Category Archives: Edge

Adobe, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Flash, Internet Explorer, Patches and updates, Security

More Flash updates

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The latest version of Flash is 20.0.0.286, for most browsers. Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer on newer versions of Windows are apparently still stuck at Flash 20.0.0.272.

Sadly, the information on the Adobe site related to these updates is inconsistent, confusing, or just missing.

The About Flash page doesn’t seem to agree with the announcement page. The former shows “Internet Explorer (embedded – Windows 8.x) – ActiveX 20.0.0.286”, while the latter shows “Flash Player 20 for Internet Explorer on Windows 8.1: 20.0.0.272”.

The Flash runtime announcement says “Security update details can be found here: Security Bulletin (APSB16-01)”. But the APSB16-01 bulletin is for the previous Flash updates. The linked URL is also wrong; it points to an even older bulletin: APSB15-32. And to top it off, the security bulletin that should exist (APSB16-02) for this update currently generates an error.

Hopefully Adobe will fix this mess ASAP.

Meanwhile, although the announcement doesn’t mention any security fixes in the new versions, it’s safe to assume they exist, so you should update Flash in any browser where it’s enabled.

As usual, Internet Explorer on new versions of Windows will receive these updates via Windows Update, and Chrome will get its new Flash automatically.

Update 2016Feb02: I reported the announcement and bulletin problems (noted above) to the author of the announcement. He replied that the About page would be fixed, and that he had fixed the link to the bulletin on the announcement page. Unfortunately, that link now goes to the bulletin for the previous Flash release. The author claims that bulletin still applies, but it really doesn’t, since it recommends the previous version of Flash.

Update 2016Feb04: According to the author of the announcement, there were effectively no changes in this Flash update. Certainly there were no security fixes. A link to the previous security bulletin was included simply because it was the most recent bulletin. The link text will be changed to make this more clear.

Adobe, Edge, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Silverlight, Windows

Patch Tuesday for January 2016

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This month’s Microsoft updates are more interesting than usual, in that they are the last for versions of Internet Explorer earlier than 11. No more patches for older IE versions means you should avoid using them if at all possible, since they are likely to become a major target for malicious persons intent on spreading malware and increasing the size of their botnets.

It’s interesting to speculate on how much of a hit Microsoft will take in terms of browser share once people move way from IE 8, 9, and 10. Estimates vary, but I’ve seen recent numbers that show IE 8 at 9%, IE 9 at 7%, and IE 10 at 4%. If everyone does the right thing and switches browsers, Microsoft could lose as much as 20% of their browser market share.

There are ten updates from Microsoft this month, affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Edge, MS Office, Visual Basic, Silverlight, and Exchange Server. Six of the updates are flagged as Critical. A total of twenty-five vulnerabilities are addressed.

When installed, the Silverlight update will bump the software’s version up to Build 5.1.41212.0. Silverlight’s release notes page has been updated to show what’s changed.

Three security advisories were also published by Microsoft today, the most interesting of which is titled Deprecation of SHA-1 Hashing Algorithm for Microsoft Root Certificate Program.

Adobe joins the fun once again this month, but this time we only get an update for Reader that addresses fifteen vulnerabilities. Surprisingly, there are no updates for Flash.

Update: Support for Windows 8 has also ended. Anyone still using Windows 8 should upgrade to Windows 8.1 to continue receiving updates.

Clarification: Microsoft will still develop security updates for Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9, and 10, as well as Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 8, because they are still supported for some business clients, and for some Windows Server versions. The updates just won’t be available to regular folks.

Adobe, Edge, Flash, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Silverlight, Windows

Patch Tuesday for December 2015

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Another month, another pile o’ patches from Microsoft and Adobe. This month Microsoft is pushing out twelve updates, affecting 71 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, Edge, Office, .NET and Silverlight. Eight of the updates are flagged as Critical.

Microsoft has also published a few security advisories since the last monthly update.

Adobe’s chimed in this month with a new Flash (aside: how weird would it be if they didn’t?) The new version addresses at least 78 security vulnerabilities in the veritable piece of swiss cheese we know as the Flash player. The new version is designated 20.0.0.228 on most platforms, but the version designed for use in Firefox and Safari on Windows and Mac is 20.0.0.235.

Edge, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Windows 10

Edge automatically imports Chrome bookmarks for all users

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I just ran Edge – Microsoft’s new web browser – on my Windows 10 test computer, and the ‘Favorites’ bar went berserk for a few seconds. At first I thought there was some kind of display bug, but then I clicked the arrow at the far right end of the bar, and could see a lot of new Favorites, including many in folders. Some of those favorites were familiar, and some were not.

I eventually realized that Edge had automatically imported all the Chrome bookmarks from every Google account that had ever logged into Google, using Chrome, while logged into Windows with my Microsoft account. I leave the computer logged in, which is normally not recommended, but this is also my main media computer, and there’s nothing personal on any of its drives. Also I trust my roommate.

Chrome knows when you’re logged in to Google, and shows bookmarks and other settings specific to the current Google user. These settings are stored locally, keeping each Google user’s settings separate, but storing the data in the profile of whichever Windows user is currently logged in.

There are two problems with this. First, I don’t think this import process should be automatic. It’s the kind of thing that I want to do strictly on demand, and in fact you can do that: in Edge’s Settings dialog, click the ‘View favorites settings’ button to see the import feature. Second, Edge should not assume I want to import Chrome bookmarks for all Google profiles. Now I’ve got a mess to clean up, and I can’t be sure it won’t happen again. So I’ll stop using Edge.

I’m running Windows 10 Insider Preview build 10576, which just installed itself earlier this morning. I can’t be sure the Edge problem is related, but it seems likely.