Flash Players

I have enjoyed Adobe products for a lot of years but recently I removed Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player from my system for security reasons.

I now have a problem because my 12 year old grandson plays online games and these games require Adobe Flash Player. I have been activating Returnil and then installing the Adobe Flash Player but I am hoping there is another work around. What are other forum members doing to solve this?

My operating system is Windows XP Professional, sp3. My security is Sygate Personal Firewall Pro, Symantec AntiVirus (Corporate Version), SuperAntiSpyware (paid).

As always I will appreciate all replies and would thank you in advance.

John

 

Hi, what's the problem with Returnil ?

How about Sandboxie ?

Would MS Silverlight work ? Don't have it, or want it myself, but just a suggestion !

 

No problem with Flash, just keep it updated. It will report automatically when updates are available.

 

Limited user account for the grandson.

 

Hi jpcummins,

I believe the best method to overcome such inconveniences is to run a limited user account for your grandson like what MrBrian suggested, and use portable Google Chrome (link: http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable ).

You get the best of both worlds this way i.e. convenience of not having to run Returnil and reinstall Adobe Flash Player frequently and security of Google Chrome's sandbox/integrated flash player
(link for your reading pleasure: http://lifehacker.com/5572597/google-chrome-updates-adds-integrated-flash-player ) and limited user account.

Best part of the deal is you don't need to install Adobe Flash Player because Google Chrome is packaged as a portable app i.e. no installation is needed.

 

The Flash Player that is integrated into Google Chrome is NOT sandboxed by default. You have to add the --safe-plugins flag to the Google Chrome shortcut to force plugins into sandboxes.

 

There are risks associated with sandboxed plugins i.e. loss of functionality, instability problems and so on. Depending on jpcummins' preference, of course he can choose to run Adobe Flash Player in Google Chrome's sandbox but I'd just stick with running a portable version of Google Chrome in a limited user account.

It's unfortunate sandboxed plugins do not work flawlessly all the time.

Some readings: http://seclab.stanford.edu/websec/chromium/chromium-security-architecture.pdf

 

Maintain the installed Flash Player updated and trust your AntiVirus ability on catching up the latest malware that may be exploiting some not fixed vulnerabilities in Flash Player.

The fact is that these vulnerabilities don't usually last long unfixed (specially the high security rate ones) so if you maintain your Flash Player installation updated, the chances of Flash Player becoming a malware vector on your computer simply turn to be very low and may be even safely ignored in name of the good goal of letting your grandson better appreciate his computer experience.

 

I think running plugins in sandboxes are well worth it in Google Chrome for the increased security. I haven't experienced any stability issues with the --safe-plugins flag. There is some loss of functionality in that plugins can no longer access files on your hard drive, but that is what I want. Without sandboxes for Flash and other plugins, a zero day vulnerability in them allows access to sensitive files that you could have in your limited user account.