Tom said:Nope.
:I have run Autoruns and I see
: Quick Time checked. I would
: like to remove it from startup.
:
: Is there any reason for not
: removing Quick Time from
: starting up with Autoruns?
Gianni said:I have run Autoruns and I see Quick Time checked. I would like to
remove it from startup.
Is there any reason for not removing Quick Time from starting up with
Autoruns?
Thanks for the explanation.VanguardLH said:Unless you use security software that monitors the startup items, the
qttask.exe program will reappear as a startup item when you next run
the QuickTime Player. It sees its startup item is missing and will
redefine it. You need to use something that monitors the startup items
and will refuse to allow the re-addition of items that you previously
denied.
This is not unique to QuickTime. There are several products that think
they are so important that you surely must want their startup program
to load. You can remove their startup item but they will re-add it
when you run them the next time.
qttask.exe will reappear in your startup items list. Nothing of it is
required for the QuickTime Player to function but Apple doesn't care and
want to have this program run everytime you load Windows. It doesn't
stay loaded. It runs and then exits; however, it obviously consumes
memory and CPU cycles when it does run on startup.
Gianni said:Thanks for the explanation.
Yes. I did see that it added it back.
I'm wondering if I need it at all since
I don't watch videos on itunes;
I could just remove it?
Or am I presuming too much.
Thanks for the explanation.VanguardLH said:qttask.exe is NEVER needed for the QuickTime Player to run. I'm not
sure but have read that qttask.exe has to do with a background program
that creates a tray icon and is used for faster loading/running of .mov
files that are opened within a web page in your web browser. There is a
configurable option in QT to *not* use their Instant-On feature.
However, disabling the feature does NOT eliminate their startup item.
What then happens is they re-add their startup program (qttask.exe)
which runs, checks the options, sees it is not to remain resident, and
then it exits. So the idiots have it check only to find it isn't
supposed to load. Yet if you remove it, they re-add it so it can again
check and again find out it isn't supposed to load and then it exits.
Apple is very rude regarding this stupidity. They are also very rude in
deliberately forgetting your preference settings (because they want you
to see those ads in their Content Guide screen when you load their
player). Sun's Java is just as rude. Even after configuring it to NOT
perform any automatic updates, it still continues to run its jusched.exe
program on Windows startup. It loads, see that it is not to do an auto-
update check, and it then unloads. They should just remove it.
However, unlike Apple, once you disable the jusched startup item using
msconfig.exe, Java does not re-add this startup item when found missing.
Some security programs let you regulate just what startup items are
allowed. Windows Defender is worthless for this because it allows ALL
events and then sits with an alert to wait until whenever you get around
to deciding to not allow the change. So the change gets made very late.
It polls for those changes so it finds them late. The process that made
the change is long gone and why Defender can never identify what process
made the change. WinPatrol is also a polling security program to detect
changes (but, again, detects them after the fact and so can never
identify the process that made the change). However, WinPatrol will
automatically remove startup items that you told it to not allow. There
are several HIPS (host intrusion prevention system) enabled products,
like Comodo's firewall and the OnlineArmor firewall which detect these
changes to startup items. They notify you WHEN the change is requested
and don't permit the change until you answer the prompt. They intervene
the change and it pends until you make a choice. Of course, these are
more intrusive security products that can cause unwanted side effects.
I prefer OnlineArmor (especially because of its RunSafer option) but it
(and Comodo) interfere with a utility that I frequently use that uses a
dynamically loaded kernel-mode driver that stacks into the file I/O
calls in the system API (and despite allowing the kernel driver in these
security programs still result in interfering with the driver).
If you configure QuickTime Player to NOT use its instant-on feature,
qttask.exe will run at Windows startup but it immediately unloads. So
you aren't stuck with their tray icon consuming memory and CPU resources
because it doesn't stay running, but it does consume a wee bit of
resources to run and exit on Windows startup. So you could just disable
the instant-on option, get stuck with their startup item, and maybe lose
100ms in a longer boot time for Windows (probably not even that much).
NT-based versions of Windows also allow for definition of Software
Restriction Policies (SRPs). You can create a SRP rule that disallows a
program from running. In the group policy editor (gpedit.msc) or local
security policy editor (secpol.msc), go under Security Settings ->
Software Restriction Policies -> Additional Rules. If the list is
blank, you have to first define a default set (into which you add your
new rule). I forget what it's called by, I think, there was an entry
under the Action menu or right-click (on the SRP node in the tree) to
create a new rule set. Once that was done, you can right-click in the
right panel or use the Action menu to create a new path rule. Navigate
to where is the qttask.exe file and disallow it to load. Thereafter,
Windows will block the loading of that program. This is one way to
defeat those rude programs that keep re-adding their startup items.
Using a HIPS-enabled program (as mentioned above) is typically easier
for users because they'll get a prompt from the security program asking
to Allow or Block the change and whether to remember that selection.
They're doing the block on the program load just like an SRP rule can;
however, SRP is built into Windows whereas HIPS requires installing some
3rd party software.
As a side note, I use Windows' own SRP rule to prevent wgatray.exe from
loading on Windows startup (part of Microsoft's Windows Genuine
Advantage crap to verify you are running a validated copy of Windows).
So I can have Windows keep its WGA program from running. SRP rules you
define will show up in the Event Viewer when they are triggered so you
can see when and how often they are preventing a program from loading.
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