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YouTube Video here Since this is a hot topic in the forum, I’d like to recap what you need to do to manually remove flash from your system. You may s
[See the full post at: Tasks for the weekend – January 9, 2021]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
%appdata%\Adobe\Flash Player and %appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player
There are not deleted Flash files in system32 and wow64 after running KB4577586.
Ergo the “may”. They were removed from my system.
And I dare to check Registry “Spaghetti” for Flash.
I got Adobe notification about removing Flash and ran the uninstaller.
And now please do a experiment. Run SFC /scannow in CMD as administrator.
After it finishes, check the Flash folders. Are they back? Let me know.
I am managing a lot of computers, different configs, all on 1909 and every time I run SFC, the flash is restored.
I did that and nothing came back.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Mind you that was 2004 not 1909.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
All the computers where it came back are on the 1909 build, so its possible that its a 1909 specific bug. The machines had the Flash installed from Adobe website, which usually installs the OCX as well as the DLL. Though OCX is/was a part of Windows10 since MS’s Integration.
I am able to reproduce the bug on both x86 and x64 systems.
One thing it might be of a fact that all the systems are Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrades. (running fine for years mostly)
I used the adobe uninstaller, I didn’t just delete the files. I, just for the sake of a test, did unregister the ocx but it made no difference.
Now I’ve run the KB4577586, which removed the files, and can now confirm that the files haven’t got back.
Problem Solved
Result: Don’t use adobe uninstaller use KB4577586
Those who use the search tool Everything.
After you uninstall Flash, open Everything and search for ‘Flash’. If it finds anything, right-click and choose ‘Open Folder’. Navigate up folder levels from there until you find the top-level folder. For some, that will be a Macromed folder but if you have any other Macromedia programs, stop below that level. Delete the applicable top level folder. Repeat for any other Everything ‘hits’. Job Done.
LEAVE REGISTRY ALONE. Registry is an indexed database. Deleting things will not improve performance and may risk trashing your system.
Presumably Chrome will take care of pepperflash. Eventually.
As AskWoody is not exclusively for issues related only to Windows, I am happy to let those running macOS on their Macs know, if they don’t already, that the way to eliminate Flash from their computers is to open “System Preferences” (in the drop down menu that opens when clicking on the little black apple at the very top left of the screen) and in the panel with various icons that then appears, find the “Flash” icon and delete it.
After that, open Finder/Applications and look, while scrolling down, at the list of applications and utilities in the long vertical panel that opens. The Flash one and related entries that were there before, now are all gone.
And that is it.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
You may need to remove all the files inside the folder first. If so, first mark all the files by pressing together the cursor and the “shift” key on the name of the top file listed inside the folder, then slide the cursor while still pressing it and “shift”, all the way to the very bottom of the list, to mark all of the file names. Then hit “delete.” After that, you can delete the empty folder.
If there is a file (or files) you don’t want to delete, move it (or them) outside the folder before deleting the rest of them.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
Trying to delete file by file I get the message I need permission from “trusted installer”.
Did you try the Microsoft KB download?
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
There are two parts to the Flash removal. You have to run the MS patch to clean up IE11 and Edge that MS integrated into Windows. Then you have to run the Adobe uninstaller to get rid of the ActiveX and browser plug-ins that Adobe put there.
It takes BOTH to get rid of most of Flash.
Edge Chromium and Chrome uses pepper flash plugin (built-in), cannot be uninstalled separately
it will be removed in later versions
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