Comments on: Critical Security Fixes from Adobe, Microsoft

By: PJ

PJ — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 20:17:53 +0000

Automatic updater has failed every time so far for me on a pair of laptops, win7 x32 and x64. It sure checks often enough though.

By: sheen

sheen — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 01:36:09 +0000

what is the different of Shockware & Adobe Flayer Player? TIA

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 21:05:39 +0000

First, my thanks to you, Old School. Your posts are informative. You mentioned earlier in this thread that the lowest interval to check for flash player updates is seven days. Don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before but you turned on the light – this is why I usually find out about an update from another machine or maybe this website before I receive any notice from Adobe.

You asked “Does the auto update function work for other users? How long does the user have to wait before the auto-update software detects an update?”.

I reviewed the FlashInstall.log found at C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash on six machines, all are running WinXP Pro, four are Dells, two are IBM. Five are set to auto update. Three are on the West coast in Pacific time zone, three are in Hawaii time zone. The West Coast machines are always on, the HI machines are put into standby when not in use. The log uses GMT, here are the update times:
I530 2012-08-15+01-44-54.734
Dell1 2012-08-15+01-59-12.312
Vostro 2012-08-15+05-50-41.625
IBM2 2012-08-15+07-47-12.531
IBM1 2012-08-15+09-21-11.187
I5302 2012-08-15+15-45-24.921
The first two updates occur within 15 minutes of each other, first update was in Hawaii, second on the West coast. About 4 hours later Vostro (in HI) updated. About two hours more and IBM2 (West C) updated. Another hour and half to update IBM1 (West C). Finally I5302 was updated manually – it is set to notify, no notice received. All in all, the auto updates machines updated within eight hours of each other.

Hope this helps answer your question.

By: 67GTV

67GTV — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:12:58 +0000

Sure enough Seymour, when I Googled “adobe flash player msi download” with quotes, I found one Adobe staff member referring a requestor to the same link Jason posted. The first result points to Jason’s link when Googling “adobe flash player msi” without quotes. A brief glance at Googling “adobe flash player msi” with quotes did not reveal the link. I did however, see your post above.

Btw, the distribution link is handy as Adobe’s distribution application form is non-functional. (I tested it, not believing my co-worker.)

By: SeymourB

SeymourB — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:00:15 +0000

There are ways to bypass Flashblock, or at least there were in the past, whereas it’s damn near impossible to bypass Noscript.

By: SeymourB

SeymourB — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:57:50 +0000

Keep in mind you’re not comparing apples to apples. The versions distributed to consumers aren’t distributed as an MSI, which are inherently larger files. MSIs can perform administrative & repair installations and are structured so that you can create transforms (MSTs) from the MSI to customize the installation, none of which are possible with Adobe’s consumer installer.

By: SeymourB

SeymourB — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:53:33 +0000

While technically true, the fact of the matter is that Googling for “adobe flash player msi” returns that link as the first hit and has done so for the past couple years or so. If Adobe hasn’t bothered to stick the page in their robots.txt file that that long, they’ve got to be on shaky legal ground.

By: Old School

Old School — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:18:08 +0000

Some day, when you have a slow news day or when you are not having power problems, could you please address the functionality of the Adobe Flash Player Settings Manager and the auto-update problem. I realize that you have touched on this problem before, ad nauseam. Quoting your own hand (http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/06/critical-security-fixes-for-adobe-flash-player/) “Windows users who have Flash 11.2 or higher installed also have Adobe’s new updater, which is designed to auto-install updates shortly after they’re made available. ” I have never had any success with either of their two systems. Here is their documentation:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html .
” Beginning with Flash Player 10.3, the Local Settings Manager supersedes this Online Settings Manager for managing global settings on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. The Local Settings Manager can be accessed in the Control Panel on Windows and in System Preferences on Mac. Users of other operating systems and earlier versions of Flash Player can continue to use the Online Settings Manager described here.

To access the local Flash Player Settings Manager that is native to your operating system:

Windows: click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Flash Player
Macintosh: System Preferences (under Other) click Flash Player
Linux Gnome: System > Preferences > Adobe Flash Player
Linux KDE: System Settings > Adobe Flash Player”

For Windows 7, the documentation is wrong. The Settings Manager is in the Systems and Security section and not a separate entry on the Control Panel. Does the auto update function work for other users? How long does the user have to wait before the auto-update software detects an update? I would not push this issue if it were not for the security issues. THANKS.

By: Mattias S

Mattias S — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 07:54:55 +0000

Working now!
Thanks,
/Mattias

By: Jennifer Kuvlesky

Jennifer Kuvlesky — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:33:05 +0000

Here is a handy table to keep track of all recent 3rd party patches – updated weekly. http://bit.ly/O5Sn86