Security Experts are Recommending you Uninstall Adobe Flash

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by target2019 As with any known security threat, install the update the publisher will provide. It's really that simple.

And you would be doing this many, many times as more and more issues are discovered and exploited while Adobe furiously rolls out patches behind the times. I'm not willing go through this process any more for something I don't really need.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by target2019 As with any known security threat, install the update the publisher will provide. It's really that simple. ...

I just want to stress the bold. DD ended up with a browser hijack on her MacBookPro (she would get re-directed to advertising, almost all the text on a page had underlines with links to ads). Every indication was that she downloaded what she thought was an Adobe update, but she didn't go direct to Adobe, so got this malware. Took some effort to get it cleaned up, files all over the place.

Go direct to Adobe, do not follow some other link.

-ERD50

[bjorn2bwild]

I have not tried this approach, but have noticed alternatives to flash player in firefox add-ons - e.g. "video w/o flash" (does not play YouTube) and "YouTube all HTML5" that plays w/o flash (limited to 720p).
I have been using the flash player 'ask to use' mode for years without any problems.

P.S. Here is an active thread including Mark from Mozilla discussing the issue. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9883246

[MBAustin]

Here's an article about the proliferation of browser hijacks and what to do about them (oriented to Mac users):

TidBITS: Scary Internet Scam Becoming Disturbingly Common

[Options]

And here I thought it was just me. I have nothing but problems with Flash Player updates on my PC. Java updates have been problematic as well (though not at all as much as with Flashplayer), requesting that I install repeatedly even after just installing. Frustrating.

[audreyh1]

I've disabled all plug-ins.

[Options]

Well I'm no expert on this, but videos won't run without plug-ins (at least mine won't, with the Comodo browser). How are you getting around that?

[meierlde]

Note that adobe has a fix on their website if you download and install (being sure to uncheck the box for some other software) firefox will be happy. It is supposed to have fixed the bugs that were found, although it does appear that shockwave flash is swiss cheese in terms of quality.

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meierlde Note that adobe has a fix on their website if you download and install (being sure to uncheck the box for some other software) firefox will be happy. It is supposed to have fixed the bugs that were found, although it does appear that shockwave flash is swiss cheese in terms of quality.

I must have set this to automatic update because my PC has this latest as of today 7/14. The latest version is 18.0.0.209

[Lsbcal]

It appears Pandora requires the Adobe flash player to run in Firefox.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options Well I'm no expert on this, but videos won't run without plug-ins (at least mine won't, with the Comodo browser). How are you getting around that?

I haven't run into problems running video in Safari yet.

[Telly]

I'm confused -- I'm running Firefox on a PC, Firefox has blocked the Shockwave Flash plug-in from running, but yet I can still play music on Youtube.

I have looked with Task Manager, Shockwave Flash for-sure is NOT running, but I can't seem to catch what the task is that is doing the media. Any idea what the player is

Separately, when I look at ER.org, I don't log-in unless I'm making a post. As such, all of the ads lately (videos in about every one!) would drag down my poor CPU, making everything so slow, so then I would use Task Manager to kill Shockwave Flash, then everything would be quick again. With Firefox not running Shockwave Flash, its full speed all the time now!

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telly ... Separately, when I look at ER.org, I don't log-in unless I'm making a post. As such, all of the ads lately (videos in about every one!) would drag down my poor CPU, making everything so slow, so then I would use Task Manager to kill Shockwave Flash, then everything would be quick again. With Firefox not running Shockwave Flash, its full speed all the time now!

Have you tried the extension Adblock Plus? Works nicely on a PC running Firefox. I've used it for years.

[LARS]

Thanks for this. Removed Flash. Am I correct that if Flash remains on an iPad (connected to network) that a) iPad can't be corrupted and b) can't therefore indirectly corrupt an iMac?

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LARS Thanks for this. Removed Flash. Am I correct that if Flash remains on an iPad (connected to network) that a) iPad can't be corrupted and b) can't therefore indirectly corrupt an iMac?

iPads don't support flash. So you don't have it on there anyway. No iOS platform does.

Steve Jobs made the call years ago not to support Flash on the iOS platform, supporting HTML5 instead. There was quite a hue and cry at the time. His reasons were: Flash required too much CPU bandwidth, which was a problem for battery life at the time. But also he said it wasn't secure enough.

At first sites such as YouTube and Facebook solved the issue by creating apps for iOS that didn't use flash. As of a couple of years ago their web pages detect iOS and support HTML5 so they run in Safari as well.

[Options]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I haven't run into problems running video in Safari yet.

Interestingly I disabled plug-ins yesterday and have had no problems using Comodo either. A few ads aren't displaying, but I view that as a plus.

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telly I'm confused -- I'm running Firefox on a PC, Firefox has blocked the Shockwave Flash plug-in from running, but yet I can still play music on Youtube. I have looked with Task Manager, Shockwave Flash for-sure is NOT running, but I can't seem to catch what the task is that is doing the media. Any idea what the player is ....

AFIK Youtbe stuff can be run via HTML5 for which FF has recently added support. Gurus may have better answer.

[audreyh1]

YouTube videos run fine in Safari on my Mac, just like on my iOS devices. I assume they use HTML5 now.

[nash031]

I second AdBlockPlus, but have also uninstalled Flash. No need for it. Thanks for the reading.

[mpeirce]

I think the only Flash used on a website I use on a daily basis is google finance. They fall back if you don't have Flash installed, but it's not as nice.