When is an OK Flash plug-in not an OK Flash plug-in?

Question

When is an OK Flash plug-in not an OK Flash plug-in?

I don't understand how or why this scenario is possible:

System Preferences/Other/Flash Player/Advanced/Notify me to install updates (is selected)/Check Now (is then ticked)/Plug-in version 11.4.402.265 is installed.

Everything looks fine. Right?

Then I fire up Firefox 15.0.1 and go to...

Tools/Add-ons/Add-ons Manager/Check to see if your plugins are up to date (ticked) which reveals, much to my surprise:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

Potentially vulnerable plugins:

Shockwave Flash 11.4 r402

How can this be? Have I completely lost it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iMac8,1 - 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo/4 GB

Posted on Sep 18, 2012 10:20 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,020 points

Sep 18, 2012 10:24 AM in response to Michael Murphy3

Shockwave and Flash are two separate plugins. You can get the latest updates for each from Adobe. For the most part, Shockwave is dead. I haven't used it for quite a while now and have yet to run across a web site that requires it.

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 18, 2012 10:48 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks for explaining that, Kurt.

I'm still gonna call the men in the white coats, however, as it's getting rediculously complicated to (try to) keep one's computer/operating system/browsers/plug-ins/extensions/applications/emails, etc... updated & secure.

I just want my life back. I know! If I am compliant and always remain calm, I could refill the bird feeders & water the plants!

Reply

Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,020 points

Sep 18, 2012 11:48 AM in response to Michael Murphy3

Heh! Yes, it's gotten so that Mountain Lion won't even let you install a Flash update unless it's signed from Adobe and the latest version. A sad necessity though when there are tons of web sites that will pop up a message that you need the latest version of Flash to view their site, when what you really end up downloading and installing is a Trojan of some sort.

Shockwave is actually a bit older than Flash. It was first released in 1995, Flash in 1996. Not sure what the difference between them is since they both seem to be for animated web content.

Reply