Real Player precautions?

Hey i just got DSL from 56k (finally!!) and want to watch videos on MVT.com but they require that i have Real Player wich i havent had on my system for a while 'cause of all the spyware and how many times my zone-alarm told me it would be trying to access the internet without asking me and how it changed all my vid icons to realplayer ones.

Anyway , that was a few years ago, i forget exactly what i did about it the last time. I'd like to download and install it again but would like to know if I can disable it's sypware and how it accesses the internet. I thought i'd ask BEFORE downloading it, so i'll know if it's even possible. I think remeber having disabled it somehow before but am not sure if i'm thinking of another program.

Also, is there an imitation player that would work with web-sites expecting the real player plug-in. Cause Real Player is this massive BLOATED program. I hate how they include a browser along with it and try and get you to start using all sorts of other crap.

Thanks for any help. Robert.

 

RealMedia Alternative is an option, although I don't think it fully supports streaming video.

From the little I've read, apparently they stopped putting cr@p in with RealPlayer, although I still wouldn't have it on my computer.