Linux, Windows, or Mac: You need to patch Adobe Flash

IT World ^ | 09 December 2009 | sjvn

[ShadowAce]

[La Lydia]

Ever since I downloaded this latest Flash patch for my Mac book, I have had problems loading several sites that I go to often, WMAL being the worst offender.

[ShadowAce]

What kind of problems? What’s your setup?

[La Lydia]

When I try to open certain sites, such as the WMAL one, it jumps around and flashes and doesn’t load, as if I were hitting the reload button continuously, although I am not. I did a little snooping around, got onto the site by finding a link that didn’t have any moving graphics, and at one point got a message that said I didn’t have cookies enabled, which is not the case. Anyway, it is annoying. It ticks me off to do something recommend by Apple to make performance better, and it ends up being worse.

[zeugma]

Thanks for posting this. Flash, because it is used so much on websites, is definitely an attack vector that we all need to keep a watch out for. I've got the adobe yum repository set up here, so updates are automagic. For Firefox users, it's a good idea to validate that the plugin you think is being used, is actually the one that is being used. Enter "about:plugins" in your address bar, and take a look at what's there.

[GOPJ]

bump to the top

[pyx]

I just UPDATED to the Flash you suggested at Adobe on two XP boxes. I had NO problems. I was asked to restart Firefox, which I did. I went to the WMAL 630 AM Website and loaded the On Demand Video and had NO problems. Again, this is Windows XP. There have been no problems in Linux.

[discostu]

Good ol Adobe, always putting in that extra effort to make sure their software is annoying.

[La Lydia]

Yes, but as I stated before, I am on a Mac book and use Safari. Different planet.

[Star Traveler]

Ping to Swordmaker...

[GOPJ]

bttt

[Richard Kimball]

I'm not a big fan of Flash. What I find (or found, prior to using ad blocker) is that the stupid commercials use flash, and have ten to fifty meg files that bog down web pages and make them unusable.

Flash is a good tool, but so is a hammer. Most Flash programmers are the equivalent of a five year old with a hammer walking around in the Alzheimer's wing of the nursing home.

I find this to be true with many programming technologies. You can do incredibly cool stuff with them, but the first thing that happens is some bozo working for an advertising company asks "Okay, how can we use this technology to annoy the ever loving crap out of everyone?"

[papasmurf]

Help eliminate Adobe's starnglehold. Donate money or your coding skills to The Gnash Project.

Gnash is the GNU SWF movie player, which can be run standalone on a computer or an embedded device, as well as as a plugin for several browsers. It is a part of the GNU Project that aims to create a free software player and browser plugin for the Adobe Flash file format. It developed from the GPLFlash project.

[MichiganMan]

I'm not a big fan of Flash. What I find (or found, prior to using ad blocker) is that the stupid commercials use flash, and have ten to fifty meg files that bog down web pages and make them unusable.

Agreed.  Try the Flashblock Firefox extension (If you're using Firefox) It blocks all flash leaving only a little arrow for you to click if you do want to see that particular flash.  Plus you can whitelist sites where you always want flash.  Its a Godsend in these days of hyperanimated web ads. 

[JoeProBono]

[Swordmaker]

Flash! Adobe Flash needs to be updated due to severe ZERO DAY security vulnerability that "could allow execution" of malicious code when a user views a maliciously crafted Flash file—PING!

Supposedly works on Windows, Linux and OS X—but, remember, a vulnerability does not an exploit make.

Nasty Adobe FLASH Vulnerability Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[6SJ7]

Agreed. Try the Flashblock Firefox extension (If you're using Firefox) It blocks all flash leaving only a little arrow for you to click if you do want to see that particular flash.

For those using Safari, there is the ClickToFlash plugin which does the same thing; blocking the flash unless you click on the item. Just quit Safari, run the installer, and it's done.

[antiRepublicrat]

Or just support HTML 5 for video. The only question is whether to use H.264 or Ogg.