Web surfers can also manage their Flash cookies through a new control panel, designed to give users a single place where they can make sure that Flash Player isn't doing anything it shouldn't. "With Flash Player 10.3, we have created a new native control panel for Windows, Macintosh and Linux desktops that will allow end-users to manage all of the Flash Player settings, including camera, microphone and Local Shared Objects," Adobe spokesman Peleus Uhley wrote in a blog posting.

The new Flash Player also includes a number of improvements designed to make it a better media player, along with security fixes for several critical bugs. Also new: Mac OS users will now get automatic software update notifications, just like their Windows counterparts. "In the past, Mac users often had trouble keeping up with Flash Player updates since the Mac OS and Flash Player ship schedules are not in sync," Uhley wrote in a blog post. "With this new feature, Flash Player will automatically check each week for new updates and notify the user when new updates are available."

The security updates, which affect all Flash platforms, are important. Flash has been used in a lot of online attacks over the past few years, and with this latest set of patches, Adobe said it's fixed a previously unknown flaw that had been leveraged in online attacks.

"There are reports of malware attempting to exploit one of the vulnerabilities, CVE-2011-0627, in the wild via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Word (.doc) or Microsoft Excel (.xls) file delivered as an email attachment targeting the Windows platform," Adobe said . "However, to date, Adobe has not obtained a sample that successfully completes an attack."

The IDG News Service