Comments on: QuickTime patch hits trouble

Recent security update to Apple's popular media player causes system problems, some Mac OS X and Windows users say.

[Stating]

I Couldn't Use The Automatic Update

I was not able to update Quicktime by using the Update tab within the product. I received a "software update failed to communicate with server" message. My next step was to manually download the new version of Quicktime and do a fresh install. That failed too, resulting in an "unable to find quicktime.msi" message. I searched the Apple forum and found a discussion about this problem and the workaround, which is to delete the Quicktime installation entry in the Windows Registry. After I did that I was able to install the new version. Of course, as always, the product insisted on creating a startup run key in the Registry and associating itself with all my audio files, even though that is not what I wanted or requested. Clock time time to install the patch: over 1 hour. Frustration (real feel) time to install the patch: 2 hours.

Note to Apple and other software engineers: Stop requiring the customer to keep around on their computers large .msi files that equal the size of the software program itself. A simple 100K un-install program should be sufficient. 2X software bloat is just nuts.

[Thomas, David]

About MSI and Software Engineers

Don't blame us SEs, msi files are a recommended by their creator,
Microsoft. From there, it gets a little tricky. Suffice it to say, msi
are practically required for distribution applications wholesale.

[TonyVazquez]

Terrible timing, Apple

This QuickTime trouble hits just as Microsoft announces they'll no
longer develop a Mac version of Windows Media Player. WMP on the
Mac has always been a dog, but this forces a format showdown,
which Apple never wins despite superior products. And this
(falsely) provides ammo for those motivated to say that the
normally excellent QuickTime is not superior.

[MelloMac]

Deleted Stuff

This update deleted nearly all my utilities in the applications folder.
I love Macs, but this is unheard of. I will have to reinstall osx just to
get back my utilities. completely insane.

[Mad Dog - Chi]

No problem!

No problem to restore your files - just revert to the backup that you made just prior to installing the upgrade.

What, no backup? That's not very smart...

[evolutionradio2005]

no problems here

installed quicktime version 7.0.4 within a day after it was posted
and have not had any problems so far. i use final cut pro 5
extensively for video editing and it continues to work just as
before. i also have not had any problems with quicktime 7.0.4 in
my web browser or in itunes. video actually runs a lot more
smoothly in itunes, but not sure whether this has to do with the
quicktime update or itunes update.

people have also mentioned in the past that they had trouble
with quicktime 7.0.3 and had to revert back to 7.0.1. i did not
have any problems with that release either. either i'm just lucky
or it has to do with the way people have their machines set up.

[ctambour]

QTime windows not 7.04 available

On 1-11-06 I called Support (In Maryland) and talked to Esra (unsure of spelling), an operator, who called Tech support which said the Patch for Windows QuickTime was not ready to be put on-line. No specific date was given other than "Soon", maybe within a week.
I told her my automatic update hadn't worked in over a month since before my last update to 7.0.3.50 (I bought Pro)which I had to find manually after reading about it in the news. I asked if she could check to see if she got the same error message on her QTime update "Connection with QuickTime Server could not be established". She said I should try to download Qtime from the Apple Site, which was accomplished, proving I could connect to the Server. Again I asked if she could try (It takes about 10 seconds to get the error message) and she said she didn't have a machine with windows that was connected on-line. I then asked her to ask Tech Support to try and was told they too didn't have a windows supported computer connected on-line and simply remember to check the Apple Site for the Update when available. Literally unbelievable.
Stick with the free version.

[Goose]

What problems?

I never had a problem, why? because I don't f@#k around with
my system and I follow Apple's upgrade procedure (fix
permissions, check disk, etc.)
A lot of my users change their permissions (no idea why, UNIX
newebies trying to make their system more secure?) or run
questionable apps that "fix" their systems.
Some apps give you access to special features that are hidden
for a good reason if you don't know what you are doing, don't
f'n touch it.

[chriswaco]

Flip4Mac might be the cause

I find that Flip4Mac, which I installed about the same time as the
latest QuickTime, seems to be causing all sorts of crashes.

I don't know for certain that it is the only cause, but uninstalling it
seems to have helped.

[pfelix]

I don't think so...

I have both QuickTime Pro 7.0.4 and Flip4Mac 2.0 on my
PowerBook G4 and iMac G4 and I haven't noticed any problem as so
far. No crashes, no files deleted nor other problems some users are
commenting.

[Sboston]

Funny

"Anyone with any clue on how to regain my pro features in QuickTime without buying Steve Jobs another turtleneck?" she asked in the support forum.

Now THATS funny! :)

I'm sure they will get it fixed.

[walterwood]

They Have Bug - You Pay More

I got a digital camera that produced QuickTime .MOV files about 18 months ago. At that time and in order to provide some very basic editing capability I invested in QuickTime Pro 6 for $20. Now that Apple has found a bug in their software I have to pay them to get the bug fixed or risk serious harm to my computer and keep the same functionality.

I realize that they are now at version 7 but QuickTime 6 Pro met my needs. With the patch, my total cost will be $50. What a ripoff!

I am looking for another solution than QuickTime.

[Darwin Hall]

What Am I Missing Here?

If you have not made the leap to QT 7, don't. If QT 6 works for
you, by all means, stay there. I went to QT 7 when I went to
Tiger. I got Flip4Mac back then too, about the same time I got
VLC, all products that keep me laughing at Ballmer (I actually like
Bill Gates, from afar-at least he's trying to build things in this
world). I am curious about the issues people are having- is my
G4 sparing me problems G5's are having? Or, like someone
mentioned, is it my regular use of Disk Utility to keep my
permissions in line?

[dizzle662]

My problem has been, I have not been able to download itunes or quicktime at all. When I go to download it, the progress bar fills all the way up, then it says "Rollback action" and the progress bar goes from full, back to nothing. Then it says, "quicktime was unable to install properly." Has anyone else encounted a problem like this? Any helpful information to correct this problem would be greatly appreciated.