Remember how Apple is pushing out Safari to anyone with iTunes or QuickTime installed? The “update” notification was really starting to get on my nerves. I swear I was getting prompted at least once a week to install Safari, and that was regardless of whether I unchecked the box. It was almost enough to make me want to install it just so that I would get rid of the prompt. That was until I got a little wiser and realized that if I went to the Tools menu that there was an Ignore Selected Updates option. EUREKA!
And businesses… well, it’s a headache to say the least. An article by ComputerWorld was really an eye opener as to what corporations are enduring because of Apple’s distribution practices. They interviewed a network administrator at a bank who came in one morning to find Safari installed on 30 of their machines. The users of the computers likely just clicked “OK” when prompted by Apple’s Software Update service, which would then install Safari automatically. The end result was an unnecessary security risk at the bank.
Judging from March’s Safari stats pushing out the update this way didn’t help Apple out much. After all, just because Safari is installed doesn’t mean that people will actually use it. So how about we cut the shenanigans, Apple? It would make many lives easier including the already overworked network administrators.
Thanks to Storytellerofscifi for the tip!
If the are in an active directory environment, there is a group policy that can prevent users from installing software and it works well, so admins not liking Safari installed should activate the policy. Yes, the Apple push of Safari may not be right, but admins can solve it.
Hi Ryan:
Listo! Apple won’t bother me anymore. Hasta la Vista Baby!
Regards,
Omar.-
This is one of the best posts ever.
Hmm…maybe it’s time Apple is investigated?
I figured this out last week. Kinda annoying. I love the best browser, Firefox, anyway. Not switching ever.
thank you,thank you,thank you.
I’ve got iTunes (7.5.0.20) up and running, and I can’t find a “Tools” menu anywhere.
Don’t tell me I should update to the latest version of iTunes, unless you can also tell me how to avoid updating the user-hostile malware program known called “QuickTime”.
It’s not in iTunes, it’s in the Apple Software Update dialog.
You can also go manually run the software update from C:\Program Files\Apple Software Update and deselect it then rather then waiting for the next time Apple pushes an update.
You could also have disabled Apple Software Update in first instance, to avoid it bugging you to update. Sure, you’ll have to update Apple software manually, but that’s why you have the “Daily Downloads” section, to remind you when new versions are out ;)
I uninstalled this Apple software update immediately and OK
One can uninstall the Apple Software Updater (ASU) without any loss of update functionality. iTunes checks for new versions without it, anyway. ASU is just another useless piece of software running in the background consuming memory and system resources.
I advise Windows users, “Just say no to ASU.”
That’s reasonable advice if you’re using iTunes. However for many users, especially I would guess in a corporate enviroment, the only Apple software product they are likely to have is QuickTime, and ASU is useful for keeping that up to date and secure.
Thanks for this clarification. No more Safari for me.
As another commenter pointed out you’ll need to run the Apple Software Update application in order to do this. You won’t find the option to disable the update in iTunes.
Of course we keep you updated in the Daily Downloads about new versions of software like iTunes. But I like the self-updaters because I don’t have to click through all of the dialogs to get it installed.
Ah, yes, but what I wanted to say is that you can disable the schedule for Apple Software Update in “Edit” -> “Preferences”, so it does not search for updates in a constant basis. I mentioned the “Daily Downloads” section, because I use it (or File Hippo) to know when a new update is out, and so launch the Apple Software Update manually. Just as you, I prefer those updates to be installed in automatic mode.
I spotted the “Ignore Selected Updates” option ages ago and used it. Thing is, it only seems to ignore it for *that week*. The next time the damn thing appears to tell me there’s a Quicktime update, I’m still told that Safari and Quicktime plus iTunes are available.
I believe there’s a freeware Quicktime replacement. Off to find that and ditch the evil Apple stuff permanently…
Ahh, got it. That makes more sense.
I’m guessing that if a new version of the software comes out it will still prompt you for that, but it shouldn’t keep prompting you to install the same version if you have set it to ignore that update.
Well, it seems Apple listened to the criticism: [news.com]
Thank you! No longer hounded by poxy Safari.
Thank you, Thank you, thank you!!!!