Adobe Shockwave updated for security fixes

[Wiz Feinberg]

Adobe has finally patched a known flaw in its Shockwave media player that was being exploited in the wild. Shockwave is related to Adobe Flash, but is much more powerful in its capabilities to display active content. It is part of the Adobe Director program. It is also at risk of exploitation by criminals and has been updated this week.

While not everybody has Shockwave, anybody who does have an older version of Shockwave, including those produced by the previous maker, Macromedia, must uninstall it first, reboot, then install the new Shockwave player.

If your Shockwave installation is very old (W XP/2000) there may not be an uninstall entry in Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. In that case you can uninstall it manually, by following these steps.

• Use Windows Explorer (My Computer) to navigate your C drive to the "Windows" or "Winnt" directory.
• Open the "System32" directory
• Open the "Macromed" sub-directory
• Open the "Shockwave" sub-directory
• Double-click on UNWISE.EXE to begin uninstalling Shockwave. If you use a less privileged account use the right-click Run As option for Administrator.
• Reboot after the uninstallation has completed
• If you can't see the aforementioned files and folders you must unhide protected system files and folders (see below).

To unhide protected Windows system files and folders, take these steps (Windows XP).

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on the menu item "Tools"
3. Click on the sub-meun item "Folder Options"
4. Click on the "View" tab in Folder Options
5. Place a checkmark in "Display the contents of system folders"
6. Place a checkmark in "Show hidden files and folders"
7. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types"
8. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files"
9. Click Apply
10. Click OK to close the options
11. Proceed with the navigation procedure.

If you do not have Shockwave there is no need to install it, unless you visit a website that has Shockwave presentations embedded. Always be certain to download Shockwave directly from Adobe, not some foreign hacked website or Botnetted PC.