Technology VLC is Wrongly Blamed for Microsoft Defender's Clumsiness

[lokamoka820]

Content source

https://itsfoss.com/news/vlc-microsoft-defenders-drama/

It all started with a tweet by video game designer Jonathan Blow. Blow is the developer behind games like Braid and The Witness.

He mentioned that he had stopped using VLC on Windows because it took about 33 seconds to start playing a simple MP3, and he had switched to Microsoft Media Player instead.



And he also shamed open source software, framing it as a sign that large part of open-source software is in bad shape.

A large sector of open source software is in a truly embarrassing place now...

This quickly turned into a heated discussion, with people joining from both sides.

VLC's official Twitter account clarified that this delay was not a core VLC regression but a side effect of a Windows 11 / Microsoft Defender update that quarantined VLC’s plugin cache. Their suggested solution is reinstalling VLC or regenerating that cache.

Jonathan argued that it is the developer's responsibility to fix. He cited his own experience of fixing an issue caused by AMD in his game Braid.

The solution to the problem​

VLC suggests the following fixes

• Regenerate the plugin cache (e.g. launch with vlc --reset-plugins-cache, or clear VLC’s cache under the user profile and relaunch)
• Reinstall VLC from the official build

However, a better suggestion came from a few users who noted that excluding vlc.exe in Microsoft Defender solves this problem. And I like this one better because it seems to address the problem where it originates, Microsoft Defender. And if the cache builds up, VLC may be slowed down again (I think).

The same was vouched by several people. So this sure looks like the workaround worth trying.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Is he really a game developer? He sounded like a dumb*** teen who knows nothing about software.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Is he really a game developer? He sounded like a dumb*** teen who knows nothing about software.

What are you talking about? He is right open source software is a #####-show and is a disgrace. The advent of AI will mean millions will get pwned from bad coding/dev.

Some try very hard and make great software but the majority is poo and should be deleted or at least firewall blocked from installation.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

What are you talking about? He is right open source software is a #####-show and is a disgrace. The advent of AI will mean millions will get pwned from bad coding/dev.

Some try very hard and make great software but the majority is poo and should be deleted or at least firewall blocked from installation.

Most of the apps I am using are open source. There are many quality apps and I do support their developers. The most recent apps I found are Psono Password Manager and Cloudotp.

 

[Deletedmessiah]

What are you talking about? He is right open source software is a #####-show and is a disgrace. The advent of AI will mean millions will get pwned from bad coding/dev.

Some try very hard and make great software but the majority is poo and should be deleted or at least firewall blocked from installation.

Applies to paid too. Most are bad there too. Too many of them are too clunky, heavy and bloated. Maybe after AI this has become true for open source surpassing closed in terms of being bad but here, VLC is pre AI and doesnt seem newer versions are all that vibe coded. The software is rather stagnant in terms of major changes for years.

And in this context he said the wrong thing and just doubled down. He's a very skilled programmer but has bad attitude and tends to do such things. Not sure what VLC are expected to do here? You submit the false detection and wait for them to whitelist etc which they probably did(and constantly have to do). Modifying a major component like plugin system for antivirus false flag doesn't make sense. The constant modifications will get false flag too. And many new defender definitions, data etc are probably vibe coded too with how much they're shoving copilot and ceo saying 30% of new code is ai written months back. Its a MS false flag issue.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

And yet there are still vulnerabilities, security issues and exploits in VLC and it's open source. You shouldn't need to whitelist anything with VLC.

Vibe coded poo is everywhere including open source, what AI should do is nix crap bugs. The question is can AI write the patches after finding exploits?