January 13th, 2006
New Quicktime Update Isn’t Worth the Headache
By David Johnston
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
If you haven’t kept your Quicktime software up-to-date, consider yourself lucky. Though the latest update to 7.0.4 was supposed to close up a vulnerability that allowed a hacker to take over both Windows and Mac computers, it has ended up causing more headaches than it’s worth for many users. According to CNet, it is Mac users who are facing the majority of the problems with this new update. Apparently the update is suspected of removing critical application files, being unable to play movies, and losing preferences set by users of the Pro version. The Windows version is also not exempt from bugs. Some users are reporting that the 7.0.4 update has broken Quicktime’s ability to access the internet.
Apple has published a tool for Mac OS which will roll back Quicktime to 7.0.1. That patch can be found here. Windows users, however, have no such patch as of yet. I’m hoping Apple will fix the issues with 7.0.4 soon, though luckily I haven’t updated and I’m still running 7.0.3. I’d suggest you do the same until the problems are fixed.
Source: CNet
Dave says:
I thought it was just me, but ever since I upgraded to Quicktime 7.0.x on Windows XP, I’ve run into .MOV files that won’t play, problems with rewinding and FF’ing videos, 100% CPU lock-ups, etc. I upgraded to be able to play HD movies, but am now thinking I should go to OldVersion.com and re-install 6.x.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
David Johnston says:
If you’re really looking to dump Quicktime, but still want to be able to play Quicktime files/movies, then have a look at Quicktime Alternative. I always use Real Alternative myself, though I tend to use the official Quicktime client. http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm
January 13th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Michael Santo says:
Apple has an uninstaller here that backs up the version to 7.01.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Michael Santo says:
Oops, too fast. Here’s the link for the uninstaller:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime701reinstallerforquicktime704.html
January 13th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Alan says:
In some cases, Quicktime’s Firefox plugin also appears to continually churn a small amount of cpu, and re-read folders over and over again, even when you’re not playing any movies in Firefox. At least that’s what I observed using Sysinternals Filemon and ProcessExplorer, on my box.
January 14th, 2006 at 8:59 am