Updating Vulnerable Plugin More Difficult in Firefox 50.0
Under Tools/Add-Ons there have always been several "tabs" including: Extensions (e.g., NoScript), where there is still the settings pull-down to get to "Check for Updates," and Plugins (e.g., Shockwave (actually Adobe for several years now!) Flash), where there used to be a different button to check for updates but it is now apparently the same mechanism.
After I learned of the Firefox update from 49.0.2 to 50.0, I went through the following steps: 1) Changed to my Administrator account (I normally run as a "Standard User" for added security) to install the update and then 2) Checked for updated Plugins (since they are also installed by executable files that will not run under a Standard User) using the new mechanism. This account, however, DID NOT REPORT SHOCKWAVE OUT OF DATE! 3) Only when I went back to my Standard User account to check for updated Extensions did I learn of the latest Shockwave vulnerabilities, but of course I could not install the update there. 4) Not only that, but you have made the process of getting the update more obscure, requiring additional mouse clicks go get to your "plugin check page." My ad-hoc work around was 5) Download the updater in that account, 6) Copy it out of the Downloads directory, 7) Close Firefox, 8) Logoff, 9) Logon to my Administrator account, and 10) Install the update there.
I think you will have to admit that this mechanism is cumbersome at best. Am I missing something, or is this a new bug in vs. 50.0?
jclarkw (longtime Firefox User)
P.S. -- Is there a way to get a WISIWIG editor to format these messages in a more comprehensible manner?
Modified by jclarkw
All Replies (5)
Hi John, I don't know why the link to the Plugin Check site (https://www.mozilla.org/plugincheck/) is no longer on the Plugins panel of the Add-ons page. Maybe that page is going to change??
Bear in mind that Adobe's Flash installer installer an update checker that runs at a predefined interval (at Windows startup, I think). So while it is convenient that Firefox offers a double-check, Adobe's updater should already be handling updates to the Flash plugin. More info here: https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-background-updates.html
OK, but I have the update checker set to "Notify" (since I'm usually in a Standard User account), and I have yet to see a notification anywhere except through Firefox's plugincheck.
Different issue, but can somebody coach me on formatting posts on this Forum? I wrote the last one in Notepad and then was unable to get back the line breaks, tabs, etc. through further editing in the forum... -- jclarkw
This site is based on a form of wiki markup. There are buttons above the area where you compose a reply to apply the most commonly used forms of markup.
This page also has some tips:
That is directed toward articles, but many of the techniques also work in forum posts. If you are familiar with HTML, you will find that the forum also processes some tags, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
jscher2000 said
This site is based on a form of wiki markup. There are buttons above the area where you compose a reply to apply the most commonly used forms of markup.
OK, I see these buttons when composing a reply, but they aren't there when starting a new question. Am I missing some setting(s)? -- jclarkw
jclarkw said
OK, I see these buttons when composing a reply, but they aren't there when starting a new question. Am I missing some setting(s)? -- jclarkw
You're probably not missing anything.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the support site will be migrating to a new platform in a couple months, so I don't expect formatting buttons to be added anywhere new.