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Need Help w/.RAR Downloads + uTorrent doesn't open

What are .RAR video files, and what do I need to view them? I can't seem to open them with anything. Do I need some additional components for Quicktime?

I previously asked a question about downloading video players for an iMac G5. I now have an iMac 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Any advice on what video players work best on an Intel iMac would also be greatly appreciated. Please review my current video software to let me know if there's anything else I need:

DivX Player 7.2 (build) 10 0_0184)
DivX Converter 1.3
LimeWire 5.4.8 - Doesn't work; says it requires Java 1.6 and that upgrading to a later OS would take care of that; is that necessary? Or can I just upgrade Java?
QuickTime 7.6.4
RealPlayer with RealPlayer Downloader 11.1.0
uTorrent 0.9.2 - Doesn't work - won't open.
VLC 0.9.10
Vuze 4.3
Xvid 1.0
Split & Concat 2.5

Thanks in advance for your help.

iMac 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 1GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Apr 20, 2010 7:20 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 21, 2010 2:42 AM

I can't hep you with RAR video files (I never knew there was such a thing), and your software seems fine except you have missed some useful plug-ins:

Flip4Mac WMV Player from http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm (Windows Media Player for the Mac is no longer supported, even by Microsoft)

Perian from http://perian.org/

You should read this support page http://perian.org/#support in case you need to delete older codecs.

The latest version of Adobe FlashPlayer can be obtained from here:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash

(You can check here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ to see which version you should install for your Mac and OS.

You should first uninstall any previous version of Flash Player, using the uninstaller from here (make sure you use the correct one!):

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

and also that you follow the instructions closely, such as closing ALL applications first before installing. You must also carry out a permission repair after installing anything from Adobe.

But beware of downloading from torrent sites:

Although any content that you download has the possibility of containing malicious software, practising a bit of care will generally keep you free from the consequences of anything like the DNSChanger trojan.

1. Avoid going to suspect and untrusted Web sites, especially p'orn'ography sites.

2. Check out what you are downloading. Mac OS X asks you for you administrator password to install applications for a reason! Only download media and applications from well-known and trusted Web sites. If you think you may have downloaded suspicious files, read the installer packages and make sure they are legit. If you cannot determine if the program you downloaded is infected, do a quick Internet search and see if any other users reported issues after installing a particular program.

3. Use an antivirus program like ClamXav. If you are in the habit of downloading a lot of media and other files, it may be well worth your while to run those files through an AV application.

4. Use Mac OS X's built-in Firewalls and other security features.

5. Stop using LimeWire. LimeWire (and other peer-to-peer sharing applications) are hotbeds of potential software issues waiting to happen to your Mac. Everything from changing permissions to downloading trojans and other malicious software can be acquired from using these applications. Similar risks apply to using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and similar sites which are prone to malicious hacking: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8420233.stm

6. Resist the temptation to download pirated software. After the release of iWork '09 earlier this year, a Trojan was discovered circulating in pirated copies of Apple's productivity suite of applications (as well as pirated copies of Adobe's Photoshop CS4). Security professionals now believe that the botnet (from iServices) has become active. Although the potential damage range is projected to be minimal, an estimated 20,000 copies of the Trojan have been downloaded. SecureMac offer a simple and free tool for the removal of the iBotNet Trojan available here:

http://macscan.securemac.com/files/iServicesTrojanRemovalTool.dmg
11 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Apr 21, 2010 2:42 AM in response to 12-lazaroffalpia

I can't hep you with RAR video files (I never knew there was such a thing), and your software seems fine except you have missed some useful plug-ins:

Flip4Mac WMV Player from http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm (Windows Media Player for the Mac is no longer supported, even by Microsoft)

Perian from http://perian.org/

You should read this support page http://perian.org/#support in case you need to delete older codecs.

The latest version of Adobe FlashPlayer can be obtained from here:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash

(You can check here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ to see which version you should install for your Mac and OS.

You should first uninstall any previous version of Flash Player, using the uninstaller from here (make sure you use the correct one!):

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

and also that you follow the instructions closely, such as closing ALL applications first before installing. You must also carry out a permission repair after installing anything from Adobe.

But beware of downloading from torrent sites:

Although any content that you download has the possibility of containing malicious software, practising a bit of care will generally keep you free from the consequences of anything like the DNSChanger trojan.

1. Avoid going to suspect and untrusted Web sites, especially p'orn'ography sites.

2. Check out what you are downloading. Mac OS X asks you for you administrator password to install applications for a reason! Only download media and applications from well-known and trusted Web sites. If you think you may have downloaded suspicious files, read the installer packages and make sure they are legit. If you cannot determine if the program you downloaded is infected, do a quick Internet search and see if any other users reported issues after installing a particular program.

3. Use an antivirus program like ClamXav. If you are in the habit of downloading a lot of media and other files, it may be well worth your while to run those files through an AV application.

4. Use Mac OS X's built-in Firewalls and other security features.

5. Stop using LimeWire. LimeWire (and other peer-to-peer sharing applications) are hotbeds of potential software issues waiting to happen to your Mac. Everything from changing permissions to downloading trojans and other malicious software can be acquired from using these applications. Similar risks apply to using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and similar sites which are prone to malicious hacking: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8420233.stm

6. Resist the temptation to download pirated software. After the release of iWork '09 earlier this year, a Trojan was discovered circulating in pirated copies of Apple's productivity suite of applications (as well as pirated copies of Adobe's Photoshop CS4). Security professionals now believe that the botnet (from iServices) has become active. Although the potential damage range is projected to be minimal, an estimated 20,000 copies of the Trojan have been downloaded. SecureMac offer a simple and free tool for the removal of the iBotNet Trojan available here:

http://macscan.securemac.com/files/iServicesTrojanRemovalTool.dmg

Apr 21, 2010 7:58 PM in response to 12-lazaroffalpia

http://www.vuze.com/ is a good controllable torrent client and http://www.zipeg.com/ lets you view the contents of the compressed files (.rar) before you extract them to your computer. zipeg isn't the best but is free and will even preview certain movies and at the very least see what files are on the package first. Vuze is great and easy to use too.

Apr 22, 2010 4:47 PM in response to sweetpollypurebred

Thanks for your help! I do have Vuze 4.3, I forgot to mention it, but I haven't been able to figure out how it works. I've tried opening files with it to no avail. I've got Transmission working, however. But Zipeg definitely sounds worthwhile. I can't seem to get these rar files to cooperate, not sure what the process is. I expanded one and ended up with two folders worth of little files that I don't know what to do with.

Apr 29, 2010 12:13 PM in response to 12-lazaroffalpia

Vuse will only open certain files like movies as it is more or a torrent client. (as far as I use it). If you select a .torrent file and make vuse the default for "open with" you can pretty much leave it alone. Open the torrent file however you do and vuse will take care of the rest. It has been quite a while since I have used transmission so I forget why I switched. A .rar file is simply a delivery tool like the envelope of a letter. The letter is folded to fit in the envelope as the file is compressed to fit in the .rar. A rar can contain any type of document(s). It can contain a movie, images, installers, applications etc. If we know what the file extensions ("."xxx) are we may be able to help you as to what to do with the files you find..

Need Help w/.RAR Downloads + uTorrent doesn't open

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