TSGL: Duplicate programs

[H Davis]

Arnold,

I'm digging pretty far back in my memory so check these suggestions out 
before proceeding.

For Flash you can delete the extra or older copies. You will need the 
latest version since a LOT of web sites use Flash for various effects 
including menus. Adobe bought Macromedia at some point so the MM version 
is the oldest. Some of these might be the backup (original installation 
version) copy in folder i386. The problem is that there is probably no 
entry in the Add/Remove Programs list to do an uninstall. I think Adobe 
had a special uninstaller available on their web site to use on older 
versions. As a last resort just delete the files. I've done that with no 
ill effects. Some have strange extensions; .ocx I think.

For Java you can probably delete the older versions and retain or 
install the newest one. You need Java to use the Secunia online tester. 
It shows the Java icon in the tray when it runs. Unfortunately, once 
loaded, the JRE can't be unloaded and will remain in your tray until you 
reboot. You can kill it with Task Manager but that's a little crude.

But, there's always a "but", if you have any application you use 
regularly that need Java it might only work with an older version in 
which case you will have to retain that version. There were apparently a 
lot of problems with this.

There was also some problem with the Java originally supplied by MS; not 
called Sun Java. I don't remember the details but it was something like 
Sun wouldn't license subsequent versions to MS because MS wanted to 
"extend" it thereby making that version different than Sun's version; 
sound familiar. So MS couldn't supply it and stopped supporting it. New 
versions are from Sun. Again, details are foggy.

Both of these are a mess and seem to be afflicted with constant security 
updates. They are improving the updating process but since they are 
third party software you can't update through the relatively painless 
Windows Update procedure.

Good luck, and as I said double check everything.

H Davis

Arnold Tindall wrote:
> Secunia tells me that I have three installations of Adobe Flash 
> Player, one installation of Macromedia Flash Player, and three 
> installations of Sun Java JRE.
>
> I have no idea what any of this software does or how and why I 
> acquired it. Can I simply delete the duplicate installations and 
> possibly also one of the two Flash players?
>
> Arnold Tindall
>
>
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-- 
H Davis   hdavis1 at gmail.com