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Mozilla To Protect Adobe Flash Users

Posted by Soulskill on from the helping-those-who-don't-help-themselves dept.

juct writes "Beginning with versions 3.5.3 and 3.0.14 of Firefox, Mozilla is going to check the version of installed Adobe Flash plug-ins and warn users if it discovers an outdated version with potential security holes. Mozilla confirmed this new security feature and said that the Flash version check was part of a wider commitment to 'protect users from emerging threats online.' Just recently, a study confirmed that 80 per cent of users surf with a vulnerable version of Adobe's plug-in."

11 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Guaranteed to work by Norsefire · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "WARNING!! The version of Adobe Flash you are using is out of date and contains security holes, please upgrade by clicking here ..."

    Oh dear, I don't understand what this means. Luckily my son, who got sick of me ringing him for computer help, told me what to do whenever I encounter a box I don't understand; click the X, or click cancel, or ignore. Now back to clicking on every ad I see.

    Of course, that isn't likely to happen. It would be more like:

    WARNING!! The version of Adobe Flash you are using is out of date and contains security holes, unfortunately you are using Internet Explorer so there is no warning.

    1. Re:Guaranteed to work by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 4, Funny

      ctrl+shift+P FTW, that way nobody has every found out that i like gay midget donkey porn!

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
    2. Re:Guaranteed to work by Late+Adopter · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Warning: You are using Adobe Flash, are you sure this such as good idea? How about some nice Dynamic SVG?"

      That'd be great! Do you have any? This, ummm, isn't my website, you know. =P

    3. Re:Guaranteed to work by thanasakis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Have you ever actually tried writing some nice dynamic svg?

    4. Re:Guaranteed to work by Dragonslicer · · Score: 4, Funny

      How the fuck does a post that consists of incoherent rambling get modded up?

      Um, this is Slashdot. You have been here before, right?

  2. Presumably by drseuk · · Score: 5, Funny

    the remaining 20% don't use Flash then?

  3. And Good For Them! by Toad-san · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've found replacements for Adobe Reader and Real player (Foxit and Real Alternative), but couldn't find a replacement for the Flash player (alas).

    This is better than nothing. I have Flash (and all other scripts) turned off by default in my Firefox browser, but am still forced to use it to see some things.

    Yeah, I know the troglodytes won't understand the warning, but it might give them the slightest clue that something's wrong.

  4. Re:Does flash not already do this? by postmortem · · Score: 4, Informative

    It does, sometimes on system startup; however it only installs updated plugin for Internet Explorer.

  5. Automatic updates by chrisgeleven · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am really surprised browser makers aren't doing automatic updates for plugins like Flash. That is really the only way to keep them up-to-date.

  6. Yeah, I got that. by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 5, Informative
    Signed up for beta/testing FF updates. I get notified by FF that adobe is out of date. I click to install it. And lo! what installs? Not Flash... but some crappy Adobe Download Manager plugin whose sole purpose seems to be to download and install Adobe products. The Flash update did not ever download, even after FF restart.

    Broke my own first rule on this one -- never download anything you're not 100% certain of - but it's still frustrating. If FF tells me it's taking me to install Flash, I think I should be able to trust that Flash is what I'm going to get.

  7. Re:Does flash not already do this? by A+Friendly+Troll · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have never had Flash notify me that it needs an update. Ever. The only time I've seen the notification was on a single computer at the office.

    A few days ago I was given this link http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager05.html - I think it was somewhere on Slashdot, either in the article, or in the comments. Sure enough, I went there, and Flash was set to never notify me of updates.

    Worth checking out.