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Re: Flash Bashing Express
grelber #15567 05/13/11 07:47 PM
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Done! I'll post back if there are any problems.


Jon

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Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15568 05/13/11 08:41 PM
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I tend to agree with Grelber re picking ‘Confirm choice’, except perhaps when you have important cookie functions that may be affected. In that case, a more fine grained approach would be preferable, i.e., as offered by Cookie Stumbler*, with which Flash cookies may be removed individually, rather than wholesale.

*) while I’m a CS user, I do not intend this example to be an explicit endorsement of this utility.

Last edited by alternaut; 05/13/11 11:24 PM. Reason: Fixed link

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Re: Flash Bashing Express
alternaut #15569 05/13/11 09:10 PM
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Thanks, Lee. I'll look into it. Your link, by the way, is faulty. Luckily, the page points to another link that gets you there. The correct one is Cookie Stumbler. You may want to edit your post.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15571 05/13/11 10:23 PM
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If you do any banking or other financial transactions online, you may find that disallowing Flash cookies prevents logging in to some sites. These would be sites which use a personalized image-and-caption combination to guard against phishing attacks: when your computer is recognized, the combination is displayed, and only then do you enter your password.



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15572 05/13/11 10:44 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
I installed AFP 10.3 yesterday and was looking at its preference pane (in System Preferences). The Storage tab has an option to "Block all sites from storing information on this computer." When I checked its radio button, a warning popped up that says:

Disable Local Storage

Blocking all sites from storing information my disable functionality on some web sites.

This will also delete all data stored by previously visited sites, which may include game progress, login data, saved work, or preferences.


Then, one can either cancel or confirm the choice.

I opted to cancel, not knowing which sites this might affect. Thoughts or explanations?

I installed the Flash beta and reported on the pref pane almost two months ago.

I'm not a gamer, and I opted to "Block..." at the outset and have never looked back. (The disappearance of my prefs that I reported early on has not recurred.)

I use Safari Cookies to facilitate and fine tune my control over cookies, Flash cookies, and databases; its only "downside" is SIMBL, but Apple has not yet provided the functionality necessary to make it an extension.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Flash Bashing Express
dkmarsh #15573 05/13/11 10:46 PM
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Yes, I was afraid of that. I haven't experimented but I switched my preferences back to defaults.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Flash Bashing Express
dkmarsh #15574 05/13/11 11:08 PM
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Originally Posted By: dkmarsh

If you do any banking or other financial transactions online, you may find that disallowing Flash cookies prevents logging in to some sites. These would be sites which use a personalized image-and-caption combination to guard against phishing attacks: when your computer is recognized, the combination is displayed, and only then do you enter your password.

I access Vanguard (with Firefox) and Ally Bank (with Safari), both of which use the login sceme you've described, and neither has ever tried to stick me with a Flash cookie.

Edit: Note that the option in the Flash pref pane is to block Local Storage, and that differs from Flash cookies.

Edit 2: In fact, I've got a Flash cookie for each of the three sites for which I've specifically blocked Local Storage.

And, further, the Flash pref pane allows you to set your prefs by site in both its "Local Storage Settings by Site" and "Camera and Microphone Seeting by Site" sub-panes.

Edit 3: And, finally (I think), Adobe has given us the option to block assorted stuff, but Flash cookies are not included in the mix.

Last edited by artie505; 05/13/11 11:30 PM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Flash Bashing Express
artie505 #15576 05/13/11 11:28 PM
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OK, I experimented. I blocked all Local Storage and then successfully logged into my Bank of America, Key Bank, PayPal, and Discover Card accounts.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15577 05/13/11 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
OK, I experimented. I blocked all Local Storage and then successfully logged into my Bank of America, Key Bank, PayPal, and Discover Card accounts.

cool

All the options we've been given in the Flash pref pane were previously available to us on Adobe's website, but they were a nuisance to access and didn't seem to be as reliable as far as "sticking" as are the new ones.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Flash Bashing Express
artie505 #15578 05/14/11 01:04 AM
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[off-topic]

Although kinda on-topic... Does anybody know what's up with Hal? He's only posted once in the past month, and it's not his usual time to be on hiatus.

[/off-topic]


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Flash Bashing Express
artie505 #15585 05/15/11 03:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
All the options we've been given in the Flash pref pane were previously available to us on Adobe's website, but they were a nuisance to access and didn't seem to be as reliable as far as "sticking" as are the new ones.
My preferences aren't sticking in the Storage tab of the new one. I looked for a suitable plist to trash but can't find it. Does anyone know what it's called and its location?

EDIT: I may have solved the problem. I looked at ~/Library and saw that Caches had been modified today. Looking inside Caches, I found an Adobe folder that had a Flash Player folder inside. That folder had also been modified today. Consequently, I used OnyX to clean caches, restarted, and my preferences had stuck. I'll post back if the problem reappears.

I still don't know where the preference file for Adobe Flash Player is located.

Last edited by jchuzi; 05/15/11 05:57 PM.

Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15624 05/19/11 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
My preferences aren't sticking in the Storage tab of the new one. I looked for a suitable plist to trash but can't find it. Does anyone know what it's called and its location?

EDIT: I may have solved the problem. I looked at ~/Library and saw that Caches had been modified today. Looking inside Caches, I found an Adobe folder that had a Flash Player folder inside. That folder had also been modified today. Consequently, I used OnyX to clean caches, restarted, and my preferences had stuck. I'll post back if the problem reappears.

I still don't know where the preference file for Adobe Flash Player is located.

See the "Flash Cookies Raise Privacy Concerns" thread, starting here.

Also (re: previous posts), the location referred to by "storage" is: ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage

Re: Flash Bashing Express
Hal Itosis #15630 05/19/11 04:44 PM
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As you said in your link, the location is ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys/settings.sol

Wow, that's convoluted. No wonder I didn't find it. Since Adobe makes FP, I went under the erroneous impression that it would be listed under Adobe, not Macromedia. I never would have thought to look there. Leave it to Adobe to make things "interesting". mad

Slightly off topic: Like Artie, I too was a bit worried about you because you hadn't posted in awhile. I'm happy to see you back! laugh


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15634 05/19/11 05:00 PM
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Quote:
Since Adobe makes FP, I went under the erroneous impression that it would be listed under Adobe, not Macromedia.

Here's my guess as to why that's the case: Since Flash was developed by Macromedia prior to Adobe's acquisition of same, the creation of various support files during the installation and/or initial launch included, reasonably enough, the Macromedia name.

On the theory that rewriting software is costly, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Adobe didn't. I suspect Firefox uses the Mozilla name for much the same reason.



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Flash Bashing Express
jchuzi #15636 05/19/11 05:04 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
As you said in your link, the location is ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys/settings.sol

Wow, that's convoluted. No wonder I didn't find it. Since Adobe makes FP, I went under the erroneous impression that it would be listed under Adobe, not Macromedia. I never would have thought to look there. Leave it to Adobe to make things "interesting". mad

The script i posted there is still the version i use today. If you run...

cfc

it will list all flash cookies and caches.

If you add *any* argument...

cfc x

...it will delete all non-Adobe flash cookies. [perhaps not a great idea if doing online banking, as Dave mentioned above.]


Originally Posted By: jchuzi
Slightly off topic: Like Artie, I too was a it worried about you because you hadn't posted in awhile. I'm happy to see you back! laugh

Thanks gents, i was unavailable since my father passed last month. [please, post no condolences... it was expected/natural, and mostly painless.]

Re: Flash Bashing Express
Hal Itosis #15681 05/22/11 06:48 AM
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Re: Flash Bashing Express
Hal Itosis #15862 06/03/11 03:08 PM
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Re: Flash Bashing Express
alternaut #15864 06/03/11 04:15 PM
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Wishfull thinking or whistling in the dark on Adobe's part? confused

It seems to me when Microsoft not only climbed on the HTML 5 wagon with Apple, they leapt on, the conflict was over. Flash is in danger of joining the ranks of also rans like Betamax, and 8 track tapes.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Flash Bashing Express
joemikeb #15865 06/03/11 04:26 PM
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It sounds like an exercise in semantics: the row may be over, but the issue is still alive, at least for the time being.


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Re: Flash Bashing Express
alternaut #15869 06/03/11 05:12 PM
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Originally Posted By: "Shantanu Narayen"
In fact, the argument was never really about Flash technology itself, said Narayen, but Apple’s control over the iOS platform.

Fiddlesticks.

As usual, folks start to (deliberately?) conflate/confuse the Flash Player Plug-in for web browsing with the Flash Pro IDE for creating smart-device apps. Of course Apple will totally control the iOS platform... it's only purpose is to run on Apple's hardware devices. That's exactly as things should be. But for the multi-platform world which needs to access the Internet as a whole, there needs to be a "universal" standard for accessing regular (non-DRM) video which doesn't require folks to install some (proprietary) Adobe plug-in. If PDFs, PNGs and JPEGs (etc.) required such doodads, we'd be in a real mess now.

Die Flash, die.

[if folks want to run Flash to view wiggly web pages which look like some sorta playstation game, fine... let them. But regular viddy should be served in a totally "open" fashion.]

Re: Flash Bashing Express
grelber #15886 06/06/11 03:51 PM
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it seems that the ipad clones are coming up out of the ground all around me like zombies digging their way to the surface, and every single one of them flaunts flash support somewhere in their top 5 bullets. So not everyone has gotten the message yet.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Flash Bashing Express
Virtual1 #15890 06/06/11 05:08 PM
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from yesterday (a Sunday):
Originally Posted By: Adobe
Security bulletin
Security update available for Adobe Flash Player
Release date: June 5, 2011
Vulnerability identifier: APSB11-13
CVE number: CVE-2011-2107

<snip>

There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in active targeted attacks designed to trick the user into clicking on a malicious link delivered in an email message.

Adobe recommends all users of Adobe Flash Player 10.3.181.16 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris upgrade to the newest version 10.3.181.22 (10.3.181.23 for ActiveX) by downloading it from the Adobe Flash Player Download Center.

<snip>


Re: Flash Bashing Express
Hal Itosis #16266 06/23/11 07:49 PM
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Hmm... these are dated just a few days ago:

Technical Cyber Security Alert TA11-166A

Flash Exploits on the Loose

[the 2nd one there goes into more detail.]

Re: Flash Bashing Express
Hal Itosis #17529 09/21/11 10:55 PM
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Ad infinitum . . .

Security Bulletin APSB11-26

so get v.10.3.183.10 asap

Re: Flash Bashing Express
Hal Itosis #17533 09/22/11 02:18 AM
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