5 ms·
I have a lot of experience of end users and they are forever telling me that they get so many different "Update this", "Update that" windows that they can no lo
by proactivesvcs 11y ago
I have a lot of experience of end users and they are forever telling me that they get so many different "Update this", "Update that" windows that they can no longer distinguish real from fake. Some of them have been tricked by fake web site pop-ups as a result, others ignore legitimate update messages. I do not blame them.
Internet Explorer and Google Chrome get updated in a way that most end users find to be simple to understand, particularly with Chrome. Firefox is also quite good in this regard. All of them are reliable - it is rare, IME, to come across a Windows Update, Firefox or Chrome instance which is silently failing to update. Or not even bothering to prompt to update.
Flash, however often I install it, just doesn't seem to auto-update reliably. Quite often it only does so after a user log on/reboot, which doesn't happen much in the days of standby. Even on brand new, fresh Windows installs (so we know the OS/Flash isn't broken), I test Flash from time to time and it just doesn't prompt to update at all on some occasions. This is what makes Adobe's poor track record exponentially worse - that their software update mechanism is crap at best.
I was gobsmacked when Microsoft declared they were going to start updating Flash via Windows Update. Gobsmacked and so very relieved. It felt like they'd walked into Adobe's office, grabbed their fire extinguishers and told them "You are so useless that when there's a fire, WE will come and put it out, since you don't seem able to. We are sick of our offices getting burned down because of your idle incompetence."
I won't even address Oracle's Java. Bundling malware with their updater is tantamount to crime.
- Coding_Cat 11y agoFlash also comes with McAffee (or some other bundleware). I wouldn't be surprised if the reason why they haven't made a proper auto-updater is because of that. That they'd miss out on those miniscule profits they get from that.
- kijin 11y agoYeah, I've been wondering why Adobe sticks to a "visit our website and manually download the new version" update model in this day and age. I think you found the answer. If you keep ignoring the update prompt, Flash will quietly update itself after 45 days. That's long enough for every interested party to pwn your machine.
- Karunamon 11y agoThis right here pretty much kills any sympathy I had for Adobe in this matter. They sit on their hands for far too long when vulns are announced, and when they do get updates out, they use a completely backwards and useless update model in the name of extracting a few pennies per user.
- proactivesvcs 11y agoah yes good point! I've used a different install method for so long I forgot that. So again, tantamount to crime.
- fao_ 11y agoI have a lot of experience of end users and they are forever telling me that they get so many different "Update this", "Update that" windows that they can no longer distinguish real from fake. Some of them have been tricked by fake web site pop-ups as a result, others ignore legitimate update messages. I do not blame them. One solution to this is to use AdBlock Plus. When a site permits adverts that threaten a computer's security, it is time to add it to the blocklist.
- sbarre 11y agoThis is not a feasible solution for the average end user.
- tim333 11y agoIt seems to work ok if you install it for them - I now tend to do that for non tech users who I help out. Though usually uBlock rather than AdBlock Plus. It's scary if you go to a download site these days how many fake download buttons there are near the real one if you don't do something like that.
- gorgak 11y agoi also use ublock (but ublock origin) because of that whitelist deal that adblock did with er people what make ads.
- scholia 11y agoOne notable exception is Major Geeks. However, it's important to donate them a few bucks for staff and bandwidth because they are giving up a ton of money by not bundling crapware and confusing people. http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/topdownloads/index.html http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/topdownloads/index.html
- degenerate 11y agoNot ABP, ublock origin. Faster and not-for-profit: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock#performance https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock#performance
- syntheticnature 11y agoI have had multiple non-technical friends, in one case on a fresh install I'd done myself, run into the Flash update window simply showing a gray background that never does anything. The best solution for this, from Adobe's own forum? Find the corporate-deployment version, download that (ignoring the messages that say it isn't what you want) and run it. This works flawlessly, but even less automatically. Both the Flash and Java updates almost feel like "Pay Attention To Me!" Just like all those discount cards that exist in part so you carry around a fetish with the corporate logo.
- joosters 11y agoYes! I admin my parents' computers and after trying to explain which 'update' windows are genuine, I realised that there just isn't a good way to tell them apart. Silent auto-updates are really the right way to go for non-techies. Even the post-upgrade 'announcement' popups are confusing. For instance, I've installed Ghostery on their computers and the 'ghostery has been updated' popup is just confusing for them, leading to confusion and phone calls to me. Flash also doesn't seem to auto-update for them, despite me setting it up. I don't understand it either, as they turn off & on the machine regularly. Why can't Adobe get this right?
- digi_owl 11y agoGiven other comments here, i find myself once more reminded of Upton Sinclair. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
- jfuhrman 11y agoFlash bundles things like Chrome, Mcafee etc. That's the real reason they don't want a auto-update. Google pays them a lot for bundling Chrome(I think it's around $1 per install). They keep breaking the auto-update on purpose so that they can make a ton of money by bundling other software. Same with Java updates.
- proactivesvcs 11y agoah yes good point! I've used a different install method for so long I forgot that. So again, tantamount to crime.
- digi_owl 11y agoAnd that's downright weird, given that Chrome use a different plugin API and thus get Flash bundled. Even Windows has Flash via the updater. Just about the only browser that use the old API is Firefox.
- snuxoll 11y agoShock, the only browser that still uses NPAPI is the descendant of the one that invented it! Really, at this point I think Mozilla is more interested in just getting rid of plugins than trying to implement an alternative to NPAPI - why put all the effort in to support something like PPAPI when plugins should be dead within the decade anyway?
- pcwalton 11y agoIt's not a secret. The replacement for NPAPI is the Web APIs. The port of Flash to the new NPAPI--the Web APIs--is called Shumway.