Avast 6 and Flash required - Vulnerability?

It surely isn't Flash I think, I would get really surprised if it was
Though it's easy to find out, uninstall Flash check the GUI and see if you see the
"Flash required" message.

And yes. One can wonder why Avast have choosed Flash, don't they have time to code the graph on their own In a better way than using Flash code I mean.

Edit: Plus one can also wonder why they decided to use Flash ONLY on that part of the GUI, they could actually have made the WHOLE GUI out of Flash (thank god they didn't though).

 

That's the only thing I hate about Avast. The requirement of Flash for IE just to display statistics.

 

Wow, what a crazy thread. If you don't like having to have flash installed to use avast! to its fullest, then don't use avast!....................Problem solved.

 

I suppose you could say that about anything in life. If you don't like your job, then quit. If you don't like the food, then don't eat. If you're depressed, then kill yourself.

That's not how it works. This is about a major AV-vendor requiring one of the most vulnerable plugins available for showing important statistics. Why would a security company make this huge kind of blunder? What do they have to say in their defense for this sloppy implementation? I think an official statement from Avast is at its place. I know there's some Avast devs lurking about here at Wilders.

 

But that's not what we are saying.
And personally I don't mind having Flash installed since sites all over the web uses Flash.
Plus I visit a site DAILY that is built entirely in Flash! Flash have it's place in the Browser nowhere else.

But I do mind that an Antivirus needs Flash to be able to show statistics,
when there are better ways of developing a graph showing statistics.

So the question is very simple. Why Flash?
Flash just doesn't fit in an Antivirus GUI IMO.
And Flash shouldn't be needed to have a fully functional GUI.

 

Avast! UI requires flash to display graphs! (yawn).

As I've never seen a current PC without Flash installed, it wouldn't be an issue for me. Avast has never struck me as a stupid company which encourages the exploiting of vulneribilities. Maybe if you're concerned you should ask them about it first.

 

As Google Chrome is becoming more and more popular (market share at 20%?) with built-in Flash player which is also sandboxed, you don't need to have external Flash installed anymore. I certainly don't and I really think there are a lot of users out there with the same setup as me.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share with you all that Avast does require Flash in order to function to 100 %.

 

If you don't want flash, don't install it.

If you don't want flash and still want graphs in avast either;
1: Suck it up
2: Go to the avast forums\support and make suggestions to avast.

Complaining here on wilders isn't going do anything, very counter-productive with all of this turning into an argument void.

 

What an attitude.

I was just posting information that not many knew - that Avast requires Flash in order to be fully functional. I also, in post #1, declared I was testing Avast for fun. So I have no intention of going further with it.

On a side note, Wilders is a place where you spread your findings about security software. No need to be dry.

 

Those who do not know do not care since they apparently have Flash already installed, otherwise they would get the exact same info as you posted on the GUI and would know then.

 

Wilders indeed is the place to post findings about security issues and software. It is also a place where we have this in place
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=72229

Thanks to OP for posting about the issue and a valid concern. Thanks also to other participants for offering their opinions on the subject. We have completed the full circle and it is now time to close the thread.

 

The charts on the Statistics page (as well as the map features in AIS) are indeed Flash-based. The real-time charts for the Shields don't require Flash.

That was a decision that was made in 2009 when working on the avast 5 UI. We somehow figured that the vast majority of people have the flash player already installed, so it would be a shame to not use it given how easy it is to make nice-looking charts in Flash.

On the other hand, we realized that some people deliberately don't want to have Flash player installed, and that's why we didn't bundle it with the product - but instead, made it as an optional feature. It is not forced on our users.

We understand that since 2009, there have been multiple vulnerabilities discovered in the Adobe Flash player and this makes our choice to use Flash to render the charts somewhat questionable. We're now working on the design of avast 7 UI and are taking these concerns into account.


Thanks
Vlk