RealOne Question

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Before I get to the question, let me be truthful about something. I subscribe to Fred Langa’s paid newsletter and his thoughts and wisdom are worth every penny of the modest fee he charges. One of the benefits of being a paid subscriber is that he usually includes two or three topics that are not in the free version, with the admonishment not to forward this to non-paid subscribers. So, I’m gonna honor that, sort of, by not forwarding the topic, but I’m going to write something about it here, as a question.

The topic is Real.Com’s REALONE player. Now I’ve had my share of druthers with their software, but always managed to tolerate or work around their hoggishness. A write-in that Fred received says there is a file included with RealOne called EVNTSVC.EXE that “hogs” as much as 90-99% CPU resource. I have what I believe to be the latest version of the free RealOne (2.0) and a file by that name is not on my hard drive or not active when RealOne is running (just in case there were something fishy going on!)

Anybody reading care to check your system and see where you stand, assuming you too have RealOne? I would like to write to Fred and suggest that he suggest his reader get an updated copy, but…..

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I recently downloaded the RealOne free version. I then ran Ad-Aware, which I do every 2-3 days. I was astounded to find 18 spyware items, including registry key, folders, and files, all of them having the “event” title. I zapped them before I wrote them down, though. I’m sure they came from that download.

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Absolutely! I downloaded it to listen to an AM talk radio host that I cannot get at my house. I would venture to say that it is a monstrosity! I (think) I got rid of it all…before I even listened to the radio. Thing that bugged me, is that every so often ZoneAlarm would pop up and say RealOne sumpthing or other was wanting to access the Internet. I killed it, killed everything I could find associated with it, and if it takes Real One Player to listen to it, I’ll just have to pass.

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I’m gonna comment on both posts in one and hope DenGar is reading. I too keep my AdAware up to date and run it about once a month. Since they have a new ref file, I updated to it and got just the opposite from what you did. It found a few cookies like it always does and I deleted them, but nothing like your experience.

Same thing about your experience, Mike. I installed RealOne version 2 about a month ago and haven’t heard a peep out of ZA yet. Even when I run RealOne, my system processes don’t show a thing of any concern and certainly nothing like a 90% or more CPU usage.

(I just edited out my last question, since I realize you both said you got rid of RealOne)

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Curious that there would be such a difference in number of cookies. Hmmm. Actually I kept RealOne–I’m “tolerating” it since it’s free.

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Al,

I have refused to “upgrade” to Realone. I am still running Real Player Plus ver. 8 that I paid for. I do not have the file EVNTSVC.EXE on my computer whether Real Player is running or not.

Don

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I too don’t EVER allow automatic download or update of ANYTHING. And when I install software I ALWAYS choose a “custom” install so I can at least see what the software is programmed to allow me to “reject.” Real’s family of products is a good example of where one needs to do just that. They put a lot of unnecessary crap in their installs that I always UNCHECK! Which brings me back to my original question: I’m waiting to hear from anyone who has REAL ONE installed, if they have that “hoggish” file on their system and if their task manager registers the CPU problems that Langa talked about. I ran their last beta of the product all year and only recently upgraded to Version 2. I really suspect Fred’s reader was either in error or didn’t exercise care when he installed or something and I’d like to write to Fred and tell him what “we” see on our systems.

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Al, I installed RealOne for the sole and exclusive purpose of watching the new Lord of the Rings trailer. Aside from swallowing the fact that I had to install it at all – I didn’t see this service. I opted for a custom install and stripped out everything but just the player, and didn’t find this EXE – however, I was left with an unasked for and unwanted “notification” service. I would come back to the console to discover every once in a while a little box down by the system tray that was advising me of some new media, or something else.

Now that I’ve seen the trailer, I can’t get that shoddy software off my computer fast enough. Many moons ago, RealPlayer was the ticket – but these days, I get by just fine without it. Most websites offer alternative streams anyway, and if they don’t…..with the exception of this movie trailer….I just walk away.

I suspect you’re correct about Fred’ reader. Sometimes screwy things happen, and if Real was installing a service that sucked up all of your resources….you can bet that we’d have heard more in the mainstream about it by now. Things like that from a software provider tend to rankle the masses.

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A thought just came to mind — did you read the EULA thoroughly when you installed RealOne? I’m beginning to wonder if they are pulling a Brilliant Digital here, whereby installing their software gives them the right to upgrade or change function at their sole discretion; use any resources on your computer, including drive space, memory, and processor power; and to even re-sell or lease your resources to someone else.

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Nah, I’m a common user – hardly never ever read those @#$% EULAs! But, since I haven’t had any problem with RealOne while running it, I think they must’ve had second thoughts about “something” since they removed the file in question. Unlike even Mark (WyllyWylly) the only thing the RealOne player has “bothered” me about at all was its offers to go out and get track information for me when I play some files I created off some old Dick Clark Rock ‘n’ Roll CDs I have. Terry, if you have time, come back and let us know when you upgrade whether the file in question “gets gone” or not.

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I have EVNTSVC.EXE on my pc and every time I use Real it sets it up to run as TkBellexe and tries to contact the internet.

This link has some details about it,
and Here as well

I rarely use Real but when I do I let my trojan watcher kill the changes afterwards. Perhaps I will just rename eventsvc.exe and see what happens then

Peter

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Thanx for the links, Peter. There’s a lot of stuff like that out there about RealOne, but (fingers crossed tightly!) since the “same” problem doesn’t show itself in the current version, maybe Real.Com has learned a lesson (again!) since they’ve done stuff like this in the past. Installing their software is made almost-difficult by the fact that you have to WATCH CAREFULLY for every screen so that you don’t miss a box you might want to UN-CHECK! And even then, whenever I finish the install, I always fire up the program to check for system tray activity that I don’t want for a program I only use 1 or 2% of the time! Things are getting to the point that you have to install a piece of software, reboot, run MSCONFIG to search for “bandits” and turn off or get rid of excess baggage. Sheesh, having a computer used to be fun!

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I renamed the events file, Real player seems to work ok still but without upsetting my trojan watch file now

Peter

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After reading those links I

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Now be fair! I too have been hot under the collar at Real on more than one occasion in the past. But it looks like maybe they wised-up. After reading Terry’s comments I think we have a classic case here of a not-so-clean uninstall. If his re-install doesn’t have any sign of either of those two programs, I bet if he deletes the residual registry keys, everything will be fine. It IS a darn shame we have to go through this kind of crap. I just don’t want everyone to get distracted by a little old information.

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BigAl,
Not quite.
I removed the older version before reading the links – I then checked for TkBellExe before installing V2.

The registry keys were ADDED by the new install – but as I said, not the program EVNTSVC.EXE.

If you check the keys, you’ll ntice that TkBellExe is all one word – not a program filename.

As I don’t use it much – Im happy to delete the keys anyway and see what happens.

It’s just that I have no idea what these keys do, nor do I pretend to understand the format.
-2147483646 is 0x80000002 (Flags perhaps?).
What effect do two the vertical bars have in a data entry – { logical OR } ??

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I wasn’t intending to upgrade – but since you asked.
After removing the old version, I installed “RealOnePlayerV2Gold”.

The EVNTSVC.EXE was not (re)installed.

However, after reading Bat17’s links I checked for “TkBellExe” and there was a key entered under HKLMSoftwareCLASSESSoftwareRealNetworksUpdate6.0PreferencesComponentsRNAdmin:0.1Reg0

And the related HKCRSoftwareRealNetworksUpdate6.0PreferencesComponentsRNAdmin:0.1Reg0

with the data
-2147483646|SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun|TkBellExe

I have no idea what these do as there is nothing under any “real” keys:-
HKxxSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

No hits on a search for TkBell*.* either.

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Here is a page that has some interesting information concerning TkBellExe: Mike’s Computer Info: TkBellExe msconfig-Startup-Entry One rather interesting snippet from that page is “Regardless of the above setting, the TkBellExe registry key is still recreated/updated every time RealOne is run.” The page does give information on how to disable this little trick, namely by deleting (or renaming, as was posted previously) evntsvc.exe.

This link was found on Start-up Applications

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Well, I don’t know if we’re going in a loop or not. Since I also have those same two keys in my registry as Terry does and I have the latest copy of RealOnePlayer, it certainly does look like (to me) that Real.Com has done some “patching” to the earlier version that caused all this stink. There are NO executable files on my hard drive resembling TKBELL or EVNTSVC and based on the “typo” (or whatever) at the link David showed, I even searched for EVNTSC and as many other variants as I could think of. And lastly, anytime I actually RUN the RealOne Player, I can’t seem to create a situation where it hogs extreme amounts of resources. Adding all this up, it looks to me like Real had a change of heart and this question came up right between Jekyl and Hyde.

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I just caught up with this thread, and since I do have Real One (version 2.0) installed, I can tell you that it doesn’t have EVNTSVC and the TkBellExe registry entry. But that’s because they renamed it in Real One. Now I have a registry entry for RealSched pointing to the RealSched.exe file. Works the same way, and is a pain to get rid of, but once it’s out of the registry is doesn’t seem to start automatically. My current machine was XP on a clean HDD, and no other version of Real was installed, which I suspect accounts for the lack of EVNTSVC.

I just checked, and it seems that once you kill the registry entry for realsched, it only loads when you start the Real One player (realplay.exe), and it shuts down when you leave the player. The trick is killing the realsched process before editing the registry so that it doesn’t have a chance to add itself back. That osboot parameter is in the registry, and may have something to do with the way it runs (TSR or not). I think with that parameter, it will add itself back on shut-down.

And while I haven’t used Real One much, I didn’t see any CPU spikes (and I keep TaskManager running in the systray most of the time so I can watch for CPU spikes in our applications at work). Now if only it wouldn’t corrupt the directory in my Rio500… (heck, at least they support the Rio500 – Diamond and SonicBlue quit).

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I have a problem with Real Player (free) changing the extensions on my sound files without my being aware of the changes. I would like help changing my multimidea extensions from Real Player to another one. For instance my sound card: Creavtive’s Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 MP3+.It was my player of choice originally. If you or someone else can help me, I will need step-by-step instructions.
Thanks and excuse me for butting in.

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No need to apologize for butting in, Gloria. That’s a pretty OLD thread and you should probably make your request in a NEW post. Here’s why: the first question we need to know is what operating system are you running? Instead of answering here, how ’bout writing a new post in the Windows forum of YOUR system, and one of us can show you how to do what you want, even with a screenshot if that will help.

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You got it & I’m on my way.

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_____________________________________________________________________________

I installed RealOne for the sole and exclusive purpose of watching the new Lord of the Rings trailer…..
Now that I’ve seen the trailer, I can’t get that shoddy software off my computer fast enough.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Sorry for jumping in so late, I’m a little bit confused about my media players. I have WMP and was feeling quite comfortable with it in spite of the chopped, jerky quality of the movie clips. Like you, I downloaded RealOne just to see the new clip of The Two Towers, but it (the clip? the site?) keeps nagging at me to download Quicktime. As a matter of fact, each site which offered this trailer had it only in Quicktime. Could you point me to the site where you were able to see the trailer using just RealOne, or is Quicktime a must and you have it, too? But then you wouldn’t have needed RealOne, would you?

Oana

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Oana, I tried to find the link to that site and came up blank. Sorry about the delayed response. It was an AOL related site, that I remember, and the quality left a lot to be desired too. There are better previews on the LOTR DVD than there are online, so far anyway. It was definitely in Real format, no Quicktime required – but that is already installed on my PC so perhaps that is why I wasn’t nagged.

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Just checked my “other PC” – has RealOne installed and the file is there!

However, it is an older version (RealONePlayerGold) and not version 2.

Here’s an extract from PROGRAM FILESCOMMON FILESREALUPDATE_OBRealPlayer-log.txt :-
Starting the installation of component: RNAdmin
Copying file: C:Program FilesCommon FilesRealUpdate_OBrndal.exe
Copying file: C:Program FilesCommon FilesRealUpdate_OBevntsvc.exe
Copying file: C:Program FilesCommon FilesRealUpdate_OBrnad3201.dll

Thanks for the reminder to “recycle it”

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Hi BigAl! – Re your comments on ‘automatic downloads/upgrades’ [should I have created a new post here? ]
For years I have had a recurring task function set for every Saturday a.m to Run Norton AV Live Update. Since I got my new pc with Win XP-Office XP every time I log on it does an ‘autoupdate’. It’s somewhat annoying and as well I have read somewhere that these daily updates mean diddly because Symantec/Norton just publish the updates every Saturday. Should I disable the ‘autoupdate’ function? I welcome your input. TIA.

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Norton comes out with new definitions every Wedensday night or any other time there is a NEW virus. I check every day, so I know I have the latest. I have seen as many as 3 releases in one day. So they do mean diddly.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Did Ad-Aware save the information to a log perhaps? I have mine set to create a log every time it is run, and keep a copy of any scan that does not come back clean.

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No, I didn’t have a log set up. I used to, but, for whatever reason (probably because Ad-Aware was not giving me any problems and I never had to restore any of the cookies), I discontinued it.

Also, like some of the other posters have indicated, I always use a custom download and install. In the instance of RealOne, I installed the bare minimum that would allow me to listen to web radio.

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