halday

Q: Adobe Flash Player

Is it dangerous to install adobe flash player on my macbook pro?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Sep 10, 2016 4:05 AM

Close

Q: Adobe Flash Player

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by tygb ,

    tygb tygb Sep 10, 2016 4:09 AM in response to halday
    Level 2 (185 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 10, 2016 4:09 AM in response to halday

    It should be downloaded from genuine adobe web site .

  • by Roger Wilmut1,Solvedanswer

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Sep 10, 2016 4:28 AM in response to halday
    Level 9 (77,913 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 10, 2016 4:28 AM in response to halday

    It's not exactly dangerous, but it's important to update it whenever a new update is issued as that will address vulnerabilities which the updates will correct.

     

    However as tygb points out you should only ever download it from Adobe (other sites may tell you you need to update but these are often fake links to malware). This page walks you through the process, starting by checking whether you have the latest version or not:

     

    https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html

     

    You might want to consider installing the Safari extension ClickToFlash which requires you to allow Flash each time it's needed (to prevent anything starting it without your knowledge) and can substitute the preferable HTML5 version if one is available:

     

    https://extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.hoyois.safari.clicktoflash-GY5KR723 9Q

  • by halday,

    halday halday Sep 10, 2016 7:11 AM in response to halday
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 10, 2016 7:11 AM in response to halday

    Thanks for your prompt reply, clear and usefull

    halday

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Sep 10, 2016 7:54 AM in response to halday
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Sep 10, 2016 7:54 AM in response to halday

    Another safety measure other than downloading only from Adobe directly is to largely ignore any on-screen message saying that Flash is out of date or needs to be reinstalled. Although not as common now than a couple of years ago, there are criminals who create fake Flash notifications to exploit user concerns over keeping Flash up to date. When you act by clicking the action button in the fake window, the criminal wins and you get some malware or compromise your identity.

     

    To avoid this trap, the first thing you can do is set Flash to upgrade automatically. After installing Flash it will have an icon in the bottom row of system preferences. If you click it you will get a pref pane with five tabs. Click the "Upgrade" tab and select "Allow Adobe....." (green arrow in the image below.)

    Flash sys pref pane.png

    That way any pop-up that say you are out of date is suspect.

     

    However, I find that auto update does not always work reliably on some of our Macs and I get legitimate notices from Adobe so, under the assumpion that any Flash pop-up notice could be suspect, I ignore the notice and open the Flash system preference and look on the upgrade tab for the installed version--it's inside the red oval in the picture above.

     

    The I go to the official Adobe Flash page (I use https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer ) to see the lastest version offered:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-09-10 at 7.40.06 AM.png

     

    If the version number on that page matches that in my Flash system preferences, then I know the pop-up is fake.