With support for Adobe’s Flash Player software coming to a close, Adobe is strongly advising that its program be removed from any devices that currently have it installed in order to those systems nice and secure. You’ve probably heard of Adobe Flash Player before, but chances are, it’s been a while. Whether you’re wondering why this “end of life” is such a big deal, or just need to know how to remove the program for yourself, we’ve broken down some of the most common questions about the end of the Flash Player era.

What is Adobe Flash Player?

Adobe Flash Player is a software add-in that allowed for viewing rich web content. In its prime, Flash Player was the go-to software for all the best parts of the internet: watching YouTube vidoes, playing games online, and more.

Does uninstalling Flash mean that I’m going to lose functionality or features?

No, you won’t. Technology has come a long way since Flash’s glory days. With advancements in open web standards making it possible to embed “rich content” directly into web pages, usage of Flash had been dwindling for a while before finally becoming obsolete. In fact, many browsers have already stopped supporting Flash.

Why do I need to uninstall Flash?

Adobe has decided to phase out Flash Player and end support for this program. Ending support of this program means that they will no longer issue updates for the program. That might not seem like that big of a deal, but this also means that there won’t be any security patching taking place, and that poses a significant vulnerability.

A little pro-tip: Today we’re talking about Flash, but this principle applies to pretty much all programs and devices that you use: If it’s out of support (sometimes called “EOL” – end of life), it’s probably not getting the updates that are required to keep you secure. We always recommend sticking with devices and applications that are being supported by their developers. Okay, now back to Flash Player.

Let’s get down to it. Here’s how to remove Flash Player:

If you’re a Portland Internetworks Fully-Managed IT customer, you can just sit back and relax. This month, we’ll be automatically uninstalling Flash Player from all of our fully-managed clients’ devices, so you’re all set.

Not a fully-managed client of ours? No problem.

Since Adobe is strongly recommending that the software be removed prior to the end of support, Flash Player may pop up and prompt you to remove it. In this case, just click “uninstall” and follow the prompts.

If you do not receive a prompt from Flash to uninstall, you can manually remove it using Adobe’s uninstaller for Windows or uninstaller for Mac.

For more information on Flash Player’s end of support, check out Adobe’s Flash Player EOL General Information Guide or drop us a line.