Last month, Microsoft released a timeline for the end of Adobe Flash. It said that the Flash removal tool would be an optional update in Windows Update by early 2021. Now, within a few weeks, Microsoft has released a new update that removes the Adobe Flash version bundled into Windows 10. However, it does not remove any standalone versions you’ve installed yourself. Plus, it doesn’t remove Flash from your browsers, either.

The optional Catalog update paves the way for the eventual end of Flash in 2021. With the new Windows 10 update, Flash support will officially end this year. There will eb no more updates for Internet Explorer 11 and the legacy (non-Chromium) version of Edge by December. Further, the latest version of Edge that uses Google’s Chrome engine, will have its Flash support end in January 2021.

End of support from Microsoft in December 2020. In the new Microsoft Edge, Adobe Flash Player will be removed by January 2021. The schedule of changes is available here. After December 2020, you will no longer receive “Security Update for Adobe Flash Player” from Microsoft that applies to Microsoft Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer 11. Adobe created a Flash Player uninstaller program that you can find in either of those two instruction pages. Obviously, make sure you download the right one for your operating system first. Adobe Flash Player will go out of support on December 31, 2020. For more information, see Adobe Flash end of support on December 31, 2020. Applying this update will remove Adobe Flash Player from your Windows device. After this update has been applied, this update cannot be uninstalled. HTML5 can generally be used as an alternative to Adobe Flash. Both include features for playing audio and video within web pages, It can also be used to play some basic HTML5 browser games and integrated vector graphics are possible with both.

While Google has said that it would end Flash support for Chrome, Adobe itself has announced that it will end Flash development in 2020. Microsoft says, “We are releasing this removal update in advance of end of support to help customers test and validate their environments for any impact that might occur by the removal of Adobe Flash Player. Also, if another security update for Adobe Flash Player is released, customers who take this removal update will still be offered the security update.”

The update is optional as of now, but it will become a recommended update and in the middle of 2021. The company will also be removing Flash-related developer frameworks, group policies, and user interfaces from legacy Edge and IE11. Once installed, this update cannot be uninstalled.

Adobe Flash Player For Microsoft

Source: Microsoft