I just got the latest security fixes for Firefox 3.5.3. Finally, the browser warns me about outdated and insecure plugins. I like it!
Top of the list? Adobe flash player. Hm. The page needs JavaScript. Guys, other people managed to build click buttons with an image without JavaScript. *sigh* “Temporarily Allow adobe.com”. Huh? What’s that? “Free McAffee security scan (optional)”? Optional my a**! Die, die, die!
So I click the link. “get.adobe.com tries to install software on your computer. Enable?” Sure.
WTF? What the hell is “getplusplus”? And what’s it doing on my computer? *lot’s of swearing and cursing that you don’t want to hear* I hate it when someone smuggles unwanted software on my computer. Adobe, if you’re listening: THIS IS MY F***** COMPUTER! SO HANDS OFF!!!
After a restart, I can finally download … ah, crap, again this stupid McAffee! *ARGH*
Ok, it’s downloading. *grmbl* … installing. Hm. Well? Now, what? Anything happening anymore? Let’s check … nope, FF is still unhappy and about:plugins says 9.x.
Again. “Installer was already downloaded”. Really? So why isn’t it installed? Has Adobe finally managed to write software that can lie? Great. That’s what I really needed first thing in the morning.
Okay, np_gp.dll obviously isn’t worth the disk space it occupies. But since Adobe managed to infest most web pages on the Internet with their flash crap, a solution is necessary. Here goes:
The download shit from Adobe puts the files into %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\*\NOS\Adobe_Downloads\. Replace “*” with “Application Data” or “Anwendungsdaten” or your local name for that folder. In that folder, you should find a file “install_flash_player.exe”. Save that somewhere.
Open the addons and delete “getplusplus”. Exit Firefox. Now delete “np_gp.dll” in the plugins folder of Firefox. That should get you rid of that unwanted crap.
Before starting Firefox, run the installer manually. Check the details. Make sure that the installer installed the plugin in the Firefox directory instead of somewhere else. On my computer, it ended up in Opera’s plugins directory. If that’s the case with you, too, then copy the files “NPSWF32.dll”, “NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe” and “flashplayer.xpt” manually.
Start Firefox and open about:plugins again. Search for “flash” and make sure that the version is 10.x. To make 100% sure, visit http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.5.3/whatsnew/. The security warning should now have gone away.
[Update] Apparently, the download manager is a security risk. So remove it ASAP.
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