Adobe announced in a statement that after December 31, 2020, it would no longer extend its support for the Flash Player. Moreover, it will also block Flash content from the player after January 12, 2021.
In this context, the most recent update to Windows 10 will bid a final goodbye to Adobe Flash Player for the majority of users, with the patch removing Adobe Flash Player from the operating system for once and for all. This update is currently optional and available on Microsoft’s Update Catalog, but it will be extended through Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services in the next few weeks. Microsoft stated that once the update has been applied, Adobe Flash Player cannot be downloaded.
But while the new Microsoft update will no longer support Flash Player, it won’t affect any versions of the software that have been downloaded as browser plug-ins. In any case, it is advised to uninstall versions of Flash manually, as soon as possible. Microsoft is planning another update to remove Flash from its Edge web browser, while Chrome had already removed Flash Player last year.
The Final Goodbye
Even though Adobe Flash Player holds several good memories for internet users of a particular age, the tool’s farewell has been in the headlines for a long time. Adobe announced that it would stop supporting Flash way back in 2017 and netizens had been moving away from the media tool even before then.
With other software tools being released on websites, particularly HTML5, there are all the more reasons to lower Flash usage, alongside playing traditional browser-native games. Moreover, some of the other reasons for switching to other software tools are Flash’s slow web-loading speeds, pop-up ads, and, most importantly, its security and privacy issues.
Even with the new Windows 10 update release, it’s highly likely for some Flash components to continue running on a person’s computer. Hence, it’s advisable to manually uninstall it as well, lest they continue to pose a privacy risk. Additionally, Microsoft has cautioned consumers that its latest update cannot be uninstalled once downloaded, so once Flash is removed, it will be removed for the best.
In case you have installed Adobe Flash Player from a source other than Windows, this update will not uninstall it from your PC. According to the latest Microsoft blog highlighting the end of Flash, the new update to remove Flash will be optional in the early months of 2021 but will be recommendable a few months later.
The Bottom Line
Adobe Flash has been in the news for all kinds of reasons over the last few years. While renowned for being a software tool that develops Flash games and creative content, the now obsolete media tool is enveloped with vulnerabilities.
The list of ‘Critical Vulnerabilities and Exposures’ with respect to the Flash media tool spans a number of pages — with several significant issues. Removing the software tool from operating systems and web browsers has been in discussion for a long time now, even if its elimination takes some early internet memories with it.
Flash Media Player will stop working because of the evolution of servers at present, which have taken up open standards like WebGL, HTML5, and WebAssembly. These tools have evolved to serve as viable options for Flash content.
