Firefox nags users to upgrade Adobe Flash Player
Posted on 7 Sep 2009 at 13:51
Firefox is to start reminding users to upgrade third-party plugins in a bid to improve the security and reliability of the browser.
Mozilla is kicking off with reminders to upgrade Adobe Flash Player, which has been held responsible for a series of malware attacks. Up to 80% of Flash Player users are running on an outdated version of the plugin, and the aging software is more than just a security risk according to Mozilla.
"Old versions of plugins can cause crashes and other stability problems, and can also be a significant security risk," writes Mozilla's Jonathan Nightingale on the Mozilla Security Blog.
Users running an outdated version of the Flash Player will be met with a warning tab, similar to that shown when you've just upgraded to a new version of the browser. The tab will state: "You should update Adobe Flash right now", and will direct users to Adobe's website to download the update.
Mozilla plans to broaden the scheme to cover other plugins in future versions of the browser. "Firefox 3.6 will check for newer versions of plugins just like we check for newer versions of Firefox or extensions," the company adds in the blog comments. "If it sees that you have one that’s out of date, you’ll be sent to that page."
Updating Firefox has become something of a hot topic for Mozilla recently. The company admitted last month that poor protection of people's bookmarks (aka porn collection) put people off upgrading to Firefox 3.
Author: Barry Collins
Good
Excellent - updating the Flash plugin is quite a tedious manual task; but it should be Adobe making this easier, not Mozilla.
By halsteadk on 7 Sep 2009 
Better still ...
... since Firefox is doing Adobe's job for them perhaps it can nag users to uninstall older versions of Flash which, if memory serves, is something else that doesn't happen - or am I doing Adobe an injustice?
By jgwilliams on 8 Sep 2009 
Not so sure this is a good idea
It is my experience that far more users get caught by spoofed 'You must update this plugin NOW!' popups than get hit by software exploits.
The more update-popups appear on a computer, the more the user becomes accustomed to robotically clicking Yes, Yes, Yes, --OOPS! Trojan installed.
The key to security is to minimise the attack surface. It would be better if browsers treated all plugins as being deactivated unless otherwise specified by the user.
By Anteaus on 8 Sep 2009 
What's with all the sudden firefox is rubbish it nags, it crashes, it's s h i t articles. Has PCWorld won a big advertising contract from Google or MS.
By dodge1963 on 12 Sep 2009 
Flash..Now with Foistware!
If you do update your Flash Player, beware the parasite download.
By Anteaus on 22 Sep 2009 
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