Firefox-Flash saga

[FFman]

I've just updated to Flash 11.5.502.135 and Flash still aborts under Firefox 17.
How do you edit the mms.cfg file? The folder it's in is read only and when I try to change this it says I have no permissions to do this. tia
I'm running Windows 7.

[Ortho_Fan]

Hi FF Man:

I got that message too when I first went through this back in June.

What I was advised, by Adobe, to do--and this worked--was to add ProtectedMode=0 to the mms.cfg. Then, I saved the file in a NEW location. Then I deleted the original from the flash folder, and then I dragged and dropped the edited version into the Flash folder where the old one was. It's described in this post string -- http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1020038?start=0&tstart=0

If you read through the post string, you'll see that the problems I encountered with Flash Player were, indeed, fixed with the introduction of FF 13.0.1, only to RESURFACE when FF 15.0 came out -- http://forums.adobe.com/message/4718825#4718825 This still hasn't been fixed and probably never will.

OF

[FFman]

OK, thanks for that Ortho_Fan

[FFman]

At last!!! Using Flash version 11.5.502.135 I added ProtectedMode=0 to the mms.cfg file and updated Firefox to 17.0.1 and it works.
I did the same thing with a few previous versions of Flash and it didn't work but this one does finally.
I hope it lasts!!

[Gopher John]

I've not had to turn off ProtectedMode with Flash version 11.5.502.135 using Win 7 Pro SP1. Flash is working fine.

[Ortho_Fan]

Hi John:

The protected mode "bug" seems to affect some users and not others, and it causes a variety of problems--freezes, hangs, system crashes, etc. Some users have reported no problems, or have not yet detected any.

In my situation, using FF 17.0.1 and Flash Player 11.5.502.135, with protected mode enabled, on Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1) I still get "empty crashes" as well as hangs when closing out Firefox from a page with Flash content, or even switching from a page with Flash content to one that doesn't have it. Most of the crashes are not listed in FF's "about:crash" but DO appear in the Minidumps folder --

See viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2612567 --

The minidumps folder is accessible by clicking on the Help menu, then clicking on "Troubleshooting Information," and then the "Show Folder" button.

Periodically, I re-enable protected mode by deleting the added string to the mms.cfg file, whenever new versions of Firefox or Adobe Flash Player are released. So far, on my PC, it's still causing FF to spit out empty minidump files on closeout or when exiting a site with flash content.

This is frustrating as hell since Firefox and Flash Player (with protected mode Enabled) DID work fine together for a short period after the initial problems were reported last June. As I've noted, the incompatibility was fixed with the release of Firefox 13.0.1. (Note: Mozilla fixed it, NOT Adobe!) However, when Firefox 15.0 came out, the whole thing started up again.

Of course, at this point Adobe seems to be blaming Mozilla for this, and Mozilla is blaming Adobe, and no progress is being made. (I'd interject a comparison, in this situation, between certain warring political parties in the US, and their inability or unwillingness to work together for the common good, but that would be off-topic, so I won't.....)

O_F

[FFman]

I've just updated to Firefox 18.0 and thought I'd remove the "ProtectedMode=0" from the mms.cfg file to see if utube videos work.
They do, to my surprise!! So now everything appears hunky-dory (famous last words!).

Flash version 11.5.502.135
Windows 7 64-bit.
FWIW my mms.cfg file contains the following:

AutoUpdateDisable=0
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0

[Ortho_Fan]

Hi FFman:

That's promising news! I haven't re-enabled protected mode yet, but may do so when my current work crunch is over.

It might be a good idea, though, for you to periodically check your Firefox crash reports and minidumps folder to make sure all is well, and that there are no "silent" crashes or hangs. You can access this information by clicking on your Firefox Help menu, and clicking on Troubleshooting Information. For crashes, click on "about:crashes" and to check the minidumps folder click on the "show folder" button, and double click the minidumps folder.

To check for undetected hangs, while Firefox is open, call up your Windows Task Manager, click on the Options menu, and click on "Always on Top." Then close out Firefox and check to make sure it disappears immediately from the list. (I noticed that whenever I exited a site containing Flash content, Firefox would hang for about 30 seconds before closing.)

Along this line, you might also want to periodically check the Windows Reliability Monitor by clicking on the notification flag in your taskbar, click on "Open Action Center," click on Maintenance, and then click on "view reliability history." A few of the Firefox hangs I experienced were picked up by my Windows crash reported and appeared there.

Again, many thanks for the update,

Ortho_Fan

[Gopher John]

I've just updated to Firefox 18.0 and thought I'd remove the "ProtectedMode=0" from the mms.cfg file to see if utube videos work.
They do, to my surprise!! So now everything appears hunky-dory (famous last words!).

Flash version 11.5.502.135
Windows 7 64-bit.
FWIW my mms.cfg file contains the following:

AutoUpdateDisable=0
SilentAutoUpdateEnable=0

FWIW, current Flash version is 11.5.502.146, and this version is a security update, as usual .
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb13-01.html

If anyone is using Adobe Reader, there is a new security release for it, also. http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb13-02.html

[FFman]

FWIW, current Flash version is 11.5.502.146, and this version is a security update, as usual .
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb13-01.html

If anyone is using Adobe Reader, there is a new security release for it, also. http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb13-02.html

I usually wait until it asks to update before updating Flash.
When it does I'll do the checks again, as mentioned in Ortho_Fan's post.

[FFman]

Thanks Ortho_Fan.
Last crashes were on 15.Dec.2012@13:36 which was before my FF 17 post above.
The last minidump was June 2012.
The Firefox entry in Task Manager disappeared as soon as I closed Firefox.
There was nothing about Firefox in the Reliability Monitor.

[Gopher John]

I turn off Adobe Flash's check for updates, as malware at hacked sites is very good at spoofing the Update popup. An elderly neighbor was caught out by such a popup, clicked on it and subsequently her credit card information was stolen and used. Adobe's offerings for the past several have been a sieve of vulnerability, and offer a perfect vector for infection.

[LIMPET235]

Gopher John wrote...

If anyone is using Adobe Reader, there is a new security release for it, also. http://www.adobe.com/support/security/b ... 13-02.html

If you update Adobe Reader, don't forget to check that JavaScript is still disabled in it's options/prefs.

[Gopher John]

Gopher John wrote...

If anyone is using Adobe Reader, there is a new security release for it, also. http://www.adobe.com/support/security/b ... 13-02.html

If you update Adobe Reader, don't forget to check that JavaScript is still disabled in it's options/prefs.

Thanks for the reminder. I'd had it disabled, but just checked and it was enabled anew. Possibly the update did this. I then checked Adobe Flash and found a couple of changes I'd made reset there, also. I'm going to have to check the settings on other machines and Windows accounts that have had recent updates.

[LIMPET235]

Yep. It's always a good idea to check your options after anything updates, GJ.
"They" have a nasty habit of resetting things to "their" defaults.
Not good.