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Illegally Installing Chrome

New Here ,
Aug 26, 2012 Aug 26, 2012

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... and Google Toolbar.  Never asked for permission.  Almost positive this is illegal.  Defend thyself.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

New Here , Aug 28, 2012 Aug 28, 2012

The latest Flashplayer update gives no options to opt out of Google Chrome or the Google IE Toolbar.  I have verified the process myself and there are zero checkboxes at any point in the update install.  So yes you can prevent someone from unchecking a box if you remove it completely.  I have had several hundred users report this.  This is a problem since Google Chrome is not allowed on our corporate devices. 

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LEGEND ,
Aug 26, 2012 Aug 26, 2012

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I didn't install anything on your computer; you did!

And I cannot prevent you from not unchecking the clearly visible checkbox.

Nor from not using the offline installers, which links are posted at least a dozen times here every day.

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New Here ,
Aug 28, 2012 Aug 28, 2012

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The latest Flashplayer update gives no options to opt out of Google Chrome or the Google IE Toolbar.  I have verified the process myself and there are zero checkboxes at any point in the update install.  So yes you can prevent someone from unchecking a box if you remove it completely.  I have had several hundred users report this.  This is a problem since Google Chrome is not allowed on our corporate devices. 

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New Here ,
Aug 29, 2012 Aug 29, 2012

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I used your official installer and there are NOT any "clearly visible checkbox"es.  There are NO checkboxes at all.  Don't imply I am an idjit without doing your own due diligence first.  Clearly you did not investigate the installer. 

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Adobe Employee ,
Aug 30, 2012 Aug 30, 2012

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Can you please check your browser history?  You should see two entries for get3.adobe.com around the time you did your install. 

I'm very interested in finding a case where we don't give you the option to opt out of the third party installation.  If you feel like this occurred with you and are willing to do a desktop sharing session with me, please send email to ccampbel@adobe.com and I'll setup something at your convenience so we can walk through the update process.

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New Here ,
Sep 03, 2012 Sep 03, 2012

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The same thing happened to me just now.....

In the evening of Sept 2, 2012 (UTC-7) Flash Player notified my Windows 7 laptop that it needed to update itself.

I clicked the "Download" button in the Adobe notification window.

This opened Internet Explorer 9 to an Adobe download web page.

There were no options to check or uncheck on this web page.

I clicked to proceed with the installation.

And the installation progress window showed installation progress for Adobe Flash Player and Google Chrome!

I have never ever ever installed Google Chrome, nor allowed it as a 3rd party installation to software that I am installing.

I do read EULAs and investigate option boxes carefully.

This is an Adobe installation problem. Please fix it ASAP. You should not be forcing products on your users, especially non-Adobe products.

Thank you.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 03, 2012 Sep 03, 2012

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FlyingTiger777 wrote:


There were no options to check or uncheck on this web page.

I wish somebody would actually post a screenshot of this.

I have intentionally left one of my machines on 11.3, so I could watch what exactly happens after the update notification.

This morning the notification was displayed, and I clicked download. It opened the default browser, and there was the standard download page, with an optional intall for McAfee Security Scan Plus:

afp114.png

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New Here ,
Sep 03, 2012 Sep 03, 2012

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Thanks for posting.

That's not the Adobe installer box that I saw. There were no checkboxes on the installer diaglog box I saw, and it was longer. I'm not using Firefox, I'm using IE.

I didn't end up with any McAfee on my system....Google Chrome was installed.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 03, 2012 Sep 03, 2012

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What I posted was not the installer dialog, but the download page.

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New Here ,
Sep 03, 2012 Sep 03, 2012

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Yes. That is not the same Adobe download page that I saw in my browser.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 04, 2012 Sep 04, 2012

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I don't have a screenshot of the download page as the update is already installed in my system, but I too had the "no checkboxes; toolbar installed anyway" problem.  The download page for the Google set (Chrome and toolbar) shows instructions for how to install and that's it.  No checkboxes.  There was no attempt to install McAfee, either, so I don't know where the download page you posted came from.

The installer itself popped up with a Run/Save/Cancel dialog at the bottom of the window (IE 9).  I clicked "Run," and the installer immediately started to install.  It didn't show an EULA, it didn't show any checkboxes, it didn't ask where on my computer I wanted to put things, it just started installing.  I already have Chrome, so that didn't try installing again, but I don't use any toolbars at all and was quite upset to see Adobe, a company I'd previously had no complaints with, putting it on my computer without permission.

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Adobe Employee ,
Sep 04, 2012 Sep 04, 2012

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Here are the steps on reverting to Flash Player 11.3 and activating the update UI if you're interested in trying to reproduce this problem.  If you can reproduce it, I'm very interested in seeing it occur.  We should not be installing anything without your permission.

1. Uninstall Flash Player - http://download.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/support/uninstall_flash_player.exe

2. Download, extract and install the appropriate version of Flash Player 11.3 - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/fp_11.3.300.271_archive.zip

Install for Internet Explorer - flashplayer11_3r300_271_winax.exe

Install for other browsers - flashplayer11_3r300_271_win.exe

3. Open your browser and navigate to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/.  Verify you have 11.3.300.271 installed.

4. Open a command prompt and navigate to

64bit systems - C:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash ("cd c:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash")

32bit systems - C:\windows\system32\macromed\flash ("cd c:\windows\system32\macromed\flash")

5. Depending on your browser, type the command without quotes:

Internet Explorer - "FlashUtil32_11_3_300_271_ActiveX.exe -update activex"

Other browsers - "FlashUtil32_11_3_300_271_Plugin.exe -update plugin"

You should see a dialog that looks like this:

9-4-2012 6-36-54 PM.png

Clicking Download should take you to a page that looks similar to this (it will differ a bit depending on the browser you are using):

9-4-2012 6-38-56 PM.png

From there, clicking Update now will start the download.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 04, 2012 Sep 04, 2012

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I'm not entirely sure what changed this time, but I followed your instructions, and this time I was directed to the proper download page after clicking "Download" in the installer box, with checkbox for Google Toolbar and Chrome.  Unchecking those and clicking "Update Now," I was taken to the install page I'd seen the previous time:

Adobedownloadpage.jpg

This is where clicking "Download" took me when I updated the first time.  As you can see, install directions, but no checkboxes.

I do appreciate the prompt response and directions to attempt to replicate the issue.  I would guess that some updates are skipping the proper download page and going straight to here, and thus the end-users aren't getting the opportunity to uncheck the box.  I'm not sure what would cause that, but I do know for a fact that I never saw the proper download page.

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Adobe Employee ,
Sep 05, 2012 Sep 05, 2012

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Thank you for trying those steps out.  I'm going to meet with team members that worked on this change (both server side and with the Flash Player UI) to see what could be happening here.  I'll let you know what I find out.

Thanks,

Chris

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Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2012 Sep 06, 2012

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Yeah I think repro is not same. Using repro steps it didn't repro for me either.

I'd say just honor the user settings at original install or at least keep the defaults.

Why keep asking every few updates for Google Chrome again and default it to true?

That's really annoying and not typical for updates.

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Adobe Employee ,
Sep 06, 2012 Sep 06, 2012

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I'm worried that this steps might not be applicable too.  I tried them over 2000 times last night and could never get it to reproduce.  Having screenshots and browser history will definitely help here.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 06, 2012 Sep 06, 2012

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Unfortunately, my browser history doesn't show any entries from get3.adobe.com for either Tuesday (when Google Toolbar was installed without my permission) or Wednesday (when I tried to reproduce the problem).  I'm not sure why.

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Adobe Employee ,
Sep 11, 2012 Sep 11, 2012

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@kogarashikaze - That's odd.  Do you see any mention of flashplayer in your log for that day?  Do you recall if your browser was launched before Flash Player was installed?

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 12, 2012 Sep 12, 2012

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I think the update was installed the first time (with the toolbar) before I had a chance to open my browser, but I can't recall at this point.  As it is, the only Adobe entries in my browser history are the "About Flash" page, the page to set screen name for the forums, and then the forum pages themselves.  It could just be that, for some reason, IE9 didn't record the download page, or perhaps there's a more extensive history log I'm not seeing.  I honestly don't know.  I've tried finding a more extensive log but have had no luck.

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Explorer ,
Sep 12, 2012 Sep 12, 2012

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Same here, nothing in browser log. But in my case I got the update request at the reboot so I know for sure the browser wasn't started (or any other program).

Note it seems the update was already dowloaded locally to my disk and at reboot it just executed the update. When I clicked ok it immediately started installing.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 04, 2012 Sep 04, 2012

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I would also be very interested in the URL of that page without the checkboxes.

P.S. the download page offers different products to different users, e.g. who already have Chrome or Google Toolbar installed.

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New Here ,
Nov 25, 2012 Nov 25, 2012

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I performed the update and thought the install of the Google products was forced on me too.  I checked it out again, and you are correct, there is a checkbox.

Adobe - Install Adobe Flash Player - Windows Internet Explorer_2012-11-25_13-17-39.jpg

If someone misses the checkbox the results are disasterous.  Google Chrome makes numerous changes to the registry that remain after an uninstall.  The changes were too numerous to find them all.  I had to perform a system restore to get things back the way they were.

Adobe ought to make the choice more obvious, even to the extent of a popup window that grabs your attention.

This made me so mad that I was ready to uninstall all Adobe products from all my computers.

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 28, 2012 Nov 28, 2012

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I'm sorry about the Google uninstaller bug.  We've alerted the Chrome team and this should be fixed in a future version.  In the meantime, we've put together this help document to help people that run into this problem.

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/set-internet-explorer-default-browser.html

I also understand your request about making this choice more obvious and I'll be sure to pass this along to the team.

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Guest
Nov 29, 2012 Nov 29, 2012

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So after an entire thread of denials and calling us a bunch of idiots, NOW you admit that these illegal downlads ARE occurring. I tired this several times but stopped the download when I saw the google and google chrome BS came up. Adobe making millions off of selling these other software co's on the idea that it can slip in these illegal downloads and we're jsut supposed to suck it up and usrrender our computer to Adobe. Its all abou the money, and screw the users. The alternative to adobe.

http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

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Guest
Nov 29, 2012 Nov 29, 2012

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bottom line what should ahve been a quicjk simple 10 min download obvisoulsy has as many p*ssed off as I am at hopw Adobe hijacks our computers. I expected this from swome software basement operation, but not from Adobe. But money talks, Adobe makes millions and we the people who have to use this crap suffer--as do our computers. There needs to be a ntionwide or worldwide software oversight committee that stops this shite. 

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