Real Alternative - Controversies

Controversies

Past versions of RealPlayer have been criticized for containing adware and spyware. In 1999 security researcher Richard M. Smith dissected some of RealJukebox's network traffic and discovered that it was sending a unique identifier with information about the music titles to which its users were listening. RealNetworks issued a patch, and the spyware was removed in version 1.02. Their download page stated RealJukebox included privacy enhancements and gave a link to the privacy policy.

PC World magazine named RealPlayer (1999 Version) as #2 in its 2006 list The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time, writing that RealPlayer "had a disturbing way of making itself a little too much at home on your PC--installing itself as the default media player, taking liberties with your Windows Registry, popping up annoying 'messages' that were really just advertisements, and so on." In 2007, it placed RealPlayer, versions 1996-2004, at #5 in its list, The 20 Most Annoying Tech Products.

In 2008 StopBadware.org labeled RealPlayer "badware" for not completely disclosing software components it installs as well as those it leaves behind after being un-installed. Jeff Chasen, vice president for RealPlayer, responded by stating: "I actually admire what StopBadware is trying to do to keep consumers safe. But in this case the only thing bad is the report itself. Here’s why: Not a single claim raised by StopBadware actually hurts anyone."

The RealPlayer Message Center has caused controversy due to its pop-up advertisements. In previous versions of the program the Message Center had a reputation for being difficult to turn off completely. In RealPlayer 11 it will not appear unless it is turned on by the user.

When RealPlayer for Windows is installed, a process called tkbell.exe will run automatically each time the computer starts up, and may appear on the list of active processes as realsched.exe. The process is linked to the Message Center and can also check for updates to the program. The process is non-essential and is not considered to be harmful, but has been seen as a nuisance by some users. It can be disabled by altering the settings of RealPlayer's Message Center.

Earlier Windows versions of RealPlayer experienced a problem with the volume control, where muting the sound in the program would also mute all system sounds.