Why do I have to keep selecting to be notified of updates?

[brianv8537030]

Every time I get an update for Adobe Flash Player I have to select to be notified instead of selecting to do an auto update. I will never allow any program to auto update on my computer. Mainly because of the fact that Adobe Flash player always makes me uncheck the boxes to keep it from installing Google Chrome browser and tool bars. I'm sure if I allowed the auto update to run it will screw up my browser with Chrome's famous hijacked settings and due to some software restrictions at my work I have to use Internet Explorer. It shouldn't be that hard to make the selection a one time deal.

[jeromiec83223024]

To give you any useful advice, I'm going to need to know more about your computer and browser:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1195540

[brianv8537030]

Well what else would you need to know other than IE 11 and a Windows 7 64 bit OS SP1. The system is an Intel i5 with 8 GB RAM. I have a 10mb internet connection.

[jeromiec83223024]

Okay, I think I know what you're talking about.  Let me know if I'm understanding correctly.

On Windows 7, when you manually download and run the Flash Player installer from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer, the selection for update preference always defaults to "Allow Adobe to install Updates (recommended)", regardless of whether or not you've selected a different option.

[brianv8537030]

Correct. I have to check "Notify me when updates are available" every time I get an update.

Not only this but it seems to me that I should have the choice to "opt in" for the browser change (Google Chrome) and the tool bar install. Not have to uncheck them in order to prevent the installation. Adobe Flash Player is very useful and works very well. The fact that you are pushing these program changes on people who may not be very computer savvy is not very professional. If I wanted those programs on my computer I would install them myself and having to remove a couple of check marks in self defense is rather irritating.

[jeromiec83223024]

Yeah, it's weird that the notify choice doesn't stick.  My guess is that we're doing this on purpose because there's some complexity from 15 years of legacy code that makes it unreliable to read from the preference file on "Windows machines that had X version installed back in 2003" or something. I'll take a look and see if I can reproduce it and will ask around about whether or not it's an intentional choice.  Unless there's a compelling reason for it, I'm happy to file a bug and see if we can get that fixed.

For better or worse, the opt-out mechanism pays the bills on the free products (both Flash and Reader are tremendously expensive undertakings), and while I get where you're coming from, those are business decisions that get made way above my pay grade.  If you're interested, I'm sure I can point you to a more official document that explains the companys' stance.

On the good news front, there are a couple ways to avoid the installation thing altogether:

• Google Chrome includes Flash Player as a built-in component, so there's nothing separate to update or install.
• Internet Explorer on Windows 8 and higher also includes Flash Player as a built-in component.  Updates are delivered through Windows Update.

[brianv8537030]

The bug report would be greatly appreciated. It's not a huge deal but it is an annoyance and if it can be changed then that would be good. As for the Opt Out vs Opt In arrangement, I understand about things being above a certain pay grade. It's not at all unusual for those types of decisions to be made by the guys in the corner offices and never asking the opinion of the lowly wage earners even though they are likely to have a much better grasp of the mechanics of the system or how things may be perceived by the consumers. Another small battle lost in the war. Oh well. Thanks for the response and good luck with the bug report.