Is there a way to trick sites into thinking you have flash/adobe PDF installed?

[Red Squirrel]

Despite having flash (or whatever equivalent comes with Linux) and a PDF reader, a lot of sites will show a notification to download it, and of course that wont work, but they'll also refuse to even try to display the content.

My banking did a change to their message system where you need adobe acrobat just to read messages. Completely retarded, why not just use regular html? Is there a way to trick it into thinking I have Adobe reader and then just use the Linux pdf viewer plugin? There's also a local news site that people often link to in Facebook and their videos (they don't have text articles) wont even try to display because it just says I don't have flash but I do. (youtube and facebook videos work, among other things)

I'm using Chrome in Linux Mint, if it matters.

 

[ninaholic37]

Are you sure the problem isn't Chrome? Someone told me yesterday that Flash is not supported in Chrome any more, even on Windows. I am not brave enough to try Chrome to find out, perhaps someone else can confirm/deny/elaborate.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've seen this happen in Firefox too, actually. I was hoping Chrome would actually fix it, but it did fix a lot of other issues (such as lot of GUI lag in the recent versions of FF) so hoping to stick to it. I keep saying Chrome but it's really Chromium I'm using, if it makes a difference.

 

[Ken g6]

Are you using NoScript, or AdBlock, or something? I often get that with NoScript until or unless I enable scripts for a site.

 

[ninaholic37]

Does disabling Chrome's internal PDF viewer make downloading possible?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not using noscript anymore though I am using adblock. I tried to disable it but still does it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Does disabling Chrome's internal PDF viewer make downloading possible?

Hmm that does work as a bandaid solution for now, at least I can actually read the messages. I just get prompted to download the actual PDF file. Guessing the viewer is trying to embed it but first does a check for the plugin.

Not sure what to do about the flash situation though, lot of sites will say I don't have flash installed when I do, and refuse to even show the content.

 

[ninaholic37]

Is it using the NPAPI Flash plugin? I found this an interesting read:
https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/developers/npapi-deprecation

We will provide an override for advanced users (via chrome://flags/#enable-npapi) and enterprises (via Enterprise Policy) to temporarily re-enable NPAPI

In September 2015 (Chrome 45) we will remove the override and NPAPI support will be permanently removed from Chrome. Installed extensions that require NPAPI plugins will no longer be able to load those plugins.

The PPAPI version can apparently be used in Chromium instead with some work:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/158388/how-do-i-make-chromium-use-flash-from-google-chrome
http://www.itworld.com/article/2695...ash-player-for-chromium-in-linux-mint-17.html
http://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/pepperflashplugin-nonfree

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not sure, I'd have to find a link to a site that does it and post it.

This is not a Chrome issue though, it used to do the same thing in Firefox to the same sites. Just don't know any off hand as normally they are linked from other sites. The PDF thing on my banking site used to not work in FF either.

 

[ninaholic37]

Ahh, I think the behavior you mention makes perfect sense if Chromium is using the NPAPI plugin, because Firefox uses the exact same plugin.

I'm curious if you click "Check Now" here in Chromium does it say 11.2 or 18?

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html

I have not found any sites that don't work with 10.3 here yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if some sites expect a higher version. Not sure if there's a way to get an older version to disguise itself as a newer version... if that's what's needed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I get 18.

YOUR SYSTEM INFORMATION
Your Flash Version
18.0.0.160
Your browser name
Google Chrome
Your Operating System (OS)
Linux

 

[ninaholic37]

That's good that it does detect something. My best guess is that it's blocking you because you're on 160 and the newest revision of v18 is 209. They have been annoyingly aggressive with blocking everything but the latest revisions lately, sometimes even blocking them before Adobe has come out with a fix for every new security hole that is found. This is why doing this (more details here), hopefully I can keep using this method until Flash is dead for everything but oldschool Flash games and animations. There is a guide to updating Pepper flash here but it seems even that doesn't work for some people / during certain times.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Finally ran into such a site now, here is an example:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-canada-approves-abortion-pill-1.2494169

(let's not discuss the actual contents here, I don't want this to turn political. )

Just gives me the link to download flash instead of showing video, which obviously wont do anything because it's for windows.

 

[ninaholic37]

Finally ran into such a site now, here is an example:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-canada-approves-abortion-pill-1.2494169

(let's not discuss the actual contents here, I don't want this to turn political. )

Just gives me the link to download flash instead of showing video, which obviously wont do anything because it's for windows.

I get the message "To watch video, you need an Adobe Flash Player Update.Please click to download." on that site as well. I wonder what that that flash link even is, pictures to compliment the story? Heh. Would be interesting to know if that site works for anyone, and what Flash version/browser they're using.