Why do Google and Adobe seem to want me to give Apple money for a new OS?

October 8, 2012 5:35 PM

Chrome requires, via yellow pop down box, that I manually allow Flash to run on nearly every webpage I load (presumably just the ones that use Flash), each time I load it. How can I stop this? Complication: Chrome is no longer supported for my OS.

System details:

• OS X 10.5.8 (MacBook 4,1 = my hard drive is nearly full and the case is cracking, but everything runs, so I'm not shelling out for an OS update.)
• Chrome 21.0.1180.90. After this version, Chrome no longer supports OS X 10.5 so I cannot update.
• Flash 10.3.183.29. chrome://plugins says I should "Download Critical Security Update". Following the "Update This Plugin" button provided by Chrome brings me to a page that suggests this is the most up to date version.

I have restarted my browser. I have disabled/re-abled the Flash plugin. I have restarted my computer. I am in a circular advice loop between Flash and Chrome referring me to each other's help pages which do not help. The best I get from Google is this:

Note: Although not recommended, if you don't want Google Chrome to notify you when a plug-in is out of date, use the command line flag --allow-outdated-plugins. Instructions on how to add a command line flag can be found on our Chromium site .

Is this something I need to learn Chromium to fix? Is Flash no longer supporting old versions of Chrome? Is the solution really to return to Firefox? Because I like Chrome, but not so much that I'll deal with a distracting error message on every web page I visit.

posted by maryr to computers & internet (6 answers total)

FWIW, you may want to download (the last supported version of) Chromium anyway. You won't need to learn anything new, because...

Chromium is Chrome, without the built-in Google spyware! Or more accurately, the other way around.

That said, I don't think that will solve your problem. You want to reinstall (the last supported version of) Chrome/ium, and before it updates (ie, pull your network cable after installing but before running it)...

At the console, run: "defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 0".
posted by pla at 5:53 PM on October 8, 2012

I had this same problem and finally upgraded to Snow Leopard. It costs $19.99 but you have to order it by phone from Apple who will mail it out to you for free shipping. I really suggest you go this route but if you are out of HD space, it requires almost a gig so it might not be an option for you.
posted by loquat at 7:16 PM on October 8, 2012

This just happened to me too. So annoying!

I followed the instructions laid out in the first post of this forum, to install a workaround and so far it's been working pretty well. It took me 5 minutes and I'm not a programmer by any means.

I'm noticing Chrome is failing in other ways now that it's no longer supporting OS X 10.5.8 -- I have to kill a lot more pages than I used to-- but no more Flash pop-up messages.

P.S. Scroll down further on the first page for advice on how to give your workaround a nice icon too!
posted by juliaem at 7:23 PM on October 8, 2012

Another MacBook4,1 user here. At least in my case, upgrading to 10.6 actually saved space. If you don't upgrade that's fine, but you might want to keep a browser that still receives security updates around for sites you don't absolutely trust. Firefox and Opera should be fine.
posted by vasi at 8:55 PM on October 8, 2012

Your operating system (OS X Leopard) turns 5 years old at the end of the month. That's like 110 in software years.

Since an upgrade only costs 30 bucks, I suggest you do that. Chrome isn't going to be the last application that you'll see not get any more updates.
posted by sideshow at 9:08 PM on October 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

The distance between 10.5 and 10.6 is much, much smaller than the gap between 10.6 and 10.7. There is relatively little risk in upgrading and some gain from expanded software options.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:33 PM on October 8, 2012