Flash installer icon appearing on desktop

[e271]

Hi,

I seem to be having an issue with what appears to be Flash installers appearing on my desktop. Here's what happens: I leave my mac and come back a while later to discover that I have been logged out. From the login screen, I re-login. On the desktop is now what appears to be a Flash installer icon. I never requested Flash to update on my machine.

This has happened twice in about the last couple of weeks. I can just place the icon in the trash but was wondering if perhaps it is a sign that not everything is alright.

Note: I never click on the Flash update windows that occasionally pop-up while browsing. I always update Flash directly via the Abode site.

Anyone know what might be causing this?

 

[simonsi]

Assume no-one else has access?

I'd download and run Adware Medic

 

[e271]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I tried the program but it didn't find anything.

Reading about Adware Medic did however lead me to have a look at the directories:

/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons

The first directory is empty but the second contains a single file:

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

Is that likely to be the cause?


BTW, no one else has access to my mac but I have two accounts on it.

 

[simonsi]

I would think so. Drag it to the trash and reboot.

(If it turns out to be vital you can restore it from the trash),

Either way Id review your Gatekeeper and admin password settings as something has installed that file.

 

[chriscl]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I tried the program but it didn't find anything.

Reading about Adware Medic did however lead me to have a look at the directories:

/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons

The first directory is empty but the second contains a single file:

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

Is that likely to be the cause?


BTW, no one else has access to my mac but I have two accounts on it.

I would suspect here that at some point during an Adobe Flash upgrade you've enabled the option to allow Adobe to download and install new versions of Flash - this is nothing you've done wrong, Adobe are (to be honest) a bit sneaky here and make the "download and install new versions" the default option in the installer, so unless you pay attention to it, you won't notice.

Next time one of these things appears, open Disk Utility and see if you see a Flash installer mounted there (as though it were a disk).

If so, it's a pretty good bet that Adobe's Flash updated has downloaded and installed an updated version of Flash.

There was a new version released this last week, which may be why you've seen this again - if so, it's nothing to worry about, unless you're uncomfortable with Adobe downloading and installing Flash updates in the background.

 

[e271]

Thanks again for the replies.

I checked System Preferences>Flash Player and to my surprise the auto-update option is selected. I suppose I don't mind Flash auto-updating but it would be nice if it did so without the unusual behavior I described in my initial post. I can't seem to find any more info on this. If anyone has any further thought, please let me know.

BTW, the Flash icons on my desktop do represent something mounted as when I start dragging them to the trash, the trash icon changes into the unmount icon, just like when you unmount a USB drive etc.