Adobe is ending support for Flash at the end of 2020. Article here. This should help in cutting down on the number of malware and virus attempts through this program.
The article expressed some concern about the great number of early-days legacy programs using Flash, and which are still available. The author wonders if we will lose access to these?.
Jim Hamm
The following newsletter offers a tip on avoiding possible malware on updating Adobe's Flash Player.
Jim Hamm
https://soundsupport.biz/2017/05/07/beware-of-bogus-adobe-flash-updates/
This is just in from Jim Hamm. Take a look. "Good approach by Mozilla. Read here. I've removed Flash from my Mac and if I have to use Flash then I will use Chrome, which runs Flash in a sandbox."
This is serious. Jim Hamm alerts us, "As Steve Jobs so eloquently put it: Adobe Flash is a 'bag of hurt.' Recently there's been many advisories about vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash. The same comment has been true for many years. Flash is vulnerable to hacking. Time to get rid of it. This article shows how."
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Jim concludes with "If you must use Flash -- for example, if you listen to Pandora --
then use the Chrome Browser."
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"Although this article is a bit dated, it is interesting to read what Steve Jobs thought about Adobe's Flash Player," comments Jim Hamm. https://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/
Jim Hamm is on the lookout for helpful info, and today he writes, "If you're running an older version of OS X and are having a problem with Adobe's Flash Player, following is a tip from the "Tech Tails" newsletter that may be of help. The article is by Jeremy Holt."
"All Mac users should have Adobe Flash Player 12.0.0.44 installed. Earlier versions are vulnerable," warns David Passell. He recommends this article .
And he adds, "If you just want to skip the article here is the download link:" http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Now that we know what "sandboxed" is read this good news about Flash Player found by Jim Hamm here: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/24/adobe-confirms-flash-player-is-sandboxed-in-safari-for-os-x-mavericks-
Here's a warning to heed right now, according to Jim Hamm. "I recommend you read this article and update the Adobe Flash Player in your browser for security reasons. An easy way is to click here. If you're using the Chrome browser it will update Flash automatically."
Might be interesting. David Passell says, "Apple has released Safari 5.1.7. The new version automatically disables out-of-date versions of Adobe Flash Player. Unfortunately, a closer look . . . " The article is dated 5-10-12 so this is new.
The eagle eyes of Jim Hamm have found some valuable info on how to avoid malware. He sends this MacWorld article which describes the problem of a bogus Flash installer and gives a solution, along with a list of similar articles. One point is to make Safari safer by going to Safari > Preferences > General and unchecking where it says "Open 'Safe' files after downloading." This second article tells about safe downloading.
"There’s a problem with hackers using Flash to get Gmail passwords." Jim Hamm gets our attention. His suggested remedy is, "If you use Gmail, you should update Flash on your Mac. You can check the version of Flash you’re running here. It should be at MAC 10,3,181,22. You can download the latest version here. That’s my public service announcement for the day...(grin)...Jim"
Not using Gmail? Jim still recommends updating to the latest version of Flash, just to be sure.
Adobe calls it a "critical update" and you'll want to read about it here. Thanks to Jim Hamm for alerting us this afternoon. Go to Adobe here to see what version you already have installed. Then go to this help page to specify settings you want for privacy, storage, security, notifications, playback settings, and peer-assisted networking panel. Are you giving permission for companies to access your computer's microphone and camera?
See yesterday's posting on Adobe Flash Cookies. Jim Hamm goes on to say, "After further exploration of this Flash cookie situation, here's something thing I've done just to see how it works out. I went to the Flash folder (~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects) on my hard drive and changed the settings as follows:
Original settings: jimhamm - read and write....everyone - read only
Revised settings: jimhamm - write only (Dropbox)....everyone - No access
Flash cookies perhaps can still get into the folder, but no one can access them. I'll find out if I incur any problems with these settings. So far, Flash on websites seems to work okay...after I click the 'ClicktoFlash' program. This latter program prevents Flash from loading on websites unless I want it to.
"I'm not at all worried or paranoid about Flash cookies -- I'm just doing this because I enjoy doing this kind of 'stuff' (technical term) and because I don't think Adobe should be allowing this to begin with. To a friend I said the following: 'This behavior of storing cookies doesn't seem to have anything to do with Flash.'
"He replied: 'Sure it does... the biggest customers for Flash are advertisers, and advertisers want to target you. Just follow the money.'
"I'll see how this all works out," Jim says.
The concern of Adobe Flash allowing cookies that are not controlled by your browser, to be stored is discussed in the articles here. First, second, third.
Jim Hamm sends this info: "I have read about this previously, and when I checked the cookies in my Mac using Adobe's Settings Manager (third link) I was amazed at the number of cookies I had, and I did not recognize many of the names. On several, I recognized the name but, to my remembrance (which, admittedly, can be shaky), I had never visited the website.
"I deleted all of them, and went to the Global Privacy Settings panel and set it to block all cookies. Unfortunately, it seems all this does is block a website from accessing a camera or microphone.
"I'm not clear if one can set Adobe Flash to block cookies completely and permanently. If someone does know, I'd appreciate your letting me know how to make this setting.
"As a general statement, I'm not concerned so much about cookies that I might pick up in my browser -- and I can set Safari to block cookies. Cookies do serve a useful purpose in many cases and, from what I've read, are not malware as such. But I'm not clear as to why Adobe should capture these cookies. According to the article, 'Adobe condemns the practice of using Local Storage to back up browser cookies for the purpose of restoring them later without user knowledge and express consent.' "
This just in from John Carter: If anyone finds that they are unable to view the videos at http://tv.adobe.com, you're not alone. That problem has been discovered recently by several Mac users.
Viewing a Flash Player video at other sites, even other Adobe sites, is, for the most part, okay (with some notable exceptions).
If anyone out there can see the videos at tv.adobe.com, please DON'T UPDATE ANYTHING! Notify John Carter immediately and give him an opportunity to figure out why your machine works and others don't.
And now.....the rest of the story. Problem solved!
John found the problem with his Mac that prevented him from seeing the videos at http://tv.video.com. It turned out to be a file in ~/Library/Preferences. Troubleshooting this problem took the better part of a whole day.
The problem was first isolated by logging in as another user. The problem was not there with the other user. So this meant that the problem had to be associated with one or more files in ~/Library/Preferences of his own login environment. It turned out to be a file associated with Macromedia. By removing the folder ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia and logging out and back in, the problem went away.
When a file or folder is removed from ~/Library/Preferences, the application that used one or more of the files removed will recreate the files with default preferences information.
Thanks, John for your persistence in working the problem through and sharing with the rest of us. (It is sort of over my head.)