Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Forces Users to Upgrade to Newest Adobe Flash Player to Patch Vulnerabilities

Traverse said:
I don't know enough about Flash, is there a downside to this? I never hear about newer versions of Flash causing compatibility issues.
Click to expand...

Traverse said:
… is there any reason someone wouldn't update their Flash player? …

… Has an update to flash player ever caused compatibility problems with flash based videos and applications? If not, I see no reason not to update it or for Apple to force the user to keep it updated.
Click to expand...

Adobe has a very poor reputation for its approaches to uninstallation and installation. Managers of managed environments, especially Windows, may be acutely aware of that reputation.

The Develop menu of Safari

B2k1977 said:
… don't have it installed … safari in developer mode and use the developer menu to kick it over to chrome …
Click to expand...

+1
and I sometimes prefer to open the page with Chromium.

Either way, I find it increasingly (pleasingly) rare for a site to require a Flash Player.

iamMacPerson said:
Apparently you didn't read the good news. …
Click to expand...

Thanks – YouTube says HTML5 video ready for primetime, makes it default | Ars Technica (2015-01-27).

Since requirements for Flash had become rare, it's no surprise that I wasn't even aware of the transition.

(A few weeks ago, just one YouTube page appeared to have trouble with HTML5. I ignored it.)
 
sevoneone said:
...I really think that Apple needs to take a cue from Google and Microsoft and embed the plugin in the browser so that it is automatically updated without any interaction from the user. Chrome has its own version of Flash, and IE in Windows 8 also manages Flash updates for the user. It's not Apple's fault that it sucks so bad, but they could opt to make it easier on the user.
Click to expand...

Ummm, Apple laid the groundwork for effortless, yet secure, software installation and updates by the user, but Adobe has decided to keep the process difficult and cumbersome. That is not Apple's fault or responsibility. Apple is doing their part by protecting users from vulnerable versions of Flash. How it gets installed is Adobe's job.
 
Sorry, the last time this happened was the last frickin' time. I'm not updating anymore. Nothing uses it except Facebook for videos anyway.

----------
coolfactor said:
Ummm, Apple laid the groundwork for effortless, yet secure, software installation and updates by the user, but Adobe has decided to keep the process difficult and cumbersome. That is not Apple's fault or responsibility. Apple is doing their part by protecting users from vulnerable versions of Flash. How it gets installed is Adobe's job.
Click to expand...

However, Google circumvents Adobe completely and just makes their own Flash player that's installed by default with Chrome. It's a lot easier that way.
 
Last edited:
iamMacPerson said:
Apparently you didn't read the good news.

This honestly for me is the straw that broke the camels back. I have installed a new verison of Flash 3 times this week and I'm tried of it. Anytime I need Flash for putting in annotations on YT or view other Flash content, I'll redirect it to Chrome. I have finally removed Flash from my systems and it feels great.

RIP Flash you resource hog of a plug in. You will not be missed.
Click to expand...

Oh, I did read the good news... but I had Click2Plugin installed. Once I removed that, HTML5 player came up and I didn't get any flash errors. Good times ahead.
 
I had to reinstall Flash for a live streamed event earlier this week, so I wasn't surprised yesterday when Firefox had sandboxed Flash, but I was surprised that Safari didn't.

Turns out a that Xprotect wasn't installed during a clean install of Yosemite, the 10.10.1 Combo Update, or the 10.10.2 delta update because "Install system data files and security updates" wasn't set (in the App Store prefs pane).
 
Last edited:
I just uninstalled flash player. I was updating it more often than actually using it. To be honest, I probably won't miss it.
 
Despite Flash slowly being phased out, I MUST have it still. A math class I am taking uses this software that is entirely flash based. (Which is funny, because in one of the promotional images, it shows two people using an iPad)
 
ButteryScrollin said:
First Apple force me to update to iOS 8, then Yosemite, now they are forcing me to upgrade to the latest Flash! when will it stop?
Click to expand...

They are not really forcing you.

Apple knows that the Flash version that you are using has vulnerabilities that are known to crooks and could be used to hack into your computer. Apple therefore gives you the choice of living without Flash, or upgrading to a version that has no vulnerabilities known at this time.

The choice that Apple _doesn't_ give you is to use a version that is known dangerous.
 
Robert.Walter said:
What is the best way to remove flash, by using Adobe's Flash Unistaller, or going to applications and just dragging to trash?

In either case are there any orphan or hidden files that need to be manually deleted? If so where?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Flash is not in the application folder, you have to download the uninstaller. The website link below also tells you other files to delete manually, that's what I did anyway. Let's see how I get on without flash.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/01/09/uninstall-flash-mac/
 
I just uninstalled Flash, but then I realized ClickToFlash won't block the default YouTube player anymore if I do that. I'll have to reinstall it if I get sick of the YouTube player again.

----------
steve333 said:
I don't think clicktoflash lets you download clips without flash installed.
Anyone know of another way to do it?
Click to expand...

I have the same question.
 
YouTube maybe walking away from Flash, but they've also stopped encoding mpeg4 videos in 1080p, those are primarily WebM only.
 
Stopped installing that piece of cr*p

When I got my new Mini last year, I didn't even install it.
At work on my Linux PC, I didn't even install it - and haven't for years.
Same on my (very old) Linux laptop.
Finally, last week even the Windows guys at work had it de-installed everywhere.
It's on my old iMac that is mostly used by my GF these days - because apparently there are some videos that only play with Flash and she wants to see those.:roll eyes:
 
Unfortunately some news sites still use Flash, so I can't just remove Flash if I want to watch those videos.
 
Stella said:
Unfortunately some news sites still use Flash, so I can't just remove Flash if I want to watch those videos.
Click to expand...

Many people browse Safari without Flash, and when the occasional legacy website appears, they use Chrome.

Chrome takes care of Flash updates and it has some sort of built-in Flash, so you can uninstall Flash from your computer.
 
Alphabetize said:
Despite Flash slowly being phased out, I MUST have it still. A math class I am taking uses this software that is entirely flash based. (Which is funny, because in one of the promotional images, it shows two people using an iPad)
Click to expand...

I keep Chrome installed, and the rare times I need to use a website with flash (I'll frequently just not use a site if they require it) I can just launch Chrome which has Flash built in.

It's the only time I use Chrome, as I dislike that browser for other reasons.
 
CrickettGrrrl said:
I removed Adobe Flash & Reader off all the computers in the house yesterday. Felt good, like having clean closets.
Click to expand...

After upgrading to Yosemite, font rendering turned to be very blurring in Preview.

----------

We still use ActiveX in China... Flash sounds so futuristic. Why do you guys hate it?
 
Apple Forces Users to Upgrade to Newest Adobe Flash Player to Patch Vulnerabilities

Maybe I read it wrong :D

Apple upgrades Users to Newest Adobe Flash Player to Patch Vulnerabilities and safe guard users data
Click to expand...
 
hkenneth said:
After upgrading to Yosemite, font rendering turned to be very blurring in Preview.

----------

We still use ActiveX in China... Flash sounds so futuristic. Why do you guys hate it?
Click to expand...

This article was the straw that broke the camel's back:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/as-flash-0day-exploits-reach-new-level-of-meanness-what-are-users-to-do/

I was tired of checking if I had the latest update, especially on my parents' Macs. I dislike the Adobe Flash update process. Sometimes it's fine, you click "Update" in Sys Pref & the update downloads & installs. MOST of the time you get redirected to Adobe's website where you have to click through 2 or 3 windows with ads for their other products, --a useless waste of time.

Recently there have been a great many updates as the security threats have begun to cascade.

It's just not worth the trouble anymore.

Re font blurring in Yosemite: Yes, I've read about that & that's one of the reasons I haven't updated to it. However, it has nothing to do with Flash being uninstalled. Flash is not installed by default on Macs for a couple years now, at least.
 
Last edited:
ipedro said:
Do we need *any* Flash player? I can't think of any site that I visit that still uses Flash.
Click to expand...

Regrettably, quite a few sites like banks, insurance companies, etc., not only use Flash but won't function without it (or at least function in a way where you can see what is going on). Believe me, I constantly try.

Now, you would think companies like banks and insurance companies would be very security conscious, and aware of the burden that maintaining secure versions of Flash (and Java!) places on ordinary users, wouldn't you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back