flash player 9 in firefox, experience

[davidh]

I DL'd ver 9 from adobe dot com (ver 9,0,16,0 I think). Ver. appropriate for Win and Firefox. (It did not update my MS IE flash player 8.0.24.0, no problem)

Win 98 on this PC still satisfies the system requirements for flash 9.

Here is the URL for testing what flash ver. you have:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/

My main motive to try flash 9 was to test the firefox "noscript" extension. The advanced settings in "noscript" extension of FF have an option to block flash from untrusted sites. However, checking that option might not even be necessary, since apparently blocking Jscript is enough to block flash being displayed on many sites.

YMMV,

DH

Incidentally, "noscript" extension can also block all plugins on untrusted sites. I did not try this option, but it sounds like a good idea, since plug-ins can have security vulnerabilities like any other software and a lot of sites start trying to play media as soon as you open their home page, whether you like it or not :(

[ndebord]

[QUOTE=davidh]I DL'd ver 9 from adobe dot com (ver 9,0,16,0 I think). Ver. appropriate for Win and Firefox. (It did not update my MS IE flash player 8.0.24.0, no problem)

David,

The following tidbit of info from Macromedia made me thing twice about moving up from 8.0.24.0.

<<Internet Explorer (and other browsers that support Internet Explorer ActiveX controls and plug-ins)>>

The implication being that Flash 9 requires the use of ActiveX. If that is the case, then I'm not upgrading. I have the capability of using ActiveX in FireFox and K-Meleon, but have resisted so far. As for IE, I only run it under Maxthon or Netcaptor and then as seldom as I can get away with.

[davidh]

The following tidbit of info from Macromedia made me thing twice about moving up from 8.0.24.0.

<<Internet Explorer (and other browsers that support Internet Explorer ActiveX controls and plug-ins)>>

The implication being that Flash 9 requires the use of ActiveX. If that is the case, then I'm not upgrading. I have the capability of using ActiveX in FireFox and K-Meleon, but have resisted so far. As for IE, I only run it under Maxthon or Netcaptor and then as seldom as I can get away with.

Flash 8 also has an Active-X component installed in my MS IE 6, so I'm not sure if Flash 9 is a significantly higher risk.

I don't know if Flash media has actual code in it in addition to sound and pictures. But I doubt it would have hardware/OS specific code in the media itself, otherwise Flash would not play on LINUX and MAC's. Therefore the risk level should be on the same level as Java code (not script) or less. Obviously any player of any kind (even a text editor) could mishandle exceptional media/data and thus expose a critical vulnerability in the player application (a DLL/OCX in case of Flash).

DH

[ndebord]

Flash 8 also has an Active-X component installed in my MS IE 6, so I'm not sure if Flash 9 is a significantly higher risk.

I don't know if Flash media has actual code in it in addition to sound and pictures. But I doubt it would have hardware/OS specific code in the media itself, otherwise Flash would not play on LINUX and MAC's. Therefore the risk level should be on the same level as Java code (not script) or less. Obviously any player of any kind (even a text editor) could mishandle exceptional media/data and thus expose a critical vulnerability in the player application (a DLL/OCX in case of Flash).

DH

David,

I generally use Media Player Classic instead of the MS offering, but for Flash I have relied upon whatever Macromedia serves up. In K-Meleon, I have a kill flash button that kills off flash ads as they appear. Doubt that would save you from a serious malware attack, although I can turn it off permanently. I do try to allow most ads to play, but I draw the line at popups and popunders. I have NoScript and AdBlock in KM, but seldom use them. As for Java, I toggle it off and only toggle it on when forced to and a lot of the time I also turn off JavaScript and Images too.

(Just label me a typographical misfit!)