How and why to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from Mac computers
Many computer users, especially those who watch videos and other media content via a web browser are familiar with Adobe Flash Player. For a considerable time, Flash Player was the main tool used to watch video content via web browsers, however due to technology growth, the Adobe product was left behind and became an easy way for cyber criminals to compromise systems. Security is not the only reason why Flash Player has lost its popularity - this additional software often crashed, making web browsers unresponsive. Furthermore, they often used excessive computer resources.
Even Steve Jobs spoke about problems that Mac's encountered with the addition of Flash player. Apple tried to work together with Adobe to solve this situation, but Adobe did not appear to be interested in possible solutions. As an alternative, Steve Jobs suggested relying on HTML5 player, which is slowly replacing the problematic Flash Player. HTML5 player is more secure and compatible with Mac computers. In fact, the biggest and most popular webpages have already switched to HTML5 player. Despite these advances, some websites still run Flash Player. In this article, we describe how to check if your Mac has Flash Player, and if so, how to uninstall it.
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It is recommended to run a free scan with Combo Cleaner - a tool to detect malware and fix computer errors. You will need to purchase the full version to remove infections and eliminate computer errors.
Verify that Flash player is installed to your computer
If you are not sure if your Mac contains Adobe Flash Player, or whether other browsers contain the Flash Player plug-in, you can visit Adobe's website where it can check your browser. This step is also useful to ensure that the uninstallation process was successful. If you recently uninstalled Flash Player, reboot your computer, and then visit Adobe's website to check your system. On this webpage, you will see a button labelled Check Now on the first step. Click this button and study the displayed report.
I have the latest Safari version as well as the latest version of Adobe Flash player running on Mac OSX v. I use a program called BashFlash to kill Adobe Flash player whenever it starts to tak. If you do use Adobe or aren't sure if you have the software enabled or which version of Flash you have, as we've discussed, there are ways to check for this information before downloading something from a possibly sketchy-looking Adobe Flash Player update notice. By clicking the Download now button, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the Adobe Software Licensing Agreement.
Before you start, check the version of Safari running on your Mac. To display the version number, choose Safari > About Safari. If your Safari version is 11.0 or later, follow the steps in For Mac OS X 10.11, macOS 10.12, and later. Adobe Flash Player is a client runtime that delivers high-quality content to your computer and it works with virtually all browsers out there. Flash Player remains a key element of the Internet and has now evolved to conquer every operating system, every browser, and every portable device, including mobile phones and tablets.
macOS blocks outdated Flash player versions
Since Flash Player and Mac computers are not compatible, Apple provides a tool with Safari that checks and blocks outdated versions of Adobe Flash Player for security reasons. This protects Safari users from cyber criminals who infect computers with various potentially unwanted applications through Flash Player. If you see a warning messages such as 'Blocked plug-in,' 'Flash Security Alert', or 'Flash out-of-date' while trying to access Flash content in Safari, Apple is warning that you are using an outdated Adobe Flash Player or web browser plug-in.
Remove Adobe Flash player from your Mac
If you decide that you no longer require Adobe Flash Player on your Mac, it is quite simple to remove. First, visit the Adobes support website and download the uninstaller application. Bear in mind, that there are a number of different versions depending on your operating system. Once you have the correct uninstaller file, launch it. When the application opens, click Uninstall. Confirm your action by entering an administrator account password, and then close all web browsers.
This app deletes Adobe Flash Player and associated files, but you are also advised to manually check and remove any remaining preferences and cache folders if they exist. Open Finder and click on 'Go' in the menu bar at top of the screen. Then hold down the Option Key and choose Library from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can use the Go to Folder function and type the following destination: ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player and ~/Library/Caches/Adobe/Flash Player. Delete both folders to remove all associated Flash Player files.
Video Showing how to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from Mac
Need to Update Adobe Flash Player but aren’t sure how? Check out details of this month’s critical security patches and learn how to update your Flash Player on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, here.
On Tuesday, the latest batch on November software patches arrived bringing with it a wide array of security updates both Microsoft and Adobe software. While all the update updates are important, the Adobe Flash Player updates are of special importance to users with Adobe installed on their computers as they fix critical vulnerabilities in the software that can leave users open to viruses and malware attacks if they remain unpatched. We’ve put together an overview of all the software receiving patches this month, plus instructions on how to check if your software is up-to-date and update Adobe Flash Player.
Adobe Flash Player For Mac
About November 2017 Patch Tuesday
On Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft and Adobe software receive regular updates that fix newly discovered bugs in order to keep users as safe and malware-free as possible. In this month’s Patch Tuesday release tons of updates were released both for Adobe and Microsoft software, some of which have been deemed critical.
Microsoft Updates
In terms of Microsoft updates, nearly 50 bugs were patched across its various Windows versions as well as its Office software. If you are using a Windows computer, most of these updates will install themselves automatically, or request your permission to do so. If you’ve seen update notifications show up on your computer, we advise you to install these right away as both Edge and Internet Explorer 11 contained critical bug fixes.
Adobe Updates
Several of Adobe’s software received updates during patch Tuesday, including Adobe Flash Player, Photoshop. Adobe Reader and Shockwave, but the most critical of these updates appeared in Adobe Flash Player software.
“Adobe has nine total product updates this month, many of which are critical security vulnerabilities,” Ivanti product manager Chris Goettl told International Business Times.
According to Goettl, several of the Adobe Flash Player updates have been labeled Priority 2 because they haven’t been used yet in any known malware, but users shouldn’t assume this means they are unimportant.
“While many of these updates are rated Priority 2, they are critical as Priority 2 simply indicates the vulnerabilities aren’t yet actively being exploited or disclosed at this time,” said Goettl.
It is recommended that users update all Adobe software on their computers including Flash, Acrobat, Reader and Shockwave, but with Flash being of greatest importance.
“All major browsers need updating this month,” said Goettl. “IE, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome all have released updates with many critical security vulnerabilities so make sure they are all on your priority list.”
For those who are unsure how to perform the updates, we’ve included instructions for doing so, below.
How To Update Adobe Flash Player On Windows, Mac And Linux
Keeping Adobe Flash Player updated is critical to avoiding malware.Photo: Adobe
Check If Adobe Flash Player Is Installed - Adobe Flash Player has frequently been used as a tool for delivering malware to users and as a result, many modern browsers do not have Adobe Flash Player installed by default. The first thing you should do before trying to install an update is to check if your browser is even using Flash. You can do that by visiting Adobe’s Help Center. Click on the “Check Now” button to see if Adobe Flash Player is installed in your browser. If Flash Player is NOT installed we recommend you not to download it. Most modern websites and browsers use other methods of delivering multimedia content and if you have gotten along without Adobe Flash Player so far, you are safest to leave it uninstalled. For those who do have Flash Player installed though, continue to the next step.
Download And Install Update - if you have Adobe Flash Player installed or you want to install it, you can find the latest update version at https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/. Visit the link and click on the “Download Now” button. The download will start and once it is completed open the downloaded file to begin installing the update.
*IMPORTANT - Many people use more than one browser on their computers. If you use more than one browser, you need to complete the above steps in EACH browser you use. Some popular browsers are as follows:
Download Adobe Flash For Mac
Internet Explorer
Edge
Firefox
Safari
Google Chrome
Opera