Flash removed by non-administrator accounts
brian.hart May 12, 2011 8:09 AMHere is a perennial problem that I have as a network administrator:
All users in my domain have no greater rights to the local computers (mostly Windows XP) than Power Users, and in many cases, only Users. This is to keep them from installing all their favorite games and wasting my time trying to remove all the junk. I keep Flash relatively current by updating it across the network periodically (perhaps twice per year or as I get notification of new versions).
However, Flash insists on notifying these non-administrators when an update is available. When the user accepts the update, it uninstalls the current version but cannot install the new version because he does not have administrative rights. Now he has no Flash. When he then attempts to access Flash content, he gets a message indicating that he needs to update his Flash, which prompts him to send me an e-mail telling me he is unable to access the site until he updates his Flash.
These are not users that are going to the Adobe website to manually update; they are just accepting the stock in-your-face update notifications. I have tested this under a non-administrative account. Sure enough, when I accept an update, it removes the current version (i.e. it is no longer listed in Add/Remove Programs) but cannot install the new one, leaving me with none until I log on administratively and install it.
This is beginning to consume more time for me because it takes extra time dealing with all the users who think they should just accept every update that comes along. I do instruct users to cancel any offered updates, but they regularly ignore my instruction because they always think it won't hurt to try.
It is as though Flash was written without any consideration for mixed-security environments. The program insists on advertising updates, allows anyone to remove the old version, but requires administrative rights to install the new one. One would think that it should require administrative rights for removal. I am guessing that there is probably a way to turn off advertisement of new versions to users; however, I suspect that is a lot of administrative overhead for one little program on many computers, and I would also guess that I would have to reset the "do not offer updates to users" after every update.
Any ideas (other than making everyone local administrators and spending all my time cleaning off all their games & other junk)?




