The U.S. government has recommended that Windows PC users uninstall Apple's QuickTime video player after Trend Micro said on Thursday it had discovered two new bugs in the software. According to Trend Micro, Apple will no longer be providing security updates for QuickTime for Windows, leaving this software vulnerable to exploitation. Trend Micro had uncovered two critical vulnerabilities in the version of the QuickTime media player for Microsoft's Windows operating system, which could be leveraged to launch attacks on PCs if users visit a malicious web page or open a tainted file.

The warning does not apply to QuickTime for Apple's Mac computers.

The Department of Homeland Security's United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, said in an alert on Thursday that the bugs put users at heightened risks from viruses and other security threats since Apple was ending support for the product.

"The only mitigation available is to uninstall QuickTime for Windows," US-CERT said.