"update flash player" redirects?

N

ncbill

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Messages
4,633
Location
Western NC
I'm getting redirected to "update your flash player" web pages whenever I open an updated forum thread.

I can usually click "back" and get to the thread.

It's only occurring on this site...anyone else?

Mac OS 10.12 Safari web browser.
 
No problem here on windows desktop / Mozilla or iPad.
 
That request to update Flash Player would be caused by some ad that is being served to you (not everyone). It's always a good idea to update your software to the latest version just for fixes to security vulnerabilities.
 
i am getting this on Safari too. I think it may be Malware.
 
You are likely seeing a popup caused by unwanted adware. DO NOT CLICK.

As you surf the internet, your machine gets cookies and other "gifts" and occasionally some of those are persistent or even malicious. I've seen numerous reports of this same thing in the past week. Good reading here: https://macsecurity.net/view/227-adobe-flash-player-update-mac-virus

This is not a new issue for mac users but seems to have been recently resurrected.

You can begin by cleaning your cookies and cache and doing a restart. You may want to run malwarebytes or some other utility to rid yourself of this. They have a free version that should do the trick

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/
 
Last edited:
I'm getting redirected to this or similar sites when I go to some (not all) pages on the forum. Maybe it is due to one of the ads. I don't get it on my iPad, but do on my laptop PC (Windows 10, Edge, Norton).

I ran CCleaner to clean out cookies and so on, and then scanned used Norton and Malwarebytes but to no avail. They aren't finding anything malicious on my laptop.
 

Attachments

  • Capture.jpg
    Capture.jpg
    262.2 KB · Views: 19
Me too!

MacBook with latest flash player...

This is the only website it happens, nowhere else. Started yesterday in earnest.

So frequent that it prevents me from using the site at times. :( Early yesterday could not use website, constantly came up on every page. Was able to use late yesterday for awhile. Today I got it a couple of times already.

Agreed that it's likely malware/phishing (presumably from an ad), but not sure what to do.
 
I don't have Flash Player installed at all, due to ongoing security issues. I haven't run into a problem on this site, but any time I want to change my AA chart on Vanguard it tells me I need to install Macromedia Flash. I won't do it so I can't use that feature. Annoying. I guess they'll get around to HTML5 sometime this decade.
 
I don't see that at all. I recommend installing uBlock Origin or uBlock Matrix. Blocking website ads is a security issue, and should be addressed with extreme prejudice.
 
malwarebytes seems to have fixed it for now...quarantined a couple of items.

EDIT: also installed ublock

problem came back, disabled javascript...that seems to have worked.
 
Last edited:
My problem (reported in post #6 above) seems to have vanished without me doing or changing anything at all. Thank you, forum admins and staff. :dance:
 
I have it on this site, bad. Tried Malware, but that did not solve the problem. I only tried the free service, but I am not inclined to buy the "Premium" product since the free download did not solve it.

I have Safari 11.1.2, on Mac OS X 10.11.6

Any other suggestions? It's driving me nuts. It does eventually stop, but I have to keep hitting the back page button, sometimes a dozen times to make it stop.
 
I kept getting a Flash update redirect on a youtube to mp3 site that worked for otheres BUT I know I have the latest Flash and refuse to download from non Adobe site. In fact, I only activate Flash for specific sites. So any redirects are definitely suspect for malware. Love Malwarebytes
 
yakers said:
I kept getting a Flash update redirect on a youtube to mp3 site that worked for otheres BUT I know I have the latest Flash and refuse to download from non Adobe site. In fact, I only activate Flash for specific sites. So any redirects are definitely suspect for malware. Love Malwarebytes
Click to expand...

I get flash player and realplayer update popups from time to time (especially flash player). I have heard they can be from dangerous websites which can install malware. So, I always go to the adobe or realplayer websites to download any new or updated software.
 
I had the same trouble with flash player pop ups on Safari. I tried emptying cache and cookies and history, and running Malwarebytes and anything else I could think of to try. It is still a problem only for this site on Safari. I gave up and moved to reading this site on Chrome browser. That has worked so far to stop the pop ups.
 
Since it only happens to some people, not everyone running the same browser and OS, it is almost certainly triggered by an ad that is targeted to only those unfortunates. Since this site has no control over which ads go to which people, and essentially almost no control over ads period, there really isn't much we can do. AFAIK, even running an ad blocker wouldn't keep this from happening. Those bad people are devious in the extreme.
 
On a Windows 10 PC I use Opera, Firefox, Chrome and Brave. With ad-blocking and popup-blocking enabled in various ways, I haven't seen any adware/malware problems.
 
update on my situation

FWIW...

A few days ago when this started, I followed the earlier advice to clean up. This was difficult since I had trouble even reading posts, the redirects were popping up that fast. I cleaned everything up, including using a commercial product which found a flash player virus and said it was removed.

For the following two days, I would visit once each day to see if it would work, without success. Happened very quickly, could not visit this site. Wasn't seeing this anywhere else, and computer said it was clean.

Today, I visited, no further clean up, and all is well. It would seem to me that an ad was triggering it, and that it's now gone since I haven't changed anything on my computer. Trying another browser sounds like a good idea, but I didn't see that option since I couldn't access the site. I'm also on the road, so don't have access to other computers that I might have tried out.

All is well for the last hour or so, hope it continues!:)
 
oldphd said:
FWIW...

A few days ago when this started, I followed the earlier advice to clean up. This was difficult since I had trouble even reading posts, the redirects were popping up that fast. I cleaned everything up, including using a commercial product which found a flash player virus and said it was removed.

For the following two days, I would visit once each day to see if it would work, without success. Happened very quickly, could not visit this site. Wasn't seeing this anywhere else, and computer said it was clean.

Today, I visited, no further clean up, and all is well. It would seem to me that an ad was triggering it, and that it's now gone since I haven't changed anything on my computer. Trying another browser sounds like a good idea, but I didn't see that option since I couldn't access the site. I'm also on the road, so don't have access to other computers that I might have tried out.

All is well for the last hour or so, hope it continues!:)
Click to expand...

Your experience mirrors mine almost exactly. No problems right now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Janet H
Forum Update - We're back! Ask your questions here.
4 5 6
Replies
149
Views
3K
robls
robls
Janet H
Forum Downtime - software update scheduled April 23/24
2
Replies
36
Views
1K
Out of Steam
Out of Steam
S
Trusted travel agent
Replies
16
Views
990
SecondAttempt
S
M
Parking Tickets
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
easysurfer
easysurfer
R
Issues with Vanguard login using Starlink?
Replies
4
Views
815
Retire2023
R

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom