidentally deleted my old version of RealPlayer and yesterday, I
downloaded the free basic version.

It installed OK, plays a few more types of file and the picture quality is
much improved. Fine I thought.

But during the install, it repeatedly asked me for my postcode which I'd
already submitted, (I have it listed as confidential info with a prompt
instruction) and more disturbingly, it removed the Block Cookies rule from
IE and my Norton firewall and used a huge number of them while installing.
Fortunately it only altered the setting from 'Block All' to 'Prompt' in the
firewall and that's how I realised what it had done.

And on top of that, this morning RealPlayer contacted
http://message.real.com/Msg/7.0/win32 resulting in my again being asked for
my postcode. (That's UK for Zip Code, BTW.)

The odd thing was - I didn't have RealPlayer running at the time and there's
nothing new showing as running in the background when I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Any ideas before I ditch the thing and do without it? Flash and Media Player
7 have already gone that way for phoning home.

Thanks in advance,

Nemo





Posted by nemo_outis on May 31, 2005, 12:43 pm
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> I haven't posted here for ages so I suppose I'd better introduce
> myself as a Newbie again.
>
> I accidentally deleted my old version of RealPlayer and yesterday, I
> downloaded the free basic version.
>
> It installed OK, plays a few more types of file and the picture
> quality is much improved. Fine I thought.
>
> But during the install, it repeatedly asked me for my postcode which
> I'd already submitted, (I have it listed as confidential info with a
> prompt instruction) and more disturbingly, it removed the Block
> Cookies rule from IE and my Norton firewall and used a huge number of
> them while installing. Fortunately it only altered the setting from
> 'Block All' to 'Prompt' in the firewall and that's how I realised what
> it had done.
>
> And on top of that, this morning RealPlayer contacted
> http://message.real.com/Msg/7.0/win32 resulting in my again being
> asked for my postcode. (That's UK for Zip Code, BTW.)
>
> The odd thing was - I didn't have RealPlayer running at the time and
> there's nothing new showing as running in the background when I hit
> CTRL+ALT+DEL.
>
> Any ideas before I ditch the thing and do without it? Flash and Media
> Player 7 have already gone that way for phoning home.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Nemo
>
Yup, what you need is "real alternative" which ,although it has to use a
few realplayer DLLs, is clean of spyware and doesn't phone home. It's
widely available on the net (free!) and I believe the latest version is
1.38. One place to get it:

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/real_alter
native.cfm

Regards,





Posted by David H. Lipman on May 31, 2005, 1:58 pm
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| I haven't posted here for ages so I suppose I'd better introduce myself as a
| Newbie again.
|
| I accidentally deleted my old version of RealPlayer and yesterday, I
| downloaded the free basic version.
|
| It installed OK, plays a few more types of file and the picture quality is
| much improved. Fine I thought.
|
| But during the install, it repeatedly asked me for my postcode which I'd
| already submitted, (I have it listed as confidential info with a prompt
| instruction) and more disturbingly, it removed the Block Cookies rule from
| IE and my Norton firewall and used a huge number of them while installing.
| Fortunately it only altered the setting from 'Block All' to 'Prompt' in the
| firewall and that's how I realised what it had done.
|
| And on top of that, this morning RealPlayer contacted
| http://message.real.com/Msg/7.0/win32 resulting in my again being asked for
| my postcode. (That's UK for Zip Code, BTW.)
|
| The odd thing was - I didn't have RealPlayer running at the time and there's
| nothing new showing as running in the background when I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL.
|
| Any ideas before I ditch the thing and do without it? Flash and Media Player
| 7 have already gone that way for phoning home.
|
| Thanks in advance,
|
| Nemo
|

There have ben several vulbnerabilities noted in RealAudio. There are also
exploits for the
vulnerabilities and require replacing the software, patching the software or
upgrading the
version.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm




Posted by nemo on May 31, 2005, 4:00 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options

>
> | I haven't posted here for ages so I suppose I'd better introduce myself
as a
> | Newbie again.
> |
> | I accidentally deleted my old version of RealPlayer and yesterday, I
> | downloaded the free basic version.
> |
> | It installed OK, plays a few more types of file and the picture quality
is
> | much improved. Fine I thought.
> |
> | But during the install, it repeatedly asked me for my postcode which I'd
> | already submitted, (I have it listed as confidential info with a prompt
> | instruction) and more disturbingly, it removed the Block Cookies rule
from
> | IE and my Norton firewall and used a huge number of them while
installing.
> | Fortunately it only altered the setting from 'Block All' to 'Prompt' in
the
> | firewall and that's how I realised what it had done.
> |
> | And on top of that, this morning RealPlayer contacted
> | http://message.real.com/Msg/7.0/win32 resulting in my again being asked
for
> | my postcode. (That's UK for Zip Code, BTW.)
> |
> | The odd thing was - I didn't have RealPlayer running at the time and
there's
> | nothing new showing as running in the background when I hit
CTRL+ALT+DEL.
> |
> | Any ideas before I ditch the thing and do without it? Flash and Media
Player
> | 7 have already gone that way for phoning home.
> |
> | Thanks in advance,
> |
> | Nemo
> |
>
> There have ben several vulbnerabilities noted in RealAudio. There are
also exploits for the
> vulnerabilities and require replacing the software, patching the software
or upgrading the
> version.
>
> --
> Dave
> http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
> http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm
>
>
Thanks. I'll ditch the thing. It's not worth the trouble.
Nemo




Posted by Jim Watt on May 31, 2005, 9:54 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options

>I haven't posted here for ages so I suppose I'd better introduce myself as a
>Newbie again.
>
>I accidentally deleted my old version of RealPlayer and yesterday, I
>downloaded the free basic version.
>
>It installed OK, plays a few more types of file and the picture quality is
>much improved. Fine I thought.
>
>But during the install, it repeatedly asked me for my postcode which I'd
>already submitted, (I have it listed as confidential info with a prompt
>instruction) and more disturbingly, it removed the Block Cookies rule from
>IE and my Norton firewall and used a huge number of them while installing.
>Fortunately it only altered the setting from 'Block All' to 'Prompt' in the
>firewall and that's how I realised what it had done.
>
>And on top of that, this morning RealPlayer contacted
>http://message.real.com/Msg/7.0/win32 resulting in my again being asked for
>my postcode. (That's UK for Zip Code, BTW.)
>
>The odd thing was - I didn't have RealPlayer running at the time and there's
>nothing new showing as running in the background when I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL.
>
>Any ideas before I ditch the thing and do without it? Flash and Media Player
>7 have already gone that way for phoning home.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Nemo

Its a bit of software I have a love hate relationship with.

I currently have the latest version, however noted it wants to run
something called tkbell which I think inqures about updates and
whatever devious stuff real player gets up to.

I deleted the .exe as it kept putting back registry keys, it works
a lot better without it and my memory has less crap running in the
background.



>

--
Jim Watt
http://www.gibnet.com


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