RealPlayer download

[memesuze]

As part of work assignment, I have to download RealOne Player so that I can watch a Texas Legislature committee hearing. In the past I have avoided RealPlayer because of concerns over its spyware actions. However, now I don't have a choice.Do you have any hints about what I should be doing to keep the install clean and mean, and to prevent as much info as possible from going back to Real?TIA, memesuze[using W98SE]

[Big Jeff]

Yes, go to Tools> Preferences> Internet settings and uncheck all the boxes in the upper half of the pop-up box.Then Tools> Preferences> Automatic Services and uncheck all the boxes there.Then Tools> Preferences> Automatic Services> Auto Update and uncheck the box there.Make sure you close RealOne when you're done with it and periodically check those settings, sometimes they come back. Good luck.

[dicknite]

I too dislike realplayer - ever since the "Oh Yeah, we ARE collecting all your personal information - but we PROMISE not to compile it with your credit card or other data we received when you ordered.... Oh! Wait - I guess we ARE doing that too...." fiasco a couple of years ago.I have 2 programs running at all times, on all my machines. They are both by a guy named Mike Lin - they are Startup Control Panel (installs into Control Panel), and Startup Monitor.What these do, is this:Startup Monitor: If ANY program tries to make itself auto start with windows, from the registry, startup menu, or whatever, a window pops up asking if you want that to happen. Simple yes or no click. EVERY TIME YOU USE REAL PLAYER IT TRIES TO SET ITSELF UP TO RUN HIDDEN. Every time I have to use real player, the window pops up and I have to tell it NO. Realplayer works fine still.Startup Control Panel: This is similar to msconfig. You can turn on or off any programs that are loading at startup - whether through the startup menu or the registry. This way, if for some reason you just HAVE to let something run at startup, you can go in right after that and turn off it's auto starting.Also, when you want to run a defrag, scandisk, or install that requires nothing else running, you can pull up Control Panel and turn everything off - then re-boot. Machine will start up with minimal programs running. Then when you are done, turn them back on and reboot - back to normal!I wouldn't be without these two programs. Both freeware (donationware?) at: http://www.mlin.net/You won't be sorry.d|:^)Dick

[Big Jeff]

Hi dicknite,Thanks for the tip on Mike Lin's "Startup Monitor". I didn't know about it and can't wait to try it. I have been using Startup CPL for over a year. It's easy to use and not as confusing as msconfig can be.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

AdAware 6.0 from LavaSoft should catch any running adwares running on the system after installation of RealOne. I personally have ditched it because I can't bare with the low quality performance from bloated RealPlayer. I wish I could help you out more, but currently only RealOne can play "stream video" But I believe there is one freeware that can play Real stream audio.. If I remember it, I will post the link here.ThunderRiver

[Mike]

I've got RealPLayer 8 since I did not like the subscription model they wanted to go to with RealOne... and it streams just fine...

[Guest LilBambi]

Also if you are using ZoneAlarm or another personal firewall on your computer, you can set it to ask when RealOne tries to access the net. That way you have an opportunity to say yea or nay to whether it can access the Internet at any given time.I do the same thing with Acrobat Reader which ALWAYS tries to access the net even when reading a local .pdf file, and with any other audio players on my computer.

[Arena2045]

Big Jeff,Great post on which options should be off to maximize privacy!ThunderRiver,Excellent point about using AdAware 6 to remove any spyware.LilBambi,I do exactly what you do! I dislike the RealOne player, but every-so-often I come across audio samples (Amazon.com for example) that requires it. All I have to do is simply grant net access to it, via ZoneAlarm when I need to use it.And Acrobat... I have Acrobat 5 (the full version) and I swear it constantly keeps checking the net for updates, even though I have the option OFF in the preferences. ZoneAlarm put a stop to that.

[Big Jeff]

With Acrobat, I go into Task Manager and kill it when I'm done with it. (AcroRd32.exe)

[Stryder]

I found this interesting if you are using Real One. I downloaded it just to see how bad it was about phoning home(Real products have not been on my machine until today for this test in about 2 or 3 years). I am using using XP, ZA Pro 3.7 and IE. Make sure IE is closed to start with:Open up ZA'a control panel. Go to "Program Control", "Main" tab. Change your "Program Control" settings from medium to high. Then fire up IE. And watch all the warning boxes pop up about Real wanting to piggy-back on IE's connection to the internet. The multiple warning boxes are something to the effect of "Do you wish to allow Real to use IE to connect to the internet?". And this is with ALL of Real's settings shut down and Real not started. I even went to contr/alt/del to make sure nothing from Real was running in the Task Manager. And nothing was. So I have come to the conclussion that the folks at Real are gonna gather info on you no matter what you do in the player settings/preferences. It is gonna use IE.Just thought I would share this with you all.

[memesuze]

Thanks to everyone; I'll try to use my manager's machine so I don't have to d/l RealOne. If that doesn't work, I'll use all your suggestions and then get rid of that puppy as soon as my assignment ends.memesuze

[Guest LilBambi]

When I downloaded the RealOne player ZoneAlarm really helped with the identification of what was going on just like Stryder was saying.I started doing some checking. I found that if you use selective startup options in Start|Run|msconfig.exe and uncheck the items listed for the RealOne player and reboot, it never loads it again UNTIL you run the RealOne player again. Then it will load it again at boot time and that ~appears~ to be the thing that triggers the IE thing Stryder was talking about.So I started going back in and unchecking it, rebooting, and not opening it at all except when I couldn't use any other format to play something. Then I would immediately reboot, uncheck the items again and reboot again.After awhile I just got sick of it and deleted the whole shooting match off my computer and made sure it was still unchecked in msconfig, deleted the directories. And went through and manually made sure there were no references to any Real things in my registry. Then I reinstalled an old G2Player, which will play some older files that I have locally.I will never use the RealOne again. If I can't listen to something that requires RealOne, then I find something else to listen to.I am highly offended at their intrusive nature. Plus they have had at least 3 security related issues as well. And they were slow about fixing them. And when they are that intrusive and don't fix their bugs quickly as far as I am concerned ... Three strikes and their outa here!

[Guest LilBambi]

LilBambi,I do exactly what you do!  I dislike the RealOne player, but every-so-often I come across audio samples (Amazon.com for example) that requires it.  All I have to do is simply grant net access to it, via ZoneAlarm when I need to use it.And Acrobat... I have Acrobat 5 (the full version) and I swear it constantly keeps checking the net for updates, even though I have the option OFF in the preferences.  ZoneAlarm put a stop to that. 

I hear ya Arena!

[Scot]

Wow, I can't believe how in unison we all are in hating this product. I thought I was one of the few. Although, I'm not sure which I hate more, Windows Media Player or RealPlayer.Some quick comments about avoiding hassles with RealPlayer:1. They make it very hard to find, but there is a RealPlayer/RealONE "Basic" available for download. You have to really search and search, and it's like a shell game because they move it around. It attempts to install less stuff.2. Give them a bogus email address in the program install/first start. xxx@xxx.com usually works.3. Go very, very slowly through the installation options screens. One of their favorite tricks is to have options pre-checked that appear below the visible window. So scroll every screen to the end during installation.I go through a very extensive process whenever I install this thing. Once I do that, it gives me no trouble at all. What's more, Ad-aware, which I use regularly, and which is on the Scot's Newsletter Top Product! list, does not find anything wrong with Real software installed on my PC. (Nor Spy-Bot for that matter.)I have found that RealONE is really not all that different. I have both on my machine. I still have the RealPlayer 7 Basic installer and even it works fine with all current media I have tried. On one computer, actually it's this one, I installed RealONE with default options to see how bad it was.You don't want to do it. -- ScotP.S. This topic maybe should be a story in the newsletter. Which do you hate more, Windows Media Player or RealONE?

[Guest LilBambi]

It's a 'real' close call between WMP and RealOne, but I would have to say RealOne wins my all time media player hate award.I generally use Winamp2.81 (latest security update from the Winamp Classic site with the CDDB library thing turned off unless I need it, and all ability to talk to the net neutered except for mp3 media streams.I really do not like where these media players are going at all.

[Frank]

I think that the only thing that I dislike worse that Real Player is AOL. Well--the other day, I needed Real Player for something so I downloaded and installed it. And, wouldn't you know, it put an AOL icon on my desktop. That sort of ticked me off. So, I just un-installed it and deleted the AOL stuff that it put there. Since I dislike Real Player so much, before I installed it, I went to System Restore and created a restore point. Then after I un-installed Real Player, I went back and restored my system to that point. So, now I know it's gone. At least, I think it's all gone. And from now on, I'll just make due without Real Player.Frank

[Guest LilBambi]

Oh, now you've done it! Don't get me started on AOL ... OK, there are few things I hate ... and that's a fact .... but ...I hate RealOne, AOL, and WindowsME (the haunted OS) !!

[Big Jeff]

I'm with you on the Evil Trio, LilBambi. You don't want to hear my AOL rant, either. However, I refuse to deprive myself of the content I receive via RealOne (basic free version). I get the content (mostly NPR programming not available locally), and they get as little as possible from me in return. I like to think I win in the long run.

[Guest LilBambi]

I hear ya Jeff

[Frank]

I feel bad because I was so negative about AOL. Everything has it's good points, and it wasn't fair of me not to mention the good along with the bad. I might have mentioned this before--I'm not sure--but it is worth repeating. I really did find something good concerning all those free CDs that AOL sends out. This should be of interest to Scot because I see where one of his interests is gardening. I have a small garden in my back yard and the darn birds are always pecking at the leaves of my young plants. OK--here's the good thing that I promised you. Take all of those AOL CDs that you have, and let them hang from a piece of string in the garden. As the wind twirls them around and the sun reflects off of them, it will scared the heck out of the birds. They won't come near you garden again. Good point number 2: All the CDs out there will not even take over your garden like they want to do if you install them on your system!

[memesuze]

Thanks for all the advice: I installed RealPlayer 8. I still haven't given them an email address or registered and I very carefully kept all boxes unchecked. Now for some followup questions:Is RealOne Player the only Real product that is sending information home? Does RealOne basic not have the spyware? I thought there had been spyware issues in some of the earlier versions.References I've seen to sending the stuff back to Real have used IE as the conduit. Does that also hold true for other browsers?I had unchecked the Real item in my msconfig startup, but each time I boot up, it appears rechecked. What am I doing wrong? memesuze

[Guest LilBambi]

I feel bad because I was so negative about AOL.  Everything has it's good points, and it wasn't fair of me not to mention the good along with the bad.  I might have mentioned this before--I'm not sure--but it is worth repeating.  I really did find something good concerning all those free CDs that AOL sends out.  This should be of interest to Scot because I see where one of his interests is gardening.  I have a small garden in my back yard and the darn birds are always pecking at the leaves of my young plants.  OK--here's the good thing that I promised you.  Take all of those AOL CDs that you have, and let them hang from a piece of string in the garden.  As the wind twirls them around and the sun reflects off of them, it will scared the heck out of the birds.  They won't come near you garden again.  Good point number 2: All the CDs out there will not even take over your garden like they want to do if you install them on your system!

Great one!The gardening trick is great ... we've used it ourselves.We also use them as coasters

[Guest LilBambi]

Thanks for all the advice: I installed RealPlayer 8. I still haven't given them an email address or registered and I very carefully kept all boxes unchecked. Now for some followup questions:Is RealOne Player the only Real product that is sending information home? Does RealOne basic not have the spyware? I thought there had been spyware issues in some of the earlier versions.References I've seen to sending the stuff back to Real have used IE as the conduit. Does that also hold true for other browsers?I had unchecked the Real item in my msconfig startup, but each time I boot up, it appears rechecked. What am I doing wrong? memesuze

Is this RealPlayer 8 or the already uninstalled RealOne that's still coming back in your msconf startup listing?Did you disable the Start Center in RealPlayer 8?

[imranj]

Thanks to all u ppl who have posted about real one...i have just installed it and am using all yur tips and not to's to fix real player for good,although i use WMP 9 for all my media needs....i just wanted to try out Real oneas it was said in one post they make it really hard to get the free version....i got this version from a mag's cd.....so its locking down time dude's

[Guest LilBambi]

imranj --I hear ya!

[havnblast]

I agree I hate Realone more than WMP grrrrrr no program needs to bury itself like that. Same thing for AOL it does not have to take control of your computer that is pure Evil. Don't do AOL and you will be much happier.

[Guest LilBambi]

Oh, and speaking of AOL ...If you want to have a truly haunted OS ...Combine AOL and Windows ME ... then do some major (read: huge) WindowsUpdates on dialup!

[Guest LilBambi]

OK, I am on a rant about RealOne again See Audio Player Security Topic for more info on the the latest in a long line of security problems for this, I guess it's a audio player, RealOne.Plus we can add in a surprising security problem with QT for Windows too for good measure Mac users are off the hook on these ... again

[gadget]

Have to say I can't disagree with any off this, hate Real Player and AOL in equal ammounts, closely followed by WMP!!Has anyone found/looked for an alternative that can use the Real Player codecs and solve all this agro, or is there a player available that can player Real Player files, apart from Real Player that is.I have looked briefly in the past, but never in depth, guess I was hoping to stumble across something in my travels around the Net butr haven't yet

[mjhillyer]

I have found three programs that help some of these problems.Startup Cop does the same thing that mscofig does but allows you to set up unique profiles that can be called from the command line. You still have to reboot but you can create a start up profile that only starts the programs that you want regardless of what might have been installed in the last session. (Free)Enditall does a wonderful job of killing any program that are currently running on the machine. It does a much better job than task manager. (Free)NetSwitcher, besides allowing more than one network setup, allows you to call a unique Startup Cop profile on shutdown so that you can adjust start up programs for location. (Cheap)