RealPlayer Flagged as Badware

An awareness site claims that the latest versions of RealPlayer install a host of unnecessary components with installation, and fail to clean them up when they're uninstalled.

We can’t honestly say that RealPlayer has been a major force in video for years – especially now that files in the RealMedia format can be decoded without installing the player – but the software package hit a new low this week when it earned its inclusion on a list of “badware,” a blanket term used for spyware, malware and adware. StopBadware.org, a site that builds archives of such software, recently added RealPlayer to its list for “bad or undisclosed behavior.”

According to the site, both RealPlayer  10.5 and 11 can be categorized as badware because they sneak additional software components onto a user’s computer during installation, and don’t remove it during uninstallation. RealPlayer 10.5 includes what is described as a “message center,” which is actually an advertising component that becomes enabled by default, while RealPlayer 11 installs the Rhapsody Player Engine without alerting users, and leaves it behind even after RealPlayer is uninstalled.

RealPlayer now joins the ranks of programs like Kazaa, FreeWire and MediaPipe on the long list of shady programs that the organization has flagged. StopBadware recommends against installing RealPlayer for the time being, and has recommended to RealNetworks that the company change the software’s EULA to make the inclusion of additional components apparent.