Dittos.
For stopping Real (and other persistent pests), I use Startup Inspector (free) and ZoneLabs Security Suite (not so free)... Real is gonna try to download and install itself automatically sometimes thru some backdoor. ZoneLabs might not be able to prevent that install, so if it does do an install then Startup Inspector will prevent it from running, while Zone is set up to stop any and all I/O from RealNetworks and it's many variant URL's.
I've worked out a series of tweaks to both of these programs and when used in tandem have been *real* free from it's nonsense for several years now .... it's still sitting there as an installation, but if I happen to land on some pathetic website which still features embedded Real video it ain't going nowhere .. and I feel sorry for any website still using it, they just lost my online 'eyeballs' forever
I went to startup inspector for windows and read about it. it says its for these operating systems: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/NT
That’s no good for me. I’ve got vista.