Adobe’s Flash Player reached the end of its life as 2020 came to a close, but the software continues to linger on Windows machines around the world. However, Microsoft has a plan, and intends to rid Windows 10 of Flash forever no later than July.
You may remember Microsoft attempted to remove the Flash Player from Windows 10 back in October last year, but ultimately failed to do so. The Windows update released to carry out the removal didn’t check to see if Flash had been installed using Adobe’s standalone installer, meaning if you have ever installed Flash Player manually, it remains on your system. Now in an update to a Windows Blog post, Microsoft program manager Suchithra Gopinath has detailed a new plan.
From June, the Windows update KB4577586, described as “Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player,” will be included with the Preview Update for Windows 10 versions 1809. Then in July, the same KB4577586 update will be included in the Latest Cumulative Update for Windows 10, versions 1607 and Windows 10, version 1507. It’s also making its way into the Monthly Rollup and the Security Only Update for Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Embedded 8 Standard.
Once that happens, Flash will be removed automatically as part of the Windows Update and without the user having to do anything. Microsoft also notes that updating to Windows 10, version 21H1 or later will trigger Flash to be removed automatically.
Chances are, if you’re reading this then Flash has already been removed from your system. Microsoft’s plan will simply ensure any systems that don’t get manually updated will definitely have Flash removed. It serves no purpose now anyway, with Adobe no longer offering it for download and web browsers no longer supporting its use.
