Realplayer: Virus Villain?

Butch Pytko · Post by **Butch Pytko** » 4 Oct 2012 3:01 pm

I rarely come on this section and didn't do a search to see if this has been covered before, so please take this as a REFRESHER, OR ALERT/WARNING, type thing. Just got my computer back after a week of repairing a major virus attack. It's a Gateway, about 3 months old, and the computer people say this model rarely comes in for repairs. I've been using Realplayer for about 4 1/2 years to download mostly Youtube videos, and converting them to MP3 audio only. Been burning them to CD's, making my own CD covers, etc. Been loving using Realplayer all this time, but this has been the second major virus attack in the only 3 months I've had this new computer. Along with Realplayer not working, the rest of the computer was mainly slow, locking up, and showing Youtube videos with blank screens with audio only. Anyway, the computer software/repair people are telling me that Realplayer is allowing the virus to be EMBEDDED in the music I've been downloading. So, I'm thinking--HUH!!! It seems that most of the time in the past, if Realplayer was acting a little screwy--all I had to do was uninstall and reinstall, then it would work just fine(that's why I've got a question mark after the post title--Virus Villain? It's hard for me to accept that Realplayer is the culprit!). Also, the computer people are really pointing it out that it is ILLEGAL!!! OK, I'm a bad boy! So, now I'm going through major withdrawal symptoms, because I can no longer use Realplayer. For what it's worth, that's my computer horror story.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 4 Oct 2012 4:46 pm

I have been using Real PLayer to download videos too. I have had no problems with the downloader, and especially no viruses. Real player for me is real unstable, and the program locks up or the downloader quits working. When the downloader quits, I just have to restart RP. When it locks up, I have to re-boot the computer.

Butch Pytko · Post by **Butch Pytko** » 4 Oct 2012 5:08 pm

Richard, I agree with all the things you're saying! I've done all those things you mentioned, too! I feel I'm caught in the middle of all this--my question to myself is--WHAT TO DO? My anti-virus software is operating and I'm very careful what web sites I click on. The computer people I talked to say they run into this all the time with Realplayer. It's like--who am I supposed to believe? I'm a computer operator, not a technician--so, I feel I'm left out in LEFT FIELD!

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 4 Oct 2012 6:31 pm

If I recall correctly, RealPlayer had to issue a major security update a few months ago, due to exploits in the wild targeting vulnerabilities in it.

Additionally, If you regularly download unlawfully shared copyrighted material, sooner or later you'll download some with malware embedded into them. Bit torrent sites are notorious for spreading viruses and botnet installers. Ditto for illegal keygens. Most are rigged with phone-home keyloggers and RATs (Remote Access Trojans).

Bottom line: If you are running one of the vulnerable versions of RealPlayer, it may be the conduit through which your computer is getting infected.

Exploit Kit facts

Malware authors hire script writers to create attack codes that run against various commonly installed browser plug-ins. RealPlayer is one. Adobe Reader and Flash are another. The worst of all is Oracle's Java technology. ActiveX in Internet Explorer is constantly attacked with malicious ActiveX control downloads

Butch Pytko · Post by **Butch Pytko** » 4 Oct 2012 7:15 pm

Wiz, even though you lost me after your first sentence--I remember bits and pieces of what you are saying from the computer repair people I just dealt with. I remember them saying something about the Youtube people are constantly updating to FEND OFF the EVIL downloaders, LIKE ME!!! They also said like you are saying about a recent major push against the downloaders. After 4 1/2 years, it's a wonder it hasn't happened before to me, but as you all are saying, there's been a recent stepped up effort. You convinced me that what the computer repair people told me is valid--Thanks.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 4 Oct 2012 7:35 pm

Butch Pytko wrote:Wiz, even though you lost me after your first sentence--I remember bits and pieces of what you are saying from the computer repair people I just dealt with. I remember them saying something about the Youtube people are constantly updating to FEND OFF the EVIL downloaders, LIKE ME!!! They also said like you are saying about a recent major push against the downloaders. ...

It's not just RealPlayer, but ALL YouTube "downloaders" that Google is fending off. Google holds the overall copyright for the material it allows users to publish to the site. In order to get by without huge lawsuits from the original music and video copyright holders (labels, publishers, writers, videographers, studios, etc), concessions have to be made. One of them is preventing users from downloading material that is licensed for broadcast over YouTube.com. The rights involved are similar to those imposed by broadcast TV networks and cable TV stations.

In order to protect itself from litigation for allowing easy downloading of this copyrighted material, licensed only for broadcasting, Google makes frequent changes to the codes that affect what type of software can and cannot connect via standard and non-standard Internet protocols, especially those that allow downloading complete broadcast files. When they target e.g. RealPlayer, the folks who write that program have to decide whether they want to change their program's code to cheat the new block rules imposed by YouTube, et al. Some companies have the budget to make these knee jerk reaction alterations, others don't.

I hope this hasn't confused you more that my previous reply. These are some of the pertinent facts.

Butch Pytko · Post by **Butch Pytko** » 4 Oct 2012 8:04 pm

Hey, don't worry, your last explanation I could fully understand--thanks so much for taking the time to explain it all. This is very valuable info, I'm going to print it out and file it! Thanks.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 5 Oct 2012 12:57 am

So, in a nutshell, its safer to bookmark than to download.

Clete

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 5 Oct 2012 6:35 am

Clete Ritta wrote:So, in a nutshell, its safer to bookmark than to download.

Clete

BINGO!

Butch Pytko · Post by **Butch Pytko** » 5 Oct 2012 7:09 am

Yes, the computer people told me to put videos in FAVORITES OR BOOKMARK. What I wanted to do, in addition to my music, was to create videos off of Realplayer, burn them to disc, so I could play them on a lap top in my music room, which is away from my computer room, when practicing on my steel. Since I had this mega nightmare with Realplayer, they suggested to install WIFI, so I could use the lap top in another room. The only problem with that is, I'm guessing that the OWNER of the uploaded video has the right to delete it at any time. Where as, if it's on disc, you've got it forever.