Why so many notifications to upgrade THE SAME VERSION OF FLASH?

[wh7789565]

Like most folks, I get periodic notifications to update Adobe Flash Player.  It's a waste of time, though, when I've already installed the version about which I'm being notified!  Just since January, I've gotten multiple notifications to update v24.0.0.194, v25.0.0.127, v 25.0.0.148, and v25.0.0.171.  Why can't Adobe put some intelligence into their update notification system, and have it check which version is already installed before notifying a user that there's "another" version that needs to be installed?  I'd really like this question to be answered.

[_maria_]

Hi wh7789565

I'm sorry you're encountering these issues.  I'm not sure why the ActiveX Control & PPAPI plugin are still showing up if they were uninstalled, unless there was an issue with the uninstallation process.

I'm going to recommend you perform a clean uninstall (using the standalone uninstaller), but before you do that, I'd like to get a few screenshots from you.  Please do the following:

1. Go to Control Panel > Programs & Features
2. Look for Adobe Flash Player entries, if any
3. Make sure the Versions column is visible
4. Take a screenshot showing the Adobe Flash Player entries and version number
5. Launch Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash
6. Expand the columns to show the entire file names of all files listed
7. Take a screenshot of the contents of the C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash directory
8. Go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash directory
9. Repeat steps 6 & 7
10. Upload the FlashInstall log file(s) saved at C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash, and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash if this is a 64-bit OS, to cloud.acrobat.com/send using the instructions at How to share a document
11. Post the link to the uploaded files and the requested screenshots in your reply

Additionally, whenever I get a duplicate reminder to update Adobe Flash, I'm ALWAYS taken to the page that updates Firefox's version; never to a page that would update IE's or Chrome's versions.

This is because of how the Notification Update mechanism works.  Notification Updates will only update the Flash Player type (e.g. ActiveX, NPAPI, or PPAPI) that actually made the update check, it doesn't update all player types installed on the system. For Notification Updates, the update check is made when Flash is in use.  If an update is encountered a registry entry is created, for the player type that made the update check, to launch the Notification Update window upon next login.  Since you mainly use Firefox you're only using the NPAPI plugin and that's the one that is making the update check, therefore, the only one being updated.  In contrast, Background Updates will update all player types installed on the system within 24 hours of a new version being released.

--

Maria

[wh7789565]

Maria,

     I think this link will have all the screen shots / information you asked me for.  Honestly, I'm starting to think this is too much work for what I'm getting out of the process.  I should just bite my tongue when this happens and enjoy all the attention Adope is paying to me.  (ha ha).

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/046a3622-4c01-4ef1-be71-66b763f30f85

[_maria_]

Hi wh7789565

I can understand your frustration and I appreciate you providing the screenshots.  They were helpful.  Based on the date & time stamp in the \Macromed\Flash directories, Flash Player ActiveX 23.0.0.207 was installed this morning at 5:03 and Flash Player PPAPI 24.0.0.194 was installed this morning at 5:04.  This tells me it wasn't an automatic (background) update, as there would have been a longer interval between those updates.  The FlashInstall log files will tell me how these were installed (e.g. automatic update versus manual update).  You can upload those to cloud.acrobat.com/send and I'll review them.

To perform a clean uninstall and re-install Flash Player, please do the following:

1. Go to your default downloads directory and delete any previously downloaded Flash Player installation files that may be present in the downloads directory
2. Follow the instructions at How do I do a clean install of Flash Player - Windows? to perform a clean uninstall of Flash Player and then re-install Flash Player (NPAPI).

After doing the above, if you go to Flash Player Settings Manager > Updates tab you should only see the Flash Player version for the installer type (NPAPI) that you installed.  Same if you go to C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash.  These directories should NOT contain any files with ActiveX or pepper in the file names.

If you encounter issues, upload the FlashInstall log files saved at C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash to cloud.acrobat.com/send and post the link to the uploaded files.