Quicktime Player & Windows News: Spoof or Real? What’s up with that?

OK everybody. I was freaked out yesterday when I read a number of stories from credible resources including CNN, Forbes, and Trendmicro stating that Homeland Security warns Windows PC users to immediately remove Quicktime Player due to security flaws.  And Apple was no longer supporting the product. The story was first reported last Friday, April 15.

The product is in my toolbox, specifically on my laptop.  It’s Quicktime Player Pro (the paid version). It’s used to convert video sound to audio wav or mp3 for production purposes. And it’s on a number of PC’s. And probably on a number of my voice-over friends’ Windows computers. I posted the story in one of  my Facebook groups. Nobody had heard about it yet. I was looking to my VO pals for a workaround , another media player which I found to be OK.

I’m kind of a nut about keeping a “clean machine”, free of malware, adware, viruses, and now ransomware. It’s as if computer users are always under some hacker attack out there.

But before deciding to completely uninstall Quicktime Player Pro from my Windows machine, I decided to call Apple support to inquire if the reported security issue extended to the version of Quicktime Player Pro. I wanted to hear it from the “Apple’s mouth”, so to speak.

Before explaining why I was calling, I spoke with two very helpful support people, who finally connected me with Tony, a Senior Advisor in Apple’s software division. He stated that this was the first he’d heard of this, and the story has not been validated by Apple. Further, Apple has not dropped its support of Quicktime Player for Windows!

I said to Tony, “Google Quicktime Player. When CNN, Forbes, Trendmicro and Homeland Security talk major security issues, ya’ gotta take notice.” Tony said he’s going to research the story a bit more, but cautioned that there a lot of things we see on the internet that simply aren’t true, no matter how valid they appear.

Tony also said, if I’m uncomfortable by the story, go ahead, go with my gut and uninstall the program. I still have my registration number and can always re-install later. After all, Apple told me directly that has not discontinued its support of Quicktime Player.

So spoof or real? Time will tell.  I am uncomfortable, and may uninstall. I can always get it back. I’m just hoping that uninstalling Quicktime Player doesn’t disable any other program features linked to other software on my Windows PC.