Uninstall Apple QuickTime on Windows right now warns US government over security risk

All Windows users are advised to remove Apple's QuickTime video player from their computers as soon as possible as new security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the program and Apple has no plans to patch them.

Security firm Trend Micro says it has discovered two critical vulnerabilities in the latest version of QuickTime 7 media player designed for Microsoft Windows users, which could be used by hackers to hijack computers if users accidentally were to click on a malicious link or open a malicious file.

Usually, Apple would patch any vulnerabilities found in its programs, but in this case, Apple is phasing out QuickTime 7 and the official advice from Apple is to completely uninstall the software. But what makes this story particularly interesting is the fact US Department of Homeland Security is advising that users uninstall QuickTime too.

"Computers running QuickTime for Windows will continue to work after support ends. However, using unsupported software may increase the risks from viruses and other security threats," the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) wrote on an alert page.

Potential negative consequences include loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of data, as well as damage to system resources or business assets. The only mitigation available is to uninstall QuickTime for Windows."

Trend Micro admitted to The Register that it has not seen any active attacks that make use of these vulnerabilities yet, but if Apple will no longer be updating the software to keep it safe, there's no point in keeping the program around (if you haven't already, we highly recommend VLC media player).

Of course, we have to be clear, this doesn't affect Mac user at all. But apart from letting Trend Micro know in March that QuickTime will be "deprecated on Windows" and that removal instructions would be published, Apple hasn't actually told anyone else that it's getting rid of the 24-year-old software for good.

How to uninstall QuickTime 7 for Windows

Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features, select QuickTime 7 from the list and click "Uninstall/Change".