Flash update force-installing McAfee

I'm writing this as a long-time member of Creative Cloud, a guy who uses (and loves) Adobe products daily, and who has repeatedly boosted and defended Adobe to his sometimes suspicious friends and coworkers. I've built my business using Adobe programs.
Do you want me to stop?
I finally got around to letting Flash update itself on my home machine. And it also installed, *without asking*, some McAfee Security Scan software.
Please note that I do not avoid McAfee like the plague. I avoid the plague like McAfee. And it really, really, really pisses me off when doing a security update on a completely unrelated piece of software forces me to install something - anything - let alone something that I really really don't want. This is not a particularly contentious position for me to take: Hell, even McAfee hates McAfee!
It is absolutely outrageous that Adobe's installer didn't even give me the option to cancel the install. I canceled the whole thing once, and then went and started over, only to confirm that there was no way to avoid the forced McAfee install.
Hey, Adobe: I shouldn't have to choose between having an old version of your software or having to go back into my control panel to excise some crap you forced onto my system without my permission.
I'm not usually one to complain about "corporate BS". I know how marketing works. I save my outrage for truly egregious betrayals of customers' trust. But this is one of them.
Adobe, I hope you're listening to this, because I'm as devoted a fan as you're likely to see. I go weeks without having fewer than two or three Adobe apps running at once on multiple systems. I talk about how awesome your design software is. For the love of God, I went on a rant about how awesome Muse is to a relative who works for Weebly. If you're pissing me off enough for me to wish I had an alternative just because your behavior is so incredibly arrogant and obnoxious that it overloads all of the positive work that the rest of your excellent products have done, then you have a really, really big problem.
You can do better, Adobe. Please do better.

Thanks for the feedback, and apologies for the frustration.
We take these reports seriously, and I investigate the vast majority of them; however, I've been unable to find a set of steps that reproduces the behavior that you're describing.  There *is* a pre-checked checkbox that opts in to the McAfee download, but you should only get the bundled offer if the box was checked.  The intent is absolutely to respect the indicated preference.  If the software did not behave as intended and you received the bundled offer with the opt-in box unchecked, I'd be more than happy to investigate further and try to get the issue fixed.  We test the installation and upgrade workflows carefully across multiple people in multiple geographies using a wide variety of configurations with each release, and I've never seen this issue come up in our testing. 
This is a complaint that I see far more than I would like, which is why I try to be diligent about digging into reports; however, the lack of reproducible steps makes it hard to find anything concrete to fix.  If I can nail it down, I'm more than happy to champion the issue and get it resolved.
I spent a good amount of time recently trying to make this happen for Firefox with no luck using a whole bunch of variations while outside the Adobe network:
Shared Files - Acrobat.com
I do know that occasionally plug-ins that modify how JavaScript on the page gets executed can cause the wrong payload to be downloaded; however, the unmodified code should not produce that result.
If you have any relevant details that might help me reproduce the problem, or see anything that I'm missing (maybe you're doing something differently during the installation, etc) when testing this,
I've provided a copy of the screen that you should see with the opt-out dialog a the beginning of the installation process for reference.

Similar Messages

  • Why does the latest flash update automatically install Mcafee?

    Just wondering why I can't opt out of installing unwanted software when updating flash player?
    For reference:
    - I turned on my computer and was faced with a regular looking flash player box that stated an update was available.
    - I clicked the "update" button and was taken to the following page: https://get3.adobe.com/flashplayer/download/?installer=Flash_Player_13_for_Other_Browsers& os=Windows%207&browser_type=Gecko&browser_dist=Firefox&a=McAfee_Security_Scan_Plus_FireFox _Browser&dualoffer=false&type=au&browser_vers=28 (yes it mentions Mcafee in the address, but only the address. No warning whatsoever on the actual webpage. I wasn't aware that it would automatically install Mcafee without asking).
    - I saved the update, then ran it (there were no checkboxes at all to opt out of Mcafee, it just installed it).
    Not particularly happy at having unwanted software installed with no real warning, and no opt out available.
    Win 7 x64 updating flash to v 13.0.0.182

    http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1395219
    That one goes back three updates ago, and http://forums.adobe.com/message/4315988  goes back two years...
    This has been an ongoing thing. There is an updater that blindly installs McAfee and another that installs Google Chrome and Toolbar. People have been complaining about it for years, and it doesn't change, and it won't change.
    I'm not being condescending, and I'm not trying to lecture you on this. I'm just stating the facts. If there had been any intent on anyone's part to do something about it, posts like this wouldn't pop up here every month and a half, like clockwork.
    It's the number one reason we post the FULL installer links. Because they have NOTHING IN THEM but the Flash Player plug-in.

  • How can I install a Flash update without installing McAfee?

    I have tried twice to install and have cancelled both times because it seemed that McAfee was installing. I have Norton installed and am happy with it. I don't object to Adobe's encouraging the use of a competing product, but I do insist on the freedom to decline, and I didn't see a way of doing it.

    @coal.brian - The page in my screenshot is the page you are presented with after clicking the download button from the large gray "update" dialog you were presented.  Clicking the button launches the browser, which in turn has two pages that are displayed.  The first being the one that I used in the screenshot, the second being the download page (see below)
    As I mentioned in an earlier post, we've added code to the second page (download) so that if you were to go there first, we automatically redirect you back to the first page (opt out) so that you have the opportunity to decline the software option.
    If anyone would like to test this out, simply restart your browser and go to this download URL (note that this is the URL from the screenshot in this post):  https://get3.adobe.com/flashplayer/download/?installer=Flash_Player_11_for_Other_Browsers& os=Windows%207&browser_type=Gecko&browser_dist=Firefox&d=McAfee_Security_Scan_Plus_FireFox _Browser&dualoffer=false&type=au&browser_vers=16
    If it works as designed, you will instead be silently redirected to the opt out page (see my earlier screenshot in this thread.)

  • Any way to upgrade my flash player without installing mcAfee

    any way to upgrade my flash player without installing mcAfee ? I dont want any kind of antiv. programs on my pc. I only want to upgrade my player

    Thanks.
    22 Oca 2014 23:14 tarihinde "abbottabad70" <[email protected]> yazdı:
        Re: any way to upgrade my flash player without installing mcAfee created by
    abbottabad70 <http://forums.adobe.com/people/abbottabad70> in *Using
    Flash Player* - View the full discussion<http://forums.adobe.com/message/6041775#6041775

  • Flash updates wont install

    I have Adobe Web Premium CS4, whenever the updater runs it fails to install any flash updates, no matter how many time sI try it always fails, anyone got any idea how to fix this.

    Hi,
    Are you on Mac or Win?  Do any of the symptoms in this tech-note sound like your issue?
    http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/332/332745.html
    Thanks,
    Nivesh

  • Why does Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash player keep installing McaFee Security Scan on my system?

    Whenever I install the Adobe Flash player or Adobe Reader on my system, it downloads and installs McAfee Security Scan Plus at the same time. It does not ask if I want it or not, it instead forces it on me, so I have to then unistall it. I've unistalled it 3 or 4 times in the last week. I DO NOT WANT MCAFEE PRODUCTS on my computer!
    Please make this an option, give the users a choice so we don't have to keep removing the stupid thing.

    Did you 'Uncheck" the relevant box pointed by the red arrow ? If not you accepted the installation with McAfee.

  • Since installing Flash update today, Flash no longer works on FireFox (works fine on IE)

    As prompted, Adobe Flash update was installed today. Since installing , Flash no longer works with FireFox (works ok with IE);

    Hi guys - for me this helped.
    Close Firefox - open Internet Explorer - got to the Adobe Flash Player Site:
    http://get.adobe.com/de/flashplayer/
    In IE you can see there is the 64-bit version - (in Firefox there was just the 32-bit version) - got to: (others)
    http://get.adobe.com/de/flashplayer/otherversions/
    choose your system and version
    download it via internet explorer and install the adobe flash player
    restart firefox and it should work.
    helped me after wasting one day of my life to find a solution, alle sites work just fine now.
    hope this helps.

  • Youtube video's - flash update issue

    I got an issue on youtube since the last flash update. Suddenly i only get shaking videos and i can't seem to find a solution. I tried uninstalling the flash update and installing an older version of flash, but it doesn't seem to fix it... Any help would be much appreciated!
    Thx

    1. System Preferences >  Flash Player > Advanced >  Delete  All
         Press the "Delete All" button
    2. Safari > Preferences > Privacy
        Press the button “ Remove All Website Data”.

  • McAfee software forced install with latest Adobe flash update 12/26/14

    So it seems that Adobe has once again chosen to go the route of not even giving an opt-out option for whatever 'software' they bundle their Adobe Flash update with. I fail to see how this practice creates anything but mistrust for these products from a consumers perspective. Having worked in  IT and having had to deal with questions like "Why is my browser changed/messed up?" or "Why did X show up on my computer and is now spamming me to buy something?" it's frustrating knowing that in many cases it's large companies that are to blame. In this case it seems even more calculated coming right after a major holiday when inevitably more PC's and more inexperienced users enter the market.
    I personally will never use McAfee or Google Chrome or (heaven forbid) Ask.com related software if this is how they intend to do business. I'd like to think that large businesses like Adobe would have better marketing strategies for their sponsors that don't create dissent and distrust among consumers.

    Adobe's Flash Player update workflow does present the choice of also getting some "added value" software (e.g., AV - Search Engine stuff for browsers - etc.).
    One simply unticks the boxes on the step that displays the choice.
    Oh yeah, ya do gotta look rather than do a fast click through which will result in a gotcha eh.
    One "gotcha" back in the day was all it took for me to "STAR" these sort of updates.
    No "gotchas" since.
    You'll observe similar with other software package updates (e.g., Java, etc.).

  • Flash forces install of McAfee

    I go to:
    http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html
    I click on:
    Get the latest version
    Download the most recent version of Adobe Flash Player
    It DOES NOT give me an option to deselect McAfee
    This give me:
    Adobe Flash Player 11.8.800.94 (16.9 MB)
    Your system: Windows 64-bit , English, Firefox
    http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
    which downloads and installs McAfee without anywhere giving me the option to deselect McAfee.
    I do not expect, and I do not want, Adobe to install a competitor's product to the security software vendor that *I* chose to put on my computer.
    It is not reasonable on the part of Adobe to force my selection, against my will, of a competitor's security software.  Such duplicate installation often causes security problems!

    As if it were not enough to receive constant flash player updates anouncements, the last one came with a surprise. This time Adobe didn't allow me to choose whether to install mcafee or not (btw shame on you Adobe for making me to have to uncheck that box every time). A pop up window shown up with the download status of both Flash player update and mcafee, and installed it without asking. Why should I have to loose my time having to uninstall mcafee? Why should I have to loose my time having to uncheck that box every other time? How do I know Mcafee has not left anything in my computer after uninstall? I have my own antivirus, so please, just stop annoying your users with that kind of annoying behaviour.
    PS: I don't install anything automatically before checking how it was for other users, so save your advices on enable updates automatically.
    SHAME ON YOU!
    Manuel

  • Why does the Flash player update push me to install McAfee Security Scan Plus?

    When Flash asks me if I want to update, it takes me to an Adobe page to update it, but there is a checkbox already checked to install McAfee Security Scan Plus. I already have an anti-virus program installed. Why does the flash update page assume that I want to install this software?

    Generally this occurs because there's a third-party plug-in that affects how the JavaScript on the page got executed.  Ghostery, AdBlock Pro and NoScript are common candidates.
    Under normal operating conditions, you should see an opt-out dialog like the one below.  While cost-recovery measure are a reality for a product that is tremendously expensive to develop and distribute free of charge, the intent is absolutely to allow you to opt out.
    If you want to avoid the download and installation experience for Flash altogether, switch to a browser that includes Flash Player as a built-in component, like Google Chrome or Internet Explorer on Windows 8 and higher.

  • Flash Update installing McAfee - no notification or option to not install it

    Hi,
    I was notified my Flash needing updated, so I followed the update button to the update page.
    After I click update and allow it, it installs McAfee.
    There is no option of stopping the install.
    There was no option presented to not install it in the first place (read: No checkbox, dont even try to say uncheck the checkbox, there was none).
    There was absolutely NO mention or indication of McAfee at all, not until AFTER it is instaled.
    Adobe: This is unprofessional, unethical, a violation of trust, and simply unauthorised.
    In fact, your Flash Update is an unauthorised Trojan Horse.

    I expect a formal written apology from Adobe, and for them to fix this violation of trust issue and make it optional, and opt-in by default, not opt-out.

  • In trying to install a Flash update on my Mac (version 10.7.5), I'm getting an "unable to install metafile" message after initialization starts (at the 25% point)-regardless of the site from which I download the installation folder.

    In trying to install a Flash update on my Mac (version 10.7.5), I'm getting an "unable to install metafile" message after initialization starts (at the 25% point)—regardless of the site from which I download the installation folder.

    Hello everybody, good news: after upgrading to Mountain Lion 10.8.5 I've been able to run the installer and all went fine.
    Mountain Lion allows user to force execution through the context-menu (CTRL-click) Open command and it does work, just that simple.
    So my advice is: if you want to install or re-install Flash Builder 4.6 on a Mac with Lion installed, upgrade to Mountain Lion or better to avoid problems.
    Apple introduced some (not all) Gatekeeper functionalities in 10.7.3 and following, but apparently you need a full-fledged 10.8 to have also what you need to circumvent a Revoked Certificate error.
    Since usually OS X has auto updating active, if you are running Lion you end up with 10.7.5 and won't install FB46. If you manage somehow to hold 10.7.2 I suppose you should be able to install FB46, sincerely I didn't check it out. Anyway it's simpler and safer to move on to 10.8.x.
    Bye

  • Why does Flash Player install McAfee software?

    I installed today Flash on my Windows PC. I opened the installer, chose "Notify me of all updates" and pressed install. The following progress bar showed not only the progress of the Flash installation but also the progress of some McAfee software installation. I couldn't reject it in an way. I had to uninstall it once it finished.
    So my question is clear: Why? I don't want McAfee, I should be able to tell the installer "don't install McAfee". What if I had a limited broadband connection (3G, for example)? What if McAfee broke my antivirus installation? Is Adobe or McAfee going to be responsible if anything goes bad because of that bundle installation?
    This is terrible user experience. The only thing you've achieved is my bad impression of both business, so I'll purchase/download as little as I can of any of you.
    Congratulations.

    It's in one or more of the update links. It's been reported, but there isn't a big priority to change it.
    Flash Player for ActiveX (Internet Explorer)
    Flash Player Plug-in (All other browsers)
    Those are FULL installers with nothing bundled.
    Bookmark them, because when the version changes, the link stays the same.

  • Stop Installing MCafee Antivirus every time you update!

    Getting really tired of having to uninstall this garbage every time you update.  I am updating flash, which is annoying enough as one of the most nonsecure programs on the internet.  Piling more garbage on top of it is just insult.
    Please give an option to not install McAfee.  I don't need it.

    Use the FULL installers to update:
    Flash Player for ActiveX (Internet Explorer)
    Flash Player Plug-in (All other browsers)

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