After almost fifteen years of honorable career, on December 31, 2020 Adobe definitively abandoned the Flash platform and discontinued support for the Flash Player . This breakthrough was made necessary following the continuous security problems associated with Flash content and the introduction of new technologies, such as HTML 5 and WebGL, which are much less expensive in terms of resources and much more secure.
In this regard, Adobe itself has advised all users to eliminate the Flash Player program from their computers but you, not being very experienced in computer terms, have not the faintest idea of how to do it and now you fear for the safety of your data. If that’s the way it is, don’t worry: I’m here, ready to give you all the help you need!
In the course of this guide, in fact, I will explain to you in detail how to uninstall Adobe Flash Player both from computers with Windows operating systems and from Macs, using the official removal utility distributed by Adobe. I anticipate right away that these are very simple procedures to put into practice and also suitable for those who, like you, do not chew such topics very well. Happy reading and good luck for everything!
Index
- How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from Windows 10
- How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from Windows 7
- How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player: Mac
- How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player on Android, iOS and iPadOS
How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from Windows 10
Last October 2020, Microsoft had released an optional update for Windows 10 , called KB4577586 , which directly results in the automatic deletion of Flash Player from the operating system and the inability for the user to install it again.
This update then became mandatory in February 2021: therefore, if you regularly update for Windows 10 , Flash should no longer be present on your computer.
However, if you have installed Flash using alternative methods, or if you have not downloaded and applied the update in question, the program may still be present on your computer: in this regard, you can use the specially released Flash Player uninstall tool. from Adobe.
To obtain it, linked to this web page , click first on the link Download the uninstaller for Flash Player , then on Uninstaller and wait for the utility to be completely downloaded to your computer.
When the download is complete, close all browser windows , start the file obtained previously (eg uninstall_flash_player.exe ) and proceed with the removal of Flash from your computer, pressing the Yes , Uninstall and Finish buttons .
At this point, you just have to manually delete the Flash folders “scattered” on the disk: then press the key combination Win + R on the computer keyboard, to call up the Run panel … ; type the path C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flashinside it, press the OK button and delete all the files in the folder that opens.
Then repeat the same operation on the paths C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash, %appdata%\Adobe\Flash Playerand %appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player. Finally, restart your computer and make sure that Flash Player is no longer present on your computer by visiting this web page .
Note : it is not necessary to proceed with the deactivation of Flash within the browser, as all the major navigation programs available for Windows have eliminated support for the aforementioned plugin.
How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from Windows 7
If you’re using Windows 7 , you probably haven’t received Microsoft’s update to remove Flash Player, as the operating system in question has been out of support since January 14, 2020.
In this case, you can proceed with the elimination of the software following the standard procedure provided by Windows 7: therefore, first of all, close all active browsers (including any background applications coming from them) and then open the menu Start Windows by clicking on the flag icon located in the lower left corner of the screen.
Now, click on the Control Panel item , select the Uninstall a program item from the window that opens (you can find it under the heading Programs ): if you do not see it, click on the View by menu located at the top right and choose the Category item from the menu that appears.
When you reach the next screen, locate the Adobe Flash Player X entry , click on it and then on the Uninstall button , located at the top: to finish, wait for the Flash uninstaller to load, press the Uninstall button and wait for the procedure is completed.
If you do not see this last button but, in its place, there is a button called Exit , it means that some browser window is still open, albeit invisible: in this case, I recommend that you restart the computer completely and try the uninstallation again. of Flash, following reboot.
As a final step, to make sure that there are no traces of Adobe Flash Player left on your computer, try also to use the utility that I pointed out to you in the chapter on Windows 10 : if you see an error message, it means that the program is successfully deleted from the computer; otherwise, complete the uninstallation by following the same steps I indicated earlier.
How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player: Mac
Did you download Flash on your Mac and now that you are aware of the security issues associated with it, do you want to delete it? No problem: even in this case, you can take advantage of the official uninstall tool, made available by Adobe.
To do so, open this website , click on the links Run the uninstaller corresponding to the version of Mac OS you are using and Run the uninstaller on Mac OS X 10.4 and later, including macOS, and then press on the uninstall_flash_player_osx.dmg link corresponding to Mac OS X, version 10.6 and later versions , in order to start the download of the program removal utility.
When the transfer is complete, close all browser windows , open the .dmg file obtained and double-click the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller icon , visible in the window that opens on the desktop.
Next, press the Open and Uninstall buttons , enter your Mac password and hit the Enter key on your keyboard to proceed. If you should see an error message relating to any browser windows that are still open, first click on the item Close all forcibly and, if requested, enter the Mac password again . When the uninstallation is complete, press the Finish button , in order to complete the procedure and close the program.
Once the Flash removal utility is closed, you just have to manually delete the folders that contain the program files: to do this, click on the Go menu > Go to the macOS folder , enter the path ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/and enter . Then, using the Finder window that opens on the desktop, delete the Flash Player folder . To conclude, in the same way, open the path ~/Library/Caches/Adobe/and delete the Flash Player folder that resides within it.
How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player on Android, iOS and iPadOS
Are you worried about the safety of your smartphone / tablet and, therefore, would you like to know how to uninstall Adobe Flash Player on Android , iOS and iPadOS ? In this case, you have nothing to fear, as there are no Flash apps compatible with the aforementioned platforms!
The latest version of Flash for devices animated by Android, in fact, dates back to 2013: since then, Google has decided to permanently discontinue its support and not to implement Flash on Android anymore. For iPhone and iPad, however, the app never existed.
However, if you have read my guide on how to activate Adobe Flash Player , you will be aware of the existence of a browser, called Puffin Web Browser , which allows you to run Flash content even on Android, iOS and iPadOS smartphones and tablets. So, to avoid even accidental execution of these elements, you can delete the browser in question by following the procedure provided by the device in your possession: if you do not know how to do it, take a look at my guides on how to uninstall apps on Android and how to delete apps on iPhone (and iPad) . However, this is too much of a precaution, as the way Flash runs in Puffin does not expose the device to high security risks.
