Apple Updater Acts Like Trojan

I don't have an iPod and will never ever use iTunes, so much so I will resist installing it with my dying breath. I used an earlier version on a previous PC and it was a pile of "donkey's queer things" completely renaming my existing audio library and hogged resources.

I use Quicktime, but only because people will insist on using the proprietary mov format for videos, the Quicktime player is another bloated, slow and resource hungry program. So while Apple Mac advocates sing the praises of their machines and the software they run on them my experiences of Apple software on Windows has been disappointing.

For a long time the Apple website has dubiously implied that the installation of Quicktime required iTunes, the standalone Quicktime player being hidden away on the website. In addition, following a recent update to Quicktime (due to yet another security vunerability) my machine had become infected with the Apple Software Updater. I say infected because despite only having Quicktime installed it has for many weeks telling me to update iTunes and helpfully filling in the tickbox so should I not have be paying attention and select update I would have installed it.

This morning the updater had an additional item (and filled in tickbox) Safari, Apple's new web browser! Surely this amounts to spam and trojan activity by attempting to install software on a persons machine without their knowledge?

What is even worse is the marketing blurb you see in the updater

“Safari for Windows is the fastest and easiest-to-use web browser for the PC. It displays web pages faster than any other browser and is filled with innovative features — all delivered in an efficient and elegant user interface.”

But what it fails to mention are the ongoing worries about security risks on Safari, especially for people using Window operating systems.

Automatic software updaters are becoming the norm, with Windows and Firefox two prime examples, But the big difference here is that they only offer updates to what is already installed, rather than spamming users with unwanted software downloads. Of course advocates will claim Apple isn’t making you download anything, you can always say no, but how many people new to iTunes will blindly click ‘Install’, thinking it’s part of the essential program?

It seems to have inflamed a lot of people with blogs full of outrage. Mozilla's CEO John Lily has hit out at Apple's decision.