Stop the QuickTime Prompts on Firefox
November 2, 2009 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
For quite some time I’ve had a personal software rule that I would no longer install Apple software on my laptop PC. No iTunes or QuickTime for me. The reason I made that decision is because of the problem I’m having now.
There are a couple of websites I use regularly that continually wanted me to install the QuickTime application so I could enjoy the website in all its glory. I finally caved in and decided to give QuickTime another try.
Then I kept getting updates and updates that kept wanting me to install iTunes and Safari along with my QuickTime updates. It just gets annoying and I decided I’ve had enough. So I uninstalled everything again. Then I start getting the message window above. I couldn’t figure out how to turn everything off so I set-out for an answer.
I’d recently heard about the hidden options for Mozilla Firefox with the about:config settings. After searching around for some keywords I finally found two that seem to be doing the trick.
In the “Filter:” section on the config tools look for the following:
- plugin.scan.plid.all
- plugin.default_plugin_disabled
On both of these items set the “Value” to “false” and close and restart Firefox.
Since I’ve done this I haven’t had the warnings about the QuickTime plugin. I’m hoping it stays that way.
Still not totally sure on your anti-apple stance… I understand iTunes enough as even [some] Mac users will agree its not the best app, but Quick-time seems like its a cost of doing business in todays world. I have it on every machine at home, as well as 1100 desktops at work.
If your complaint is the apple updater, why did you choose to install it? I TOTALLY understand not installing the updater and just updating on your own terms.
Aside from being warned that I don’t have QuickTime installed, I really don’t think I’m missing much by not having it. There’s a part of me that’s irritated that I can’t get any other plugin to play QuickTime files. It reminds me of how Adobe used to be the only PDF reader option. Wish that would change, but I’ll get by without it.
I’ve had other media options in the past… never been a fan. Always had issues with players that didn’t come from the correct company
speaking of PDF I am actually annoyed on Mac’s that apple associates it with their “preview” app… I’m pretty faithful to the owners of the technology.
I’ll take QuickTime and Adobe over the rip-offs, but thats just my $0.02… maybe thats just because sometimes I’m involved heavily in video and graphics projects (Although I am glad PDF is now “more open” than it used to be)
I heard of something awhile back called “quicktime Alternative” not too sure what that is about. I did get a drive by virus from having Java installed, and on my laptop, its not fast enough to really play any of the newer Quicktime stuff. I started getting annoyed with flash ads and put in a blocker. To me, the content is more important that the, well, “Flash” and I wish there was a internet “lite” built for speed.
You could always just use Quicktime Alternative. It would satiosfy the Quicktime prompts (no popups) and allow you to be notified of other necessary updates like flash, etc.