19 responses to “Adobe’s in a patching mood, too”

1. 

   sanda August 11th, 2010 at 20:40

   I went to a website, one I visit often, and there was a video with Adobe Flash, that I didn’t realize I’d clicked on. My computer told me that it was going slow and if I didn’t stop “the script”, it would freeze my computer. What does it all mean? (I’ve got the newest version.) Ques.:we are supposed to go get the patches (after Woody says it’s OK) – or they ask, like Microsoft?

2. 

   rc primak August 12th, 2010 at 01:12

   Woody —

   In addition to the Flash Player patch, there are reports that within the next week, there will be an Adobe Reader patch. I presume you are tracking that one as well?

3. 

   Herb Rubin August 12th, 2010 at 01:42

   Unlike previous flash updates firefox seems to be having some issues with this one and won’t install. I don’t understand all the technical forums on the matter but for some firefox says it is missing a needed plug in, but when yuo do the plug in search it says it can’t find it.

   Weird

4. 

   EP August 12th, 2010 at 07:02

   Eh, it doesn’t hurt to download the newest version of the Adobe Flash Player 10.1. If you use Flash frequently or visit many web sites that use Flash, better off installing the newest version and “patch” the problem as soon as you can. I’m doing it right now. Updated versions of Flash Player 10.1 and Flash player 9 are now available.

   And Adobe will be “patching” Adobe Reader next week as mentioned in this Adobe security advisory.

5. 

   woody August 12th, 2010 at 09:35

   @Bob -

   Yep, I’ll watch it closely. Reader’s getting hammered this year…

6. 

   Ron August 14th, 2010 at 01:22

   woody an rc i got my pc too update to the new flash on IE. But like Herb no go with firefox i wounder what heck is up with Firefox even though it tells U to upgrade it goes back to same Flash. Could it be because Firefox is Doing That 4.0 Testing or some Other Snafu I’ll Keep Tryin To reload it. Woody Were having another 112 or so Day But some Reliefe is coming over the weekend Via.! some Much needed Rain an a Cold Front Thats is we hope because it’s nasty out There like Walken into a Oven. Thank you Sir. U have and Have a good weekend.

7. 

   Ron August 14th, 2010 at 01:47

   Woody an Herb I did a restart on my Computer I did’nt shut it completely off after the restart Adobe Pop up its Update thing i did the update and Firefox has the new Flash. Herb U can Try that an Hopefully it updates for your Computer.

8. 

   Upton August 14th, 2010 at 20:30

   Firefox was giving me the same problem. I’d do the update and after claiming it had installed successfully, it would comeback with the same version I started with.

   I ended up uninstalling the old version first. Now everything is fine..

9. 

   herb rubin August 14th, 2010 at 20:56

   Ron,
   I got a full version of flash as an .exe and loaded it that way.

   But could you explain what you did in case it becomes necessary to do a work around with the Readers.

   I use firefox. I vaguely remember there is something called IE8, a magnet for badguys or some such thing

10. 

    rc primak August 15th, 2010 at 21:34

    One thing I do know — after updating the Firefox plug-in for Flash Player, you may still have the old version hanging around in Firefox Plugins. Check Add-ons and see if this is so. A reboot could help, but you may need to manually remove or disable the older version of the plug-in, unless you enjoy editing your Firefox Profile manually. Hopefully, Mozilla will be on top of this and either they or Adobe will fix the issue soon.

    I doubt that the new Firefox Version 4 testing has been in any way connected with this issue, as I have seen it happen before on my laptop. Right now, I’m sticking with Woody’s latest advice and not doing this update just yet.

11. 

    Ron August 18th, 2010 at 15:31

    @ Herb my update For Adobe Finally Came When I did a restart on my P.c. I tried doing a update on the darn thing an it went back to the old Version So i said the heck with this I closed Firefox An went and opened I.E8 An went to Adobe’s site went thru the process an it updated Ok so I pooped around for while on I.E8 an then closed it. And It had been a while since Id done a restart or reboot so I rebooted the old Girl an when that was all done just like M.S. or C.Cleaner Adobe’s Pop-up thing came on the screen an I said Hellow so i clicked on it an it did the update So far it has Stayed with the new update but why it wouldn’t do it before hell i’m still scratchen my head on that one. All i know Herb is when u want them to do something they wont then when U shut down the P.c. It comes up an wants to be Downloaded. These Computers Love to Challenge us (All)! Some Days I pute up with it. Some Days I’d like to Throw the Da*** thing out the Window Ha Ha! That Would Be Costly. I think Not.!

12. 

    EP August 18th, 2010 at 22:35

    Adobe is scheduled to release a security update to Adobe Reader on August 19 as noted here.

    I’ve already applied the Flash Player 10.1 update by removing the previous version from Add/Remove programs, then downloading the latest Flash Player installers (both ActiveX and Plugin editions) and running them to ensure I’m using the latest versions. So far, no problems with the IE and non-IE versions of Flash. I just don’t install the new Flash Player on top of the old one.

13. 

    guest August 19th, 2010 at 13:11

    @ rc primak

    You said “… but you may need to manually remove or disable the older version of the plug-in, unless you enjoy editing your Firefox Profile manually.”

    EP’s post above reminds us that we can always use Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel (that is, if the OS is Windows) to remove both old Flash Player installations. (Also, likewise for old Shockwave Player before updating.)

    A more general solution for all OS’s is to download Adobe’s uninstallers from my favorite Adobe download page (make sure to bookmark it since Adobe rarely links to it)

    Adobe – Web Players
    http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/

    Note: the above URL is misleading (historical for Shockwave; the player testers are also on a “Shockwave page”: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome/).

    It covers Adobe’s 3 major web
    players: Flash Player, Shockwave Player, and Authorware Player. There are installers & uninstallers across MULTIPLE platforms / OS’s – e.g. Windows, Mac OS X, Linux x86, Solaris, etc. Truly one stop shopping – hence my favorite.

    (Also, this is one of the surefire places to get the FULL [useful for ???] instead of the default SLIM Shockwave Player. Even when you SPECIFY FULL in the main Shockwave Player download page, i.e. choose “Different operating system or browser?”, then choose Full in the “Select an installer type”, Adobe has erroneously given the WRONG slim installer on past occasions – it is obvious because one is 4MB and the other is 8MB. More feedback forms to let them know … sigh)

    Also, Adobe has changed the way they release uninstallers. Before, they rarely changed them and the version numbers had no relation to version numbers for installers.

    For example, Flash Player Uninstaller may have version “4.0.0.14″ while Installer was at 9.#.#.#, and “4.0.0.21″ while Installer was 10.#.#.#. This shows that Uninstaller didn’t really change that much over the years.

    However, Adobe is naming the Uninstaller similar to the Installer: the latest Flash Player Installer AND Uninstaller are both version 10.1.82.76.

    But … Shockwave Player Installer is version Shockwave 11.5.7.609 while Uninstaller is verson 11.5.1.601 …

    Go figure … No one says these companies make sense …

    At least Adobe “simplified” their download URL’s, so that USUALLY their latest releases are accessed by PERMANENT (no version numbers in) URL’s (nice to bookmark these to download standalone installers for multiple installations):

    http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe
    http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

    http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/uninstall_flash_player.exe

    BTW, “ax” is the IE / ActiveX version and the “plain” one is for non-IE browsers.

    I say USUALLY because there have been occasions when Adobe announces a new release, but the file at those PERMA-links have the OLD version … sigh … another feedback form.

    (Begin rant: It is inexcusable for the mistake of a few people to cause so much trouble for millions of users. Yes, we are living life at the speed of the Internet – but mistakes are made just as fast – so pay ONE person to double-check things to avoid agony for MANY. In the old days, they were called proofreaders, copy writers, QC or QA departments, field testers, software testers, etc. End rant.)

    Simpler URL’s for most users, but not an improvement for me since I like the old days of FTP directories where the version numbers were usually in the directory or file names … intelligence was built into the system …

14. 

    guest August 19th, 2010 at 13:52

    On the flip side of my rant above about how the carelessness or negligence of one or a few people can cause trouble for many …

    I want to again recognize and thank Woody for all the work ONE person can do to help so MANY.

    I know he does a lot of research and scouring the web to keep abreast of the tech field, for his many hats as author, reporter, blogger, etc.

    But he voluntarily, for free, puts a lot of work into this wonderful website, which benefits many readers. It’s not just a one way street where he blogs. He has to read & moderate every single post. He responds to many with even more research and answering readers.

    Thank you again.

15. 

    guest August 19th, 2010 at 22:06

    I took a closer look at the Adobe Web Players page I recommended above.

    Even though there are a multitude of OS’s for the installers for Flash Player, Shockwave Player, and Author Web Player, there are only 3 uninstallers: Flash Player Uninstaller for Windows and Mac OS X and Shockwave Player Uninstaller for Windows!

    Also, the 3 PERMALINKS I listed above are for Windows only.

    Sorry, I don’t have experience with the other OS’s.

16. 

    guest August 19th, 2010 at 23:09

    @sanda

    Quick answer first:

    For update notification, it depends on whether you have Flash (or Shockwave) checking for updates and how often. Check the Flash Player Settings Manager, select the Global Notifications Settings panel:
    http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager05.html

    Firefox sometimes tells you if there is a newer version of an add-on, like for Flash. Or you can ask it to check (for all add-ons): Tools | Add-ons | Find Updates.

    If you want to manually get the update before something notifies you, just go to:
    Adobe Flash Player Download Center
    http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

    Or go to my favorite Adobe download page for ALL 3 web players:
    Adobe – Web Players
    http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/

    ****************************************

    I often get the Flash (or Shockwave) warning about a script on a certain webpage causing the computer to run slowly and Flash (or Shockwave) asks if you want to terminate it.

    Be careful. You sometimes can get away with terminating … even multiple times … but often – sooner or later your browser may freeze and then you have to kill the browser (in Windows, using Task Manager to kill the executable, e.g. firefox.exe or opera.exe). Or in really bad cases, your whole computer may lock up.

    So, make sure when you see such a warning that you are not doing anything crucial in your browser. Often, the newer version of the browsers (e.g. IE8 but not IE7) will try to recover your SESSION if the browser crashes or terminates suddenly – but it may not be always be able to. So, try to save your session (Opera), or bookmark all your tabs (not quite like saving a session), or finish what you are doing in some of the other tabs or windows of the browser if you want to take a chance and continue working with the browser.

    If you want to be super safe, shut down and restart your browser.

    Shockwave (and Flash) has become such a problem with Opera, my favorite browser, with some websites I visit that I have resorted to the drastic method of disabling plugins (but this turns off ALL plugins, including Adobe Reader plugin to read PDF’s in the browser, etc. – Opera can turn off Javascript, sound, or animated images, but not just Flash) totally. Some people suggest removing Shockwave / Flash (or moving it temporarily), but I want to be able to quickly turn back on Shockwave / Flash when I need it.

    I actually run Firefox in parallel, so I can have Shockwave / Flash. Firefox can selectively disable / enable individual addons. Also, Firefox recently resorted to isolating plugins (sandboxing?) by running them outside the main browser executable (in “plugin-container.exe”).

    Even so, I have noticed that there have been more problems with Adobe web players recently. Shockwave Player often fails in Opera and then crashes Opera, and the latest Firefox versions have Flash plugin failures after a while (but maybe that means the plugin-container method is working, so Firefox itself is crashing less).

17. 

    EP August 28th, 2010 at 05:44

    wow, you’ve said a lot, guest.

    You can test Adobe Flash Player here:
    http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
    Version number of Flash player installed on your machine will be displayed on that page.

    Feel free to comment on a follow-up topic on patching Adobe Flash Player & Acrobat Reader on this page:
    http://www.askwoody.com/2010/time-install-adobe-flash-patch-reader-patches/

18. 

    guest August 28th, 2010 at 13:53

    @EP

    Thanks for noticing.

    Yes, I meant to comment / help the OP last week on that blog page, but my LONG comment was rejected for being a “duplicate”.

    Strangely, I trying leaving the long comment again, but the webpage just “flashed” with no error message this time, but it did not appear along with the usual “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” header.

    If all goes well and Woody sees fit to allow the long comment, now broken into 3 pieces – which DID appear, after moderation, look for it there.

    Again, thank you for noticing. Probably some of what I say is obvious to some out there, I am sure that it is news to some. I learn a lot from Woody’s forum. Just want to pay back somehow, especially if I can help someone avoid trouble…

19. 

    woody August 29th, 2010 at 07:05

    @guest -

    I’m not sure what happened. WordPress must’ve hiccuped!

    BTW, thanks for the lengthy and knowledgeable posts///