Problem downloading Adobe Flash Player

[MaggieMae]

My sister attempted to download Adobe Flash Player 10 and received the message that she needed to disable Norton antivirus protection before Adobe would load. She's reluctant to do that, first of all because it's the first time any Adobe upgrade has required that, and second I recently installed it and was not instructed to disable my AVG antivirus protection first.

Anyone know what the story is? She's worried it's a backdoor attempt by some type of malware posing as Adobe which will gain access to her system if she temporarily removes Norton.

I tried to find something related to Adobe/Norton problems, and could only find some complaints that were posted way last summer, and nothing at all indicating this is a new virus threat.

Any help you wizards can offer would be much appreciated, other than the fact that Norton sucks, which I already know.

I'll come back later.

Thanks,
Maggie

 

[Ringel05]

It's probably Norton which is a hell of a lot more invasive than AVG and can interfere with the installation of certain apps. But to be certain Is she using Firefox or IE? If she's using FF then she can add WOT, do a search for Adobe flash player and WOT will show whether the site she clicks on to is trustworthy or not. Or she can just go to Cnet Downloads, search for Adobe flash player and download it from there. If in both instances the 'shut down Norton' warning is displayed she'll know it's Norton.
My advice, for what it's worth, tell her to get rid of Norton, it's a beast and a resource hog. Avira is currently the top rated open source anti-virus.

 

[peach174]

I agree with Ringel. Norton is terrible. Avira is very good and so is Kaspersky.

 

[zzzz]

I upgraded flash player this morning and I have Norton. It upgraded with no problems and no request to disable anything.

I do plan on changing my antivirus as soon as my subscription runs out for Norton. From what I have been reading it causes problems with Windows 7 of which I run on my laptop.

 

[MaggieMae]

Update: She removed Norton, downloaded Firefox, and voila! No problem. IE/Norton are like oil and water, I think. Norton didn't catch that faux "Security Update" virus infecting a lot of people about a year ago, including me, and I haven't had any problems since I gave Norton the boot. I also rarely use IE anymore, preferring Google Chrome.

Thanks for tips, guys!

 

[Ringel05]

Update: She removed Norton, downloaded Firefox, and voila! No problem. IE/Norton are like oil and water, I think. Norton didn't catch that faux "Security Update" virus infecting a lot of people about a year ago, including me, and I haven't had any problems since I gave Norton the boot. I also rarely use IE anymore, preferring Google Chrome.

Thanks for tips, guys!

Probably the best FF add ons are Adblock, WOT, Ghostery and Better Privacy for a more secure browsing experience. Those are the only ones I use and have never had an issue.
I would also recommend doubling up on anti-virus protection, add Malwarebytes along with Avira, there's no conflict and combined they're still 100 times "lighter" than Norton with more than 50 times the protection Norton offers.
Again just my advice, take it or leave it.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

Update: She removed Norton, downloaded Firefox, and voila! No problem. IE/Norton are like oil and water, I think. Norton didn't catch that faux "Security Update" virus infecting a lot of people about a year ago, including me, and I haven't had any problems since I gave Norton the boot. I also rarely use IE anymore, preferring Google Chrome.

Thanks for tips, guys!

Chrome spies on you. It's its primary function. That it also allows web browsing is a secondary function.

 

[MaggieMae]

Update: She removed Norton, downloaded Firefox, and voila! No problem. IE/Norton are like oil and water, I think. Norton didn't catch that faux "Security Update" virus infecting a lot of people about a year ago, including me, and I haven't had any problems since I gave Norton the boot. I also rarely use IE anymore, preferring Google Chrome.

Thanks for tips, guys!

Chrome spies on you. It's its primary function. That it also allows web browsing is a secondary function.

That's okay. I'm sure the Google Guys have found my browsing habits quite boring and inconsequential. I installed Chrome only because I had a problem installing Firefox, which stalled because of a proxy resolution problem. After making all the adjustments recommended by people here (in another thread quite sometime ago), it still wouldn't load. So I gave up and went to Chrome. It does what I need, which is all that matters.

 

[waltky]

Download it on a friend's computer to a flash drive...

... then install it to your computer from the flash drive.