Monthly Archives: July 2012

Adobe, Chrome, Firefox, Flash, Opera, Patches and updates, Windows 7

Flash is crashing most browsers on Windows 7

3 Comments

Since I originally posted this, I learned that Adobe released version 11.3.300.268 to address this problem. It remains to be seen whether the problem has actually been resolved.

The latest version (11.3.300.265) of the ubiquitous Flash plugin found in most web browsers seems to be causing web browsers running on Windows 7 and Vista to crash. A quick search of Google shows that there are reports of this happening in Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Internet Explorer seems unaffected so far, possibly due to the fact that IE uses a separate (ActiveX) version of the Flash player.

Reports indicate that Mozilla is working with Adobe to resolve this problem, and presumably the other browser developers are doing the same. Meanwhile, if you’re running Windows 7 and you watch video on the web, you may run into this problem. As awful as it sounds, the only useful workaround at this point is to switch – temporarily – to Internet Explorer.

Update 2012Jul31:
I’ve been digging through reports from all over the web, and it looks like this problem has actually been going on since as far back as 2009 and Flash 10.0.42.34. Internet Explorer may also be affected, although recent reports seem to exclude IE. Some reports imply that only 64 bit versions of Windows are affected. There are even reports that Windows XP and Mac OSX are affected. But it seems clear that something happened to Flash in version 10 that made it unstable in web browsers on Windows 7 and Vista, and the problem still exists in the most recent version of Flash, 11.3.300.265. It’s possible we’re looking at more than one problem, or one that has morphed somewhat as the Adobe developers try to fix it. An old problem that was previously fixed may have reappeared when Adobe changed something in a later version. Clearly, not all Windows 7 users are affected; if everyone who uses Youtube (the highest-profile Flash video source) on Windows 7 was having this problem, we would have heard more about it by now.

The problem seems to take slightly different forms: it may crash the browser; the plugin itself may crash, leaving the browser running; and in some cases Windows may crash. The web browser may freeze for a few minutes before any crash occurs, and Windows may become unresponsive. In most cases, the problem occurs after two or three minutes of Flash video, but it make take up to fifteen minutes. The most common scenarios involve long Youtube videos and Facebook games (both use Flash).

Here are some of the more interesting problem reports I’ve found:

Possible solutions:

  • Try Internet Explorer. I know, yuck. But it’s only temporary.
  • Uninstall all Flash software, then install Flash 9. This ancient version is apparently the last one that didn’t have these crashing problems. Again, this is temporary. You should upgrade to the latest version once Adobe finally fixes this problem.
  • Adobe recommends uninstalling both Flash and Shockwave, then rebooting your PC, then installing the latest versions of Flash and Shockwave.
  • Disable your anti-virus software. This is not recommended, although it may be useful as a test.
  • Disable all non-Microsoft startup programs using MSCONFIG. If that works, re-enable each startup program one at a time until the problem recurs.
  • Disable hardware acceleration in the Flash settings.
  • Disable “Enable Web Download & Recording for these installed browsers” in RealPlayer (yes, in Realplayer). Some recent Flash installers include a link to a page on the Adobe support site about an incompatibility between Flash and RealPlayer, and this is the recommended solution.
  • Revert to Flash version 10.3.183.20.

Prediction: if Adobe doesn’t figure this out, and Google has heard enough complaints about it, Google might be inclined to switch Youtube from Flash to HTML5. Everyone else in the world will follow Youtube, and then Flash will disappear forever and not be missed.

Update 2012Aug03: Adobe snuck a Flash update past me on July 26. Version 11.3.300.268 attempts to address crashing problems that occur on Windows and Mac computers when playing Flash content. Adobe doesn’t seem to be convinced that the problem is resolved, however: in the version announcement, they ask users for assistance in troubleshooting the problem.

Malware

ZeroAccess malware can use massive amounts of bandwidth

1 Comment

ZeroAccess appeared in the wild in early 2012 and shows no signs of slowing down. This insidious malware is part of a botnet which is apparently focused on clickfraud: infected computers simulate clicking on web advertisements, thereby generating ad revenue for the botnet’s perpetrators and their customers.

What makes ZeroAccess particularly nasty is that it can use a lot of bandwidth, causing infected computers to reach and surpass bandwidth caps. Unsuspecting users may find bandwidth overage charges on their ISP’s bills.

Most up to date anti-malware software can detect and remove ZeroAccess, so if you’re not already using such software, you should start. If you’ve noticed a spike in your Internet bandwidth usage, you should scan your computer immediately. Free on-line scanners such as Housecall, as well as free offline scanners like Microsoft Security Essentials will do the job.

Additional details:

Windows 8.x

Valve chief not impressed with Windows 8

Leave a comment

Valve is one of the most successful – and influential – gaming companies around. Valve’s boss, Gabe Newell, has expressed his feelings about Microsoft’s upcoming version of Windows, and they are not good.

In fact, Newell is so worried about Windows 8 that he is predicting major OEM players will bail completely. And Valve is actively looking at porting its Source gaming engine and Steam client to Linux. The hugely popular Valve game Left 4 Dead 2 has already been ported to Ubuntu Linux.

Having Steam and Valve games on Linux might just be the push needed to get Linux gaming off the ground at last. Once Linux is seen as a viable gaming platform, Microsoft will be in serious trouble.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Windows 8 is the disaster predicted by Newell. But Gabe is a smart guy, and he spent some time working at Microsoft. If he’s right, we’re about to witness a major shift in consumer operating system preference.

Update 2012Aug01: Richard Stallman, an outspoken leader of the free software movement, isn’t happy about the idea of non-free games running on an otherwise free software platform. Still, he agrees that if you want to run non-free software, you’re better off running it on a free software platform like Linux.

Malware

Grum botnet officially neutralized

Leave a comment

One of the world’s largest spam botnets has finally been eradicated. At its peak – as recently as January 2012 – the Grum botnet was the largest spamming network in the world.

Spam levels worldwide are expected to drop as a result, although it seems probable that newer, more sophisticated botnets will rise to take Grum’s place. Enjoy the respite while you can.

Credit goes to several dedicated security researchers and anti-spam companies, including FireEye researcher Atif Mushtaq, researchers from anti-spam organisation Spamhaus, the Russian Computer Security Incident Response Team and other experts in the field.

Techweek Europe has all the details in their article on Grum’s demise.

Firefox, Patches and updates

Firefox 14.0.1 – security fixes and secure search

Leave a comment

A new version of Firefox was released yesterday: 14.0.1. You can download the new version from the Mozilla site.

This new version contains fixes for several security vulnerabilities, as outlined on the Firefox security advisories page.

The new version also sports several new features, including secure search, which changes the search bar to use secure searching if available. This follows Google’s recent change to use secure search by default for users logged in to Google. Secure browsing is now shown by a lock icon at the far left of the address bar, which replaces the favicon previously shown there.

The official release announcement for version 14.0.1 contains all the details.

Microsoft

Microsoft wants even fewer people to use the next version of Office

Leave a comment

According to The Verge, the next version of Microsoft Office (2013) will not run on Windows Vista or XP.

So, now there’s another good reason to avoid the latest version of Office, as if you needed one. Microsoft has struggled to get people to upgrade Office. Many users still run – and are perfectly happy with – much earlier versions. The general perception is that while new versions may look fancy, they tend to increase bloat, while randomly removing useful features, adding useless new features, introducing fun new bugs, and changing the user interface to make everything harder to find.

I predict that people will stay away from Office 2013 in even greater numbers than for previous versions.

Windows 8.x

Windows 8 email application is a step backwards

Leave a comment

According to ARS Technica, the fancy new Metro-interfaced email program in Windows 8 leaves a lot to be desired. Many features now considered to be standard for any email app – like IMAP support – are notably missing.

It’s unlikely that these deficiencies will be addressed before the release of Windows 8 in August. And of course anyone who previously depended on Outlook Express – included with many earlier versions of Windows – will be looking for alternatives.

Chrome, Flash, Patches and updates

New version of Google Chrome fixes several vulnerabilities

Leave a comment

Google has released a new version of its Chrome web browser: 20.0.1132.57, for Windows, Mac and Linux. The new version includes several security fixes, an update to Flash player and some stability/bug fixes.

The details of this new version are in the Google Chrome Releases blog.

Chrome typically updates itself with minimal fuss when it detects that a new version is available. You can also download the current version from the Chrome site.

Google

Google Calendar alerts no longer working for Rogers cell phones

Leave a comment

UPDATE 2012Jul24: It’s working again. The list of carriers has also changed, and there are now two separate entries for Rogers. Not sure what that’s about, but in any case, it’s now working again for me.

A couple of weeks ago I stopped receiving alerts from Google Calendar.

An otherwise excellent free service, I’ve been using Google Calendar for all my scheduling needs for several years. I was thrilled to find that it could send SMS text messages to my cell phone to remind me about appointments. I used this feature extensively, until it suddenly stopped working recently.

I’ve been working with Rogers tech support to resolve this, and we have come to the conclusion that the problem is between Google and Rogers. According to Rogers, they haven’t received any SMS messages from Google for my account recently. I’m able to both send and receive text messages from the phone.

Google’s support for its Calendar service consists – as with most of its other services – of help forums. The usual pattern is that someone posts a problem, then gradually more users find the original problem report and add their comments or ‘me toos’. Eventually, someone at Google takes notice and responds, usually to say that they are working on the problem. At some point the problem may end up being resolved. The key is to be patient. One of the reasons Google is able to offer so many wonderful free services is that they don’t spend much on support.

After struggling with this problem for a while, I posted a new problem report on the Google Calendar help forum. So far, there has been no response from Google, although several other users have chimed in with their observations.

Recently, someone posted a workaround on my problem report. It involves using Fido as the carrier instead of Rogers. Surprisingly, it does work, after a fashion, so that’s what I’m doing now. Using Fido as the carrier involves a bit of setup. When you send the verification code, you’ll receive a message telling you to subscribe to the ‘Fido email to SMS service’. Reply ‘Yes’ as instructed. After a few minutes you will receive confirmation. You will also receive notification of a new message, to which you must reply ‘Read’ in order to actually read. The first message should contain your verification code for Google Calendar. From then on, your Google Calendar alerts will arrive like that: a message telling you that you have a message, then the message itself. It’s not exactly slick, but it does seem to work reliably. I’m not sure whether any new charges will apply.