dean1484
dean1484 MegaDork
3/18/15 10:01 a.m.

It seems to want to update all the time. Anyone else have this issue?

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
3/18/15 10:03 a.m.

Yes, everyone else who uses Flash player. New vulnerabilities are found in the awful thing all the time so updates are frequently released to close them.

dculberson
dculberson UberDork
3/18/15 10:40 a.m.

I wish I could just do without. I hate everything about it up to and including the sleazy McAffee they always try to shaft you with every time it updates.

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
3/18/15 10:47 a.m.

Maybe you can do without it, a lot of content is HTML5 these days. If you use Firefox with Flashblock (which frees up a lot of system resources), set it to block Flash only and you'll get an idea of what you'd be missing.

JamesMcD
JamesMcD Dork
3/18/15 11:12 a.m.

Remember back in 1998 when you would click on a thumbnail and the picture would get larger instantly, rather than having to watch the whirly-gig thingy while flash works out how to show you an 800k image?

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
3/18/15 12:28 p.m.

^Hahaha, good times!

foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
3/18/15 12:47 p.m.

It's this way with every Adobe product. You can set it to auto-update. But, that hardly ever seems to work correctly.

You can ignore its updates for a long time. Though security can be compromised by this. I tend to let it update every few weeks myself.

Be careful on the update to make darn sure you don't accidently install McAffee or the various web browser add-on's it constantly tried to sneak in on you. Click CAREFULLY on the agree button, and read what it said above it. Every once in a while I miss, and then have to spend the better part of an hour undoing whatever it did.

Tim Baxter
Tim Baxter PowerDork
3/18/15 12:48 p.m.

I haven't had flash player installed on most of my machines in years. I think I have one with it installed.

So my question would be, what do you need it for?

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH MegaDork
3/18/15 12:50 p.m.

Lemme give you a little secret I use at work...

The Adobe Flash Player no-BS download page

Sssshhh

wbjones
wbjones MegaDork
3/18/15 6:12 p.m.
Tim Baxter wrote: I haven't had flash player installed on most of my machines in years. I think I have one with it installed. So my question would be, what do you need it for?

being the near Luddite that I am, I'll ask the question that goes along with your question …

I was ignoring the updates for months (maybe even yrs) and finally it got to the point where zero videos would play and I had to update … since then I've reverted to ignoring the updates … what alternatives are there ?

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim UltimaDork
3/18/15 7:44 p.m.

In reply to wbjones:

If the videos you watch require Flash, I would suggest you're better off not ignoring the updates - Flash seems to be so full of security holes it could find a second job as a colander.

If you are using Google Chrome or a recent IE, you don't need to update Flash itself as it's bundled with the browsers, but you need to keep the browsers updated.

I would also check if the videos you are interested in play with flash disabled and if that's the case, use something like a flashblock plugin to have you manually kick off flash only if you need it.

wbjones
wbjones MegaDork
3/19/15 6:22 a.m.

I'm using Safari

and the reason I finally had to update was none of the videos would play

Tim Baxter
Tim Baxter PowerDork
3/19/15 8:09 a.m.

where are you watching videos that require Flash? Except for some silly games and a very few instances where people have not gotten their act together (or are actively relying on Flash's dodgy security), you don't need Flash at all. I use no alternative. Video is built into HTML these days, and I have no interest in playing Facebook games. I honestly can't remember the last time I went to a site that required Flash for anything I cared about.

foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
3/19/15 10:10 a.m.
Tim Baxter wrote: where are you watching videos that require Flash?

Most of my online training courses require Flash.

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