Website requiring Flash Player 22 July 2022 at 11:52AM in Techie Stuff 12 replies 231 views

TELLIT01

A family member is trying to complete an online induction package but the information provided states that Flash Player is required.  Flash Player is no longer available.  Can it still be downloaded?  The Adobe site actually suggests that it has been blocked.

Olinda99

No it can't be although there are several dodgy websites that purport to have it but will just download various nastiest bundled with it. Also you may find even if you could download it your browser would block it. Avoid.

wongataa

You should avoid anything that wants Flash Player.  It was a security nightmare for years so eventually Adobe stopped making it available.  This was a few years ago now so anything that used Flash should have migrated to a supported platform.

Sandtree

Depending on the file format there are a few options https://www.howtogeek.com/707830/how-to-use-adobe-flash-in-2021-and-beyond/

Dalby84UK

Some websites may still have flash features, any modern redesigned or up to date websites should not use them due to security, but the warning could still come up on modern browsers just because the plugin had many potential holes for hackers to use, but you should just be able to stop the warnings.

Would probably avoid using that website if its not been updated since the many years of notifications from companies such as google, apple and adobe about it being discontinued most developers and websites should have removed due to this if they were up to date on best practices

Neil_Jones

TELLIT01 said:

A family member is trying to complete an online induction package but the information provided states that Flash Player is required.  Flash Player is no longer available.  Can it still be downloaded?  The Adobe site actually suggests that it has been blocked.

Flash was discontinued January 2021: https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html - so any websites that still insist on it are well out of favour.

https://ruffle.rs/ seems to be a preferred choice - it won't run everything but if the content is old enough it may be a good substitute.

TELLIT01

Just to clarify the situation.  This is with a major high street retailer.  Believe it or not, the person doesn't have a computer so I'm going to be running through the induction package with her on mine.  It's been a shambles so far.  She received an initial e-mail saying she had the job, and a start date, with 3 attachments.  The first attachment stated she would receive 2 more e-mails, one with user id and the other with password to enable her to access the system.  Neither arrived so she called them and they didn't understand what she needed despite her reading direct from the initial e-mail.  She finally managed to get hold of somebody today who understood what was required and now has those additional e-mails.  Good job she didn't leave it to the last minute to do the online learning.

Chino

TELLIT01 said:

This is with a major high street retailer.  Believe it or not, the person doesn't have a computer so I'm going to be running through the induction package with her on mine.

Has your family member asked about visiting one of this retailer's stores or offices to undertake the induction package on one of the company's computers?

It doesn't seem an unreasonable request, considering that:

Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems.

Adobe Flash Player EOL General Information Page

400ixl

Highly unlikely it is a security test, but I would be making them aware that in order to complete this training would require you to compromise the security of your device and put your data (and possibly theirs) at risk. If they want you to do it, you should request you do it on one of their devices which one must assume is already compromised.

Madness that any corporation is still using training with Flash embedded. Shows how out of date the training course must be.

TELLIT01

Chino,  all the initial  documentation she has received refers to Flash Player and says that all the pre-induction stuff has to be done before starting the job.  At the moment it's starting to look as if the documentation about Flash is out of date.  She has actually received another set of instructions which contradict the original on how to undertake the training.  We're hoping the second set will work.

She hasn't had the opportunity to try contacting the store as she only finally received full instructions on how to log into their systems late on Friday.  Disorganised doesn't come close!

zagubov

I'm in education and there's a massive problem that many online teaching  resources were flash-based and nobody's converting them to modern animation software.

Masses of resources we've relied on for years are now useless (unless you dig out an old computer and choose browsers very carefully).

What a waste!