With the official death of Adobe Flash on January 1st, you’ll likely want to remove the software from your computer if you’ve still got it installed.
Adobe officially dropped support for the ageing multimedia software after a long-running shutdown period. In about two weeks’ time, the company will block all Flash content from working in the player. Plus, Adobe advises users to remove Flash Player since it will no longer update the software. Those who leave Adobe installed could make themselves vulnerable to security exploits.
As such, we’ve included some details on how to uninstall Adobe Flash from your Windows or Mac computer. Don’t worry about removing Flash from your phone — chances are you aren’t using a device that still supports the software. Android stopped supporting Flash back in 2012 with version 4.1, while iOS never supported Flash.
Windows
If you have a Windows PC, uninstalling Adobe Flash should be fairly straightforward. Just head to Adobe’s website and download the Flash Player uninstaller. Run the program on your PC — it will check for and remove Flash.
Adobe recommends closing all browsers and apps that use Flash before running the uninstaller. Further, when the process is done, the uninstaller will ask you to restart your PC. Adobe’s website also lists steps for removing Flash files from your system.
Microsoft plans to push out a variety of updates to remove and disable Flash components in different parts of Windows, Legacy Edge and more. You can learn more about that here.
When you’re done, you can use this tool to double-check and ensure Flash is removed.
macOS
Uninstalling Flash on macOS is a bit trickier than Windows. To start, the process depends on your macOS version. You can check this by clicking the Apple icon > ‘About This Mac’ > look for the macOS version number. Then, download the corresponding uninstaller program from Adobe’s website.
Alternatively, you can open a Finder window on your Mac, select Applications > Utilities > Open Adobe Flash Player Install Manager > and follow the steps to uninstall Flash from your Mac.
9to5Mac also recommends deauthorizing Flash on your Mac by opening System Preferences > Flash Player > Advanced > Deauthorize This Computer.
When you’re done, use this tool to double-check that Flash was removed.
Flash in your web browser
It’s also worth noting that your web browser may still allow Flash content to play, although the circumstances depend on the browser. Apple already removed Flash from Safari in version 14, while Chromium version 88, due out in January 2021, will remove Flash for all browsers based on it, such as Google Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge. Firefox version 84 was the last to support Flash, and the version 85 update (due out January 26th, 2021) will not have Flash support.
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