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Participant
April 14, 2015
Answered

Flash Player install plus unwanted adware.

  • April 14, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 3235 views

I just installed the update for flash player and to my surprise it came with a bunch of adware and other software piggy bagging with it that automatically installed with the player.

It also had my Safari search page highjacked by Yahoo.

What is up with this Adobe?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jeromiec83223024

Unfortunately, you got tricked into downloading a fake Flash Player installer.  Because of Flash Player's ubiquity, it's a popular target for impersonation by malware authors.

Please always download software directly from the manufacturer, and/or opt-in to automatic updates:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

In terms of cleaning up the mess, it depends on your paranoia level and what you do with the machine.  If it was my personal machine, I'd back up my important files, wipe the disk and reinstall everything from pristine sources.  If it's just the machine that you goof around with Facebook on, you might opt for a good anti-virus and anti-malware scan, and/or restore from a backup before you downloaded the fake installer.

3 replies

jeromiec83223024
jeromiec83223024Correct answer
Inspiring
May 19, 2015

Unfortunately, you got tricked into downloading a fake Flash Player installer.  Because of Flash Player's ubiquity, it's a popular target for impersonation by malware authors.

Please always download software directly from the manufacturer, and/or opt-in to automatic updates:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

In terms of cleaning up the mess, it depends on your paranoia level and what you do with the machine.  If it was my personal machine, I'd back up my important files, wipe the disk and reinstall everything from pristine sources.  If it's just the machine that you goof around with Facebook on, you might opt for a good anti-virus and anti-malware scan, and/or restore from a backup before you downloaded the fake installer.

May 10, 2015

In case you get an adware - use free tools like malwarebytes or adwcleaner.

I have malwarebytes it helped me recently with BestAdBlocker

Participating Frequently
May 10, 2015

I'am using BestAdBlocker, goog idea for ads.

_maria_
Community Manager
Community Manager
April 14, 2015

Hi GabyRV66,


Installing Flash Player does not install any Yahoo products, nor does it change the search engine from whatever a user has to Yahoo search.  What is the URL that you used to download the installer from?  What is the name of the installer file you used to install Flash Player?

--

Maria

Participant
April 14, 2015

I deleted it. But it came up when I tried to watch something online and a message popped up saying I need to install it. When I clicked on it it took me to the Adobe site where I click to download the installer. Not sure how it happened but after that was installed I got all the "other" stuff and my browser search page was now yahoo search which I never have used.