Comments on: Update your Flash player now--and do it right

Your copy of the Flash player is likely to be buggy and dangerous. Update it now and be sure to remove the older versions first.

[john55440]

Thanks for the detailed information! I have updated Flash before, but have never uninstalled the old version first. In addition, I wasn't even aware of the current Flash security update.

[harveybook]

Great, often overlooked, information to keep machines running securely. I immediately updated all my machines with the easy-to-follow instructions.

[A_N_Onymous]

I always fetch the latest Adobe Flash player using the following batch file:

wget http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_active_x.msi
wget http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

I then compare them to the versions I have stored as "install_flash_player_9,0,115,0.exe" and "install_flash_player_9,0,115,0_active_x.msi" -- if they're different, I know Adobe has updated the player. That way I don't have to download them again and again for all the machines I have to maintain.

[boomslang]

This doesn't even begin to address all the plugin locations where Flash gets installed if you are running Adobe's Creative Suite of programs. You will find that the offending .dll is plastered everywhere if you run Secunia's Personal Software Inspector.

[heads-up]

After the uninstall, I installed with IE6 successfully. Then closed IE and opened Opera
(9.24) but the About Flash (www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/) page did not show Flash as being installed. Following the link to their Player Download Center, I downloaded and ran the install_flash_player.exe (which prompted me to close Opera) after which the About Flash page confirmed success in Opera. Took longer to write this note than to do the whole thing.

I suspect that if I had used Opera first, the installer probably would have taken care of IE at the same time, saving a step.

[mhinnewyork]

On Windows, Opera uses the "plugin" version of the Flash player, same as Firefox. This version is installed separately from the ActiveX version for IE. It's a pain.

[paulgj]

It seems that using the Adobe flash installer results in only one copy of the NPSWF32.dll file (into C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash) whereas installing it through the Firefox plugin prompt installs an additional copy of the file to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins.

[Daboniel]

The latest version of Shockwave does NOT work with WIN2000SP4. DO NOT download it or it will simply quit working. You will get ""Installing compatibility components" and then it errors out and says, "Could not load the DLL Library C:\WINNT\system32\Kernel32.dll
(GetSystemWow64DirectoryA). The specified procedure could not be found." Then you will have to uninstall it and go to http://www.filehippo.com/download_shockwave/3090/ and look for version 10.2.0.023 which is, seemingly the last version that will work with 2000.

There are a lot of people still on 2000. I was going to upgrade to Vista, and bought 3 upgrade disks for three computers to upgrade, only to find out your Motherboard Bios has to have ACPI version 2.0. Most mother boards over a year old (almost ALL computers running WIN2000) will have version 1.0. Check this using BIOS Agent before investing in Vista or you will be ripped off like I was.

God Bless!
dab

[--2die4--]

[sfx023]

[egor66]

Have the latest flashplayer in stalled and it is working but not on msn my space?it just keep saying to get an update running vista 32bit serivce pack one all up to date