Managing Flash Player auto-update

Flash Player supports auto-updating itself by periodically checking for new versions of the player on the macromedia.com site. IT administrators can customize the parameters of this update.

The auto-update settings can be configured in two ways:

User settings in Flash Player
mms.cfg file in user's "home" directory
Users can disable the auto-update process or set the periodicity of the checks by using the properties panel in Flash Player. These user-configured auto-update settings are stored in a local shared object.

The second method for configuring the auto-update settings is to create a file named mms.cfg. The mms.cfg file is intended to be configured by an IT administrator and stored on the user's computer. The file is not created by Flash Player installation. You might use a third-party administration tools, such as Microsoft System Management Server, to replicate the configuration file to the user's desktop.

Store the mms.cfg file in the following location, depending on your operating system:
Windows XP/7 %Systemroot%\system32\macromed\flash

Macintosh /Application Support/Macromedia The format of the mms.cfg file is a series of name=value pairs separated by carriage returns. If a parameter is not set in the file, Flash Player assumes the default value. When set, values in this file override the user-configured settings.

The following table describes settings in the mms.cfg file:

AutoUpdateDisable
0 allows auto-update based on user settings.
1 disables auto-update.

AutoUpdateInstallerUrl
String specifies URL as download location for player update.

If this parameter is not set, Flash Player uses the Macromedia server.

AutoUpdateInterval
0 checks for updates every time the player launches.
>0 specifies the minimum number of days between check for updates.

AutoUpdateSettingsUrl
String specifies URL as destination for "Settings..." button in auto-update dialog. If this parameter is not set, Flash Player uses the Macromedia server.

AutoUpdateVersionUrl
Specifies the URL to retrieve XML file containing Flash Player update data. If this parameter is not set, the player uses the Macromedia server.

To disable the auto-update:
Open the mms.cfg file in a text editor.
Add the following auto-update setting:

AutoUpdateDisable=1

Save the mms.cfg file.

Close and restart Flash Player or the browser in which Flash Player is running.

You are not required to remove any other settings so that you can re-enable the auto-update feature and restore your original settings by removing this line (or setting its value to 0).

Disable Java Auto Download

The following article discusses this in more detail :

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/deployment/deployment-guide/properties.html

For example, you could try creating a deployment.config file in the folder C:\Windows\Sun\Java\Deployment, which would contain the following line :

deployment.system.config=file\:C\:/WINDOWS/Sun/Java/Deployment/deployment.properties
 
and then create a new deployment.properties in the folder C:\Windows\Sun\Java\Deployment which would contain the following lines

deployment.javaws.autodownload=NEVER
deployment.javaws.autodownload.locked=
  

NOTE: Administrators will still be able to update via control panel, and will also be notified of available updates.

Update !

It seems that this still does not prevent the annoying java updater from nagging my users.
The easiest way to disable the updater is to rename the jucheck.exe and jusched.exe located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update or C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update on a 32bit installation.