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Adobe Issues 'Emergency' Flash Player Security Update for OS X to Address Ransomware Attacks

MrGuder said:
I think I removed flash from safari on my Mac mini but how can I tell for sure if I still have flash installed? because if I do it's probably an older version.
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Just go to a site that you know that need flash to play stuff.

Here you go. An article about 'PenguinWatch' on the BBC. The top image is a video that needs flash. (Or so Firefox on my MBP says because I know that this POS is not installed on it).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35981212
 
StevieD100 said:
Just go to a site that you know that need flash to play stuff.

Here you go. An article about 'PenguinWatch' on the BBC. The top image is a video that needs flash. (Or so Firefox on my MBP says because I know that this POS is not installed on it).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35981212
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Actually you don't. If you enable developers mode in safari then select target user agent as iPad, the video will play without any issue.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread the original post.
 
Sometimes, the ipad stuff gets classified for licensing purposes as "mobile", which means that some content will be unavailable or premium (No free hulu, for one.). But Google Chrome seems as if it might do a decent job of replacing "Flash."

CBS and Hulu demand flash on Safari.

That's the nature of intellectual property--publishers compete on the basis of having exclusive content available on a take or leave it basis, not on technical considerations such as whether they require Flash.
 
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MrGuder said:
I think I removed flash from safari on my Mac mini but how can I tell for sure if I still have flash installed? because if I do it's probably an older version.
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I had the same concern. I found that my flash player was updated. Possibly from the last safari update and possibly the flash player was set to autoupdate when I originally installed it 10 years ago?

From Safari: Preferences: Security: Internet Plug-ins -> Plug-in Settings

Adobe Flash Player, current version 21.0.0.213

I changed the settings to ask per webpage but always allow youtube, hulu, netflix, and gamepass.nfl.com. You can do this easily by navigating to those webpages while keeping the plug-in settings window open.

I thought it was funny that Safari then asked to use flash when I came here to forums.macrumors.com, so perhaps those calling for a boycott should start with this site!

M@

Edit: I do have Flash set to autoupdate.
Flash is installed system wide.
Apple Menu: System Preferences: Flash Player (bottom, add-on section)
Updates tab: "Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended)"

NPAPI is for Safari & Firefox
PPAPI is for Chrome and Opera
 
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Any website will use any technology they have been conned into using until they see evidence that enough of their target market can't see their website because it's not compatible. It's similar to the way spammers will continue to send spam email until they no longer get people clicking on them. :)
 
navaira said:
I remember reading that Jobs was 100% against Flash and thinking "what a weirdo". I used Flash at work extensively back then. Well. Once again Steve knew more than I did. What were the odds???
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It wasn't that big of a risk to drop Flash. Steve killed it for the iPhone because they couldn't get it working right after 2 years of trying. If you follow it on the other devices it was a battery and memory hog. On a laptop it would spin up the fans even if the video was paused. The problem that Adobe has with Flash is that they have generations of code that they can't touch without breaking.
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BeefCake 15 said:
I truly don't understand how a large multi-billion dollar publicly traded company has a hard time getting a smooth and slim software (PDF reader, Flash, Adobe Air.....) when indie developers on a ramen noodle budget do a good job at it? True question...
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It's easy. Flash is huge and has years of code going back to it's early creation (late 90's). Touching any of that is worst than just starting over.
 
xkam1x said:
Adobe is full of issues, I stopped using it over a year ago and most of websites function very well in HTML5. Adobe needs to release a tool that can transfer Flash Player backend to HTML5, that is only solution if they want to leave flash behind.
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xvideos.com still uses it.
 
All the hate for Flash in this thread has triggered me to remove it from my system, I feel so alive!
 
JosephAW said:
I use Chrome to run any flash sites because it's built in. All other browsers do not have flash access. Also removed Adobe Air.
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Cool, you also get the flash vulnerability's built in. Nice and convenient.

It took me a while but I eventually found the Adobe flash uninstaller and got rid of this mess.
 
I've been happily running without Flash for over a year and have actually gotten some surprisingly agreeable responses from emails I've written to some of the few remaining 'culprit' web sites that continue to insist on using Flash for major features of their sites. The end is in sight.
 
can we just get rid of this disaster? there are some incompetent websites that still this use this as their media player. 2016....this was pissed away over 6 years and even before that when mobile devices proved to be better without it.
 
Junior117 said:
I wish I could just get rid of Flash...

... but Funimation and Crunchyroll STILL uses the dang plugin. I guess I'm stuck with this necessary evil for now. -_-
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If you use Safari and just disable Flash completely those sites will resort to HTML5. Tested on Safari 9.1
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StevieD100 said:
Just go to a site that you know that need flash to play stuff.

Here you go. An article about 'PenguinWatch' on the BBC. The top image is a video that needs flash. (Or so Firefox on my MBP says because I know that this POS is not installed on it).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35981212
Click to expand...
Safari 9.1 and this site plays video in HTML5. I have Flash completely disabled.
 
Flash did have value as it was a lot more than a medium for streaming video. The programming and development environment provided a great foundation for developing rich, interactive content that you knew would work across browsers thanks to the Flash player. With that said, Adobe dropped the ball in not fixing the memory leaks with Flash Player. I guess in the desktop world they didn't care, but it the mobile world it was a disaster. Still, for years, they did nothing. I see the same issue with other Adobe apps (Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Framemaker, etc.) where there are obvious issues that just never seem to get fixed. As others have pointed out this may be due to really old legacy code that still exists and no one wants to touch.
 
JosephAW said:
Why is this article only visible to mobile devices. My desktop is not showing this?
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Someone may have answered this already, but the reason you see it on the mobile site but not the desktop is that the mobile site shows ALL the stories in the feed. On the desktop, look to the right and you'll see More Macrumors Stories. That's where the "Page 2" stories go. Again, the mobile site just shows all the main stories AND the page 2 stories.

This is also why people relentlessly complain in the comments about "yet another Apple Watch story" or "yet another Apple legal story". Because they are viewing the mobile site and assuming MacRumors thinks it is a page 1 story, when in fact, it's a page 2 story.
 
Vertigo50 said:
Someone may have answered this already, but the reason you see it on the mobile site but not the desktop is that the mobile site shows ALL the stories in the feed. On the desktop, look to the right and you'll see More Macrumors Stories. That's where the "Page 2" stories go. Again, the mobile site just shows all the main stories AND the page 2 stories.

This is also why people relentlessly complain in the comments about "yet another Apple Watch story" or "yet
Thanks. I didn't r
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Vertigo50 said:
Someone may have answered this already, but the reason you see it on the mobile site but not the desktop is that the mobile site shows ALL the stories in the feed. On the desktop, look to the right and you'll see More Macrumors Stories. That's where the "Page 2" stories go. Again, the mobile site just shows all the main stories AND the page 2 stories.

This is also why people relentlessly complain in the comments about "yet another Apple Watch story" or "yet another Apple legal story". Because they are viewing the mobile site and assuming MacRumors thinks it is a page 1 story, when in fact, it's a page 2 story.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I didn't realize that the adobe flash vulnerability was a non important story and was moved to a page 2 status.
 
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