Help! I am being constantly harassed by a repeated message to update my Adobe Flash Player whenever I use Safari. It automatically keeps downloading the dmg (which I repeatedly trash). I am having no problem with flash currently (YouTube works fine). Whenever I use Safari, unwanted pages appear with this same basic message. How can I get rid of this!
Thanks DaveB
Mac Pro
That the message goes away with the browser proves it's fake. Real messages from Flash stay on the screen because they aren't a browser popup.
Open the System Preferences. If you see Flash Player in the bottom row, then it's already installed. Click on the icon. Under the Updates tab, if it's on the first radio button for "Allow Adobe to install update (recommended)", then you shouldn't see any messages. It'll just do updates in the background.
If the Flash Player isn't even installed (no icon in the System Preferences), then the messages are clearly fake as there's nothing to update.
That they come up this frequently, you may have adware or some other sort of garbage installed. Download and run MalwareBytes for Mac. If it finds any junk, it'll offer to remove it.
That the message goes away with the browser proves it's fake. Real messages from Flash stay on the screen because they aren't a browser popup.
Open the System Preferences. If you see Flash Player in the bottom row, then it's already installed. Click on the icon. Under the Updates tab, if it's on the first radio button for "Allow Adobe to install update (recommended)", then you shouldn't see any messages. It'll just do updates in the background.
If the Flash Player isn't even installed (no icon in the System Preferences), then the messages are clearly fake as there's nothing to update.
That they come up this frequently, you may have adware or some other sort of garbage installed. Download and run MalwareBytes for Mac. If it finds any junk, it'll offer to remove it.
Possible Adware infection.
You can remove adware using EtreCheck.
Using EtreCheck: https://etrecheck.com/maspro
Click “Free Download” button, open Downloads folder, click on it to open, and then select ”Open”.
Click on the bouncing EtreCheck icon in the Dock.
“Choose a problem” from the popup menu box, and then “Start EtreCheck” in the dialog.
If you wish, you can post the report here.
Run EtreCheck again.
Scroll up the sidebar and click the “Security” button.
“Adware” and the “Unsigned” files will be listed on the right hand side pane along with a “Remove” button.
Click the ”Remove” button wherever you see “adware” written.
Restart your Mac. Launch Safari holding the “Shift” key down.
Stop going to the web sites generating the messages. Any site telling you to download a Flash update is a lie.
But then, it depends on how the message appears. If you have automatic updates off in the Flash Player settings, then yes, it will pop up messages that it needs to be updated.
To tell the difference, quit the browser when the message appears. If the message goes away with the browser, it was fake. If it stays on the screen, the Flash really is generated the message.
Thanks for the reply! It doesn't seem to be related to any one website. It just sort of randomly (at least I have not figured out a pattern yet) opens a new tab (several web address seem to flash in the address bar), and says my Adobe Flash is out of date (or something like that) and it automatically downloads "Adobe Flash Player.dmg" (I never click on it). I close the tab and it mostly goes away or it may recur. The graphics for the page which is opened seem to vary as does the address it is coming from.
If I quit the browser, everything goes away. I don't know how to find Flash Player settings.
update adobe flash player message
