Adobe Flash Local Settings Manager vs. Online Settings Manager

From http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html:

That's not always true. In particular, I've found that you should tick "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager, regardless of what corresponding setting you use in the Local Settings Manager. If you untick "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager, that setting supersedes the corresponding setting in the Local Settings Manager, and does so in a manner that can cause issues with some websites. If you tick "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager, the corresponding setting in the Local Settings Manager supersedes the "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" setting in the Online Settings Manager.

 

Here's a test page: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/9cdz79/ko-computer. If you untick "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager, I believe that there are no settings in the Local Settings Manager which allow that video to play (assuming that you cleared Flash cookies just before browsing that page). However, if you tick "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager, that video plays fine, even if option "Block all sites from storing information on this computer" is chosen in the Local Settings Manager.

 

Previous mention of this issue: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/996019.

 

Quite interesting, really, but somewhat odd. I mean, why does it matter if one ticks "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager if one also sets the amount of allocated disk space to "none"?

 

If option "Block all sites from storing information on this computer" is chosen in the Local Settings Manager, and "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" is ticked in the Online Settings Manager, then website-specific settings preference files are allowed to be created. Also, the settings in "Local Storage Settings by Site" in the Local Settings Manager are honored.

If "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" is unticked in the Online Settings Manager, then website-specific preference files aren't allowed to be created. Also, the settings in "Local Storage Settings by Site" in the Local Settings Manager aren't honored.

Ticking "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager fixed my inability to view a computer magazine digital subscription at Zinio.com.

 

I created a new thread at Adobe about this issue: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1490039.

 

Correction: there is no corresponding setting in the Local Settings Manager to "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager.

My settings are:
"Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager is ticked.
"Block all sites from storing information on this computer" in the Local Settings Manager is chosen.
"Local Storage Settings by Site" in the Local Settings Manager has "Allow" entries for domains only when it's necessary for a website to work properly.

Do any of you know if these settings break a lot of sites?

Flash Cookie test site.

 

I'm currently tinkering with this issue myself, and I wasn't aware there were two different locations for managing flash settings? The one that I'm able to access looks like this, and I'm getting there by typing flash player into my start menu search box.

 

@Magic Missile: the other one is accessed via the web at http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html.

 

If "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer" in the Online Settings Manager is unticked, it seems there is no way to make any third-party exceptions?

 

The other problem I'm seeing is that even if the settings worked as advertised, the settings are stored via a cookie, and thus for me will get purged every time I close my browser, causing all settings to revert.

 

I use Firefox extension BetterPrivacy to protect those Flash cookies from being deleted.

 

Tip: All of these settings are per user account, not per machine.