Whose PC is it anyway?

[John E]

This morning I booted up my PC (Windows XP) to find a messagebox on my desktop, telling me that a newer version of Flash is available.

There are two things I don't want on my PC - one is Flash; the other is anything made by Norton. I've lost count of the number of times I've uninstalled Flash from my system - but each time I uninstall it I can guarantee that within days (sometimes within minutes) it will silently and sneakily re-install itself.

It infuriates me that there's a company out there which thinks it has a god given right to install its products onto my PC - no matter how many times I say that I don't want them.

Back when Flash was owned by Macromedia, someone advised me to add a line to my "hosts" file which had the effect of stopping anything being downloaded from Macromedia's web site. However, since Flash was take over by Adobe, this no longer seems to work.

As far as I'm concerned, Flash is nothing more than a virus. I don't care how many people think it's the bees knees. I just don't want it - period. Does anyone know of a way to stop this dam* software from persistently installing itself without my knowledge or consent.

[TheCPUWizard]

If anything can be installed on your machine without explicit permission from you, then it means exactly one thing... YOU do not have your properly secured.

Proper security has been viable since XP SP2 - or you could upgrade to a current OS such as Vista (remember XP was scheduled to go out of support last year, but microsoft extended it). Windows 7 goes even further on providing security.

Forget about the "legitimate" peices of software that like to install themselve, if Flash can do it, then so can any type of malware. It would not be suprising to find that every piece of information on your machine has been uploaded to the internet.

[John E]

I am running SP2 with Windows Firewall enabled and my broadband router also supposedly has a built-in firewall which is also enabled. Clearly they aren't much good if executable programs can install themselves without my permission.

[TheCPUWizard]

I am running SP2 with Windows Firewall enabled and my broadband router also supposedly has a built-in firewall which is also enabled. Clearly they aren't much good if executable programs can install themselves without my permission.

That shows a very bassic lack of understanding about security, and even what a firewall is.

A firewall looks at who ORIGINATES a connection and what the TARGET is. If neither is blocked it allows the connection. Once the connection is established it cares little (SSPI wil do a bit) WHAT is transfered, and it cares nothing at all about what is done with the information.


When you go to a site (e.g. in the browser), YOU have ESTABLISHED the connection, and the server is responding. Firewalls do NOT care (again
neglecting SSPI) about RESPONSES.

So neither of your firewalls have ANYTHING to do with the scenario we are discussin.

[John E]

So where can I find out how to block this s/ware from installing itself?

[TheCPUWizard]

So where can I find out how to block this s/ware from installing itself?

For starter, do NOT use an admisistrator account. ONLY use a "Limited USer" account for you regular day to day tasks.

Then start ACL'ing down all of the directories to only allow exactly what you need them to be.

[John E]

I discovered that one of my Internet Security options ("Download signed ActiveX controls") had gotten set back to "enable" instead of "prompt". Resetting it seems to have fixed the problem for the time being.

[GremlinSA]

Many sites use Flash to bring forth content... CodeGuru included, for most of the adverts shown on the forum and site...

Flash is a reputable signed ActiveX control, and the settings on your system allowed it to autoinstall ... This had nothing to do with Adobe forcing you to use there program but rather the sites that you visit requiring the use of it to present there content to you..

Gremmy....

[John E]

Maybe I'm just unlucky but under Windows XP, Internet Explorer has always suffered from intermittent lockups (around 1-2 per day, on my system) whenever I have Flash enabled. Having said that, I do have Flash enabled on a separate (Win2K) partition, which is useful for those rare occasions when I actually need it.

Without Flash I can still see the adverts - they just aren't animated.

[dglienna]

Virtual PC. For when all your PC belong in a SANDBOX, and ARE