Important: Update Adobe Reader (aka Adobe Acrobat) AND Adobe Flash

(Updated)

We received this from Tom Reynolds and Paul Croteau (”The Loud Talker”) over at RFC Radio:

If you have not updated BOTH Adobe Reader (aka Adobe Acrobat) AND Adobe Flash since July 31st YOUR SYSTEM IS VULNERABLE! It doesn’t matter if you use a PC, a Mac, or Linux. It doesn’t matter which browser you use. It doesn’t matter if you just paid 80 bucks for a fancy security suite. If you play flash games, watch flash videos, chat in flash chat, or read Acrobat documents your system is at risk. If you want to read more about it than most people want to know, you can read more AT NetworkWorld.com.

If your computer (PC or Mac) is compromised you risk the computer of everyone you communicate with, and everyone you share files with. Since you all send files to the station, that means that not practicing good sanitation risks the computers of your friends, family and co-workers. They may have protection on their computers, but nothing that is open to the world is perfect. If you don’t care about your computer think of your friends, your family, or your boss, and how a few days without their computer would affect them.

Below are instructions for each program:

If you use Adobe Reader start the program and go to Help > About. If it reports version 9.1.3 you’re up to date. If it says anything other than 9.1.3 then go to Help > Check for Updates. (If you want to install from scratch, Adobe’s patching system for Acrobat is screwy, so you have to, go to get.adobe.com/reader and install the version there, 9.1. When you run 9.1 it will prompt you to download a patch. The version you need to get to is 9.1.3.)

Flashplayer download site is get.adobe.com/flashplayer. The latest Adobe Flash Player version is 10.0.32.18. Just follow the link and click on the “Install Now” button and follow the prompts. Reinstalling the same version doesn’t hurt, and sometimes makes things work a little smoother for a bit. Checking the version takes almost as long as installing without checking, but if you want to check, right click on something that uses flash (like the RFC chat room) and select “About Adobe Flash Player 10.” (If you have a Mac and a 1 button mouse, Control-Click.)