Re: iTunes: Apple's New Spyware and Adware Application?

[Nick FitzGerald <nick () virus-l demon co uk>]

David Lodge wrote:

<<snip>>
> To be honest I'm not surprised - Apple seem to like getting their name and  
> stuff everywhere, cf Quicktime on Windows: you have to install iTunes  
> along with it (though you can uninstall it separately) ...

That is incorrect.

You simply did not scroll far enough down the QuickTime page to find 
the links to the "standalone installer", which is devoid of iTunes.

> ... plus it puts a task  
> in the registry to start up on reboot - *everytime you run it*. It's a  
> sodding media player WTF would I want it to consume CPU cycles  
> continuously!

Not that I'm defending them here -- I agree this is utterly sucky 
behaviour -- but they are simply copying a very disturbing trend that 
_the makers of way too many apps in general_ have been doing for too 
long without being criticized.  Real's media players do the same (and 
have for a long time, as do scads of other popular apps that install 
"update checkers" -- remove the frigging things from the various 
startup locations they occupy then run the associated app and, if you 
are running with sufficient privileges, the app "restores" the update 
checker startup without missing a beat.


Regards,

Nick FitzGerald

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