Here’s How to Uninstall Adobe Flash to Make Your Computer More Secure
It’s the end of life for Adobe Flash Player as today support ends at the end of the today. Adobe Flash is an app produced by Adobe that can be used by cyber criminals to hack into any computer running it. End of life means that there will no longer be any updates or technical support for Adobe Flash Player.
Content, like videos, that requires Flash to run will be blocked starting on January 12, 2021.
Not to worry, there are plenty of ways to show videos on web pages that don’t require Flash to run. This technology has been in use for years.
Everyone is encouraged uninstall Flash Player. Browsers will no longer support any websites using Flash or any media that requires it to run. Microsoft will remove Flash with a Windows update.
“Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems,” Adobe says.
In 2017, Adobe announced the company would be sunsetting Flash Player. The software had numerous bugs. It became a target for adware and cyber espionage attacks. Even before its end of life date, most modern web browsers had already stopped including Adobe Flash Player.
What is Adobe Flash Player?
Adobe Flash Player was first released in 1996 by Adobe. The app is used to view videos and listen to streaming audio. It worked in web browsers for websites that used Adobe content. It also worked as a web browser plugin on laptops computers and mobile devices. Adobe has versions for Android and BlackBerry devices as well as Windows, Linux, and Mac OS computers.
How to check if Flash Player is installed on your computer
Go to this web page on Adobe’s site and tap ‘Check Now”
Adobe Flash Player will remain on your computer unless you uninstall it. Here’s how to do it.
How to Uninstall Adobe Flash Player – Mac Computers
To uninstall Adobe Flash Player on a Mac computer you’ll need to know which version of Mac OS you have. Then download the appropriate uninstaller and run follow the instructions.
Get the appropriate uninstaller from Aodbe
- Run the uninstaller on Mac OS X 10.4 and later, including macOS
- Run the uninstaller on Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.3
- Mac OS X, version 10.6 and later: uninstall_flash_player_osx.dmg
- Mac OS X, version 10.4 and 10.5: uninstall_flash_player_osx.dmg
- Open Safari
- Choose Window then choose Downloads.
- For Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), select the Downloads icon displayed in your web browser.
- Double-click it in the Downloads window
- Alternatively, go to then choose Desktop in the Finder
- Scroll down to the Devices section
- Click Uninstall Flash Player
- Double-click the Uninstaller icon
- Choose uninstall
- Close all web browsers
Delete the following directories:
<home directory>/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player
<home directory>/Library/Caches/Adobe/Flash\ Player
For older versions of MacOS follows the instructions from Adobe
How to Uninstall Adobe Flash Player – Windows Computers
Flash should have been completely removed from all of your web browsers (including Edge) by December 31, 2020, via a Windows Update.
If you have not taken a recent update and want to get rid of Flash, here’s how. The steps below to remove Adobe Flash Player work on both64-bit and 32-bit Windows computers.
- Download the appropriate uninstaller for Flash Player for Windows machines.
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
%appdata%\Adobe\Flash Player
%appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player
- Verify that uninstallation is complete.
