ActiveX problems re Installing Macromedia Shockwave Player

[Mburr]

Hello, I have a problem I would like some assistance with.

I was trying to install Macromedia Shockwave player. You will see where Spybot comes in shortly.

I visited here:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/
and I clicked on install, which takes you here:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/triggerpages_mmcom/default.html
and I get the message:
"Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls on this page. As a result the page may not display correctly"

This is in spite of the fact that I added this:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/triggerpages_mmcom/default.html
to my 'trusted sites' list. Unfortunately Internet Explorer shortens this to http://www.adobe.com when adding to the list. My 'trusted sites' security settings are uncustomised and set to the lowest possible level. But it makes no difference, I still cannot run activeX controls on the page I want to.

As far as I can see, the only thing that can be blocking the running of ActiveX is an entry on my 'restricted sites' list. All entries on that list were put there by Spybot's immunize function.

If you know what entries it might be please tell me. But you don't have to know that to help.

The big problem I've got is the small size and format of the Internet Explorer 6 window which displays the restricted sites (tools; internet options; security; restricted sites; sites). The window is tiny, unsearchable, uncopyable and totally unsuited to troubleshooting problems with large imported lists. I don't know any other way to view the Spybot restricted sites list.

How can I go about interrogating this list to find out what in it is causing my problems?
How else may I resolve this issue? It seems to be preventing me from installing Shockwave player.

If anyone can answer my questions, or has information relevant to the issue I'm facing I would be very grateful.

[md usa spybot fan]

I don't see anything in either Spybot or SpywareBlaster that places adobe in the restricted zone. It could be that the ActiveX control is "not marked as safe". I believe that even with "security settings" "set to the lowest possible level" the following security setting is disabled:
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe
● Disable
○ Enable
○ Prompt
Go into IE > Tools > Internet Options > Security tab > select Custom level… > then change "Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe" to Prompt and see what happens:
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe
○ Disable
○ Enable
● Prompt
ps: Personally I would not Enable "Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe" or even change that setting to Prompt.

[Mburr]

Hi,

Thanks very much for the response!

However unfortunately, I checked all my ActiveX related settings for my trusted sites list, and all are already set to either 'prompt' or 'enable'.

None of my trusted sites activeX settings were set to 'disable'.

I will now conduct an experiment. Leaving all else unchanged, I will move ActiveX controls on my 'restricted sites' list to enable, one by one, and see if that makes any difference.

[Mburr]

Right, problem solved and thank you for the suggestion. I should be clear that the Spybot immunize list was NOT to blame as it turned out.

Setting the INTERNET ZONE security settings to low (only temporarily, of course) finally allowed me install the Shockwave player. Even then, I still got a message about the content being potentially unsafe. Why Adobe can't get a product like Shockwave signed off so that I don't get this warnings is a mystery to me.

So to summarise what happened to me:

I added http://www.adobe.com to my trusted sites, and when I was at http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/triggerpages_mmcom/default.html my browser displayed the trusted site symbol. It nevertheless refused to run ActiveX controls on this TRUSTED SITE until I changed the INTERNET ZONE settings as well.

So MICROSOFT what's the point of your TRUSTED SITE ZONE security settings if they DON'T WORK, and I end up having to use the INTERNET ZONE settings anyway?!
(rhetorical question, I know there is no way I can actually get at Microsoft themselves)

[md usa spybot fan]

Gee, I'm glad that you got your problem resolved. However, I'm concerned.

Of the top of my head, I can't answer most of your questions. However I will answer this:


Why Adobe can't get a product like Shockwave signed off so that I don't get this warnings is a mystery to me.
Macromedia (Adobe) Shockwave Player 10.1 has been plagued with security problems for a long time. If "Adobe can't get a product like Shockwave signed off" then there is evidentially enough of a concern about the security vulnerabilities of their product for you not to go out of your way to compromise the security settings within your system to accommodate using their product.