Today’s the day – Flash EOL has arrived

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Today’s the day – Flash EOL has arrived Back in 2017, Adobe announced it was “planning to end-of-life Flash”. Yes, this has been posted about before..
[See the full post at: Today’s the day – Flash EOL has arrived]

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lmacri, abbodi86, OscarCP

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I removed Acrobat Flash from the Mac a few days ago, when I got notice from Acrobat that they were about to nix it. So far, I can access all the usual sites on the Web without ill effects, probably because none of those require Flash for anything anymore. But may not having Flash create a problem when trying to access archived pages, movies etc. built to be looked at with Flash? I vaguely remember that there is some utility software one can use instead of Flash in such cases. Does anyone know about this?

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

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[Alex5723]

OscarCP wrote:

I vaguely remember that there is some utility software one can use instead of Flash in such cases. Does anyone know about this?

Ruffle.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Alex5723.

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RTEsysadmin

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Flash was my childhood. I grew up playing Flash games. I will definitely miss it for sure. I’m glad there are efforts to archive and preserve it for future generations.

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A weird state of affairs: I use Citi Card Virtual Account Numbers, and their website to generate them uses Flash. I use these single-use numbers heavily, for security. As many others do.
So I called up to ask what they’re going to do about that, and I was told insistently that their site would just keep on working as usual and flash would keep working. Hard to understand such claims from such a sensitive issue that so many people are involved in. Makes me wonder what the truth is, and whether the relevant website will simply stop working.

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If the numbers are viewed in your browser it’s a safe bet they are not using Flash, unless you have an old browser.

What are you using?

cheers, Paul

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I mostly use Chrome. But at one stage a window pops up in which you start the process to generate the number, and you have to allow flash in order for things to proceed.

But I think they have done what they need to do. I just experimented, and the site did not block the process where they always have. Weird that there has been no journalistic coverage of this, apparently. There is still an icon that warns that an involved item (flash) is not available, but the process just proceeds merrily along.

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[Chriski]

Following steps on the adobe site eventually winds up at a step involving deleting files in the Macromedia folder in system32 (after running the adobe uninstaller and restarting.)

However access is denied for deleting these files. There IS a “take ownership” registry hack on “how to geek” that can install/uninstall a take ownership item to the folder context menu, but is there a way to take ownership from properties/security tab?

How to get rid of this detritus?

Chris

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Chriski.

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[Alex5723]

You can try and use an uninstaller like the free portable GeekUninstaller to forcibly delete the folder. Or use the free Unlocker app.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Alex5723.

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Are you doing this procedure as Administrator, or as a user account? If you haven’t already tried logging in as administrator before trying, that might be worth an attempt, before looking deeper.

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[PFC]

There’s probably an easier way, but https://eksith.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/how-to-remove-flash-from-windows-10/ works.

you can try it at the Folder level (as suggested in comments of the post)

 

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by PFC.

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[Bob99]

Since \Windows\system32 is actually a Windows folder, perhaps the Flash removal patch MS released back in October (I think) will be able to remove the contents of said Macromed (yep, as it shows on my Windows 10 Pro 64 bit system) folder without having to get really geeky and taking over the folder ownership from the System, which is the owner of that folder on my system.

I’d include a link to the actual file from MS, but I don’t have a handy link to a KB number that’s associated with the removal “patch” currently.  🙁

If you’re patient, MS is supposed to start bugging us about removing Flash in January by making the patch an “Optional update” within Windows Update. If so, then all anyone would need to do is select it from the list of optional updates and Windows Update will take it from there. Before doing so, however, I’d make sure that there are no other (read non-optional) updates that Windows Update could also retrieve while getting the optional Flash removal patch by using wushowhide to hide them.

 

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Bob99. Reason: added emphasis in spots

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Bob99 wrote:

I’d include a link to the actual file from MS, but I don’t have a handy link to a KB number that’s associated with the removal “patch” currently.

Tell us more about that removal patch that you think was in October.

When you say “bugging us about removing Flash with an ‘Optional update’ within Windows Update,” does that mean removing Flash files from
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
%appdata%\Adobe\Flash Player
%appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player ?

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Use ” Take-Ownership-Menu-Hacks”  https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-take-ownership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

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Steve Jobs famously “Thoughts on Flash” piece back in 2010

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Well well well, just d/led a Flash installer today ….

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Still available for Linux Mint via synaptic: see attachment
it’s also still available within the Mint Multimedia Enhancement Package, looks like the Mint devs have some work to do on return from the festivities.

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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[Alex5723]

Microfix wrote:

Still available for Linux Mint via synaptic: see attachment
it’s also still available within the Mint Multimedia Enhancement Package, looks like the Mint devs have some work to do on return from the festivities.

Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Alex5723.

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Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems

that’s where the problem is with the linux mint multimedia enhancement package.
Perhaps you’d be so kind to explain to us all, what happens when you uninstall the integrated adobe flash player within the multimedia enhancement package?

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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Microfix wrote:

that’s where the problem is with the linux mint multimedia enhancement package

The problem is with Mint devs who had 3 years to prepare for Flash demise.

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[RTEsysadmin]

Flash is EOL? I knew that all the fireworks and partying that was going on last night meant that something good had happened. I just wasn’t sure what it was.

Group K(ill me now)

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by RTEsysadmin.

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Microfix

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Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021,

I am still wondering just how they plan on doing the blocking..

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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wavy wrote:

Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021,

I am still wondering just how they plan on doing the blocking..

The player is probably calling home every time it runs and Adobe can shut the player.
Running Flash offline may still work.

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wavy

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I read somewhere that the time bomb for flash was not introduced in the last (December) update but in an undisclosed update sometime ago. I found this website where a poster says it was in the update after 32.0.0.371. Can anyone confirm that .371 will work after Jan 12 and that is indeed the last one without the time bomb. I would like to keep flash for the next six months or so when the next Firefox esr comes out and eliminates support which I think is July 2021. Finally, does anyone know of a good source of where I can go back to .371 without a virus. I had mine on auto update and am currently at the December update. Thanks. http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=181703

Windows 8.1 Group B, Brave & Mozilla ESR - grudgingly & Protonmail

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Erik wrote:

I would like to keep flash for the next six months or so

You don’t need Flash Player. Use Ruffle

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Erik

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If developers got word in 2017 that Flash was being discontinued, the three states that surround me didn’t heed the warning.  Three state-operated websites in my region still have traffic cams that require Flash player. (Glad I haven’t uninstalled mine yet)

What a quandary: wrestling with uninstalling flash and installing 20H2, which is still deferred for now.

 

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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I need to remove Flash from over 200 machines. Any way to Automate it? We use Manage Engine Desktop Central for patching / software deployment. I’ve not come up with a way to do it so far.

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Microsoft is supposed to release an update through Windows Update (and the Catalog) this month to remove the Flash  component from IE11 and Edge. There may already be a stand-alone patch for the removal available in the Catalog.
Adobe has released a “Flash uninstaller” for the ActiveX and browser add-ons for other browsers .

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This is the MS catalog page for the removal patch.
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/search.aspx?q=4577586

cheers, Paul

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Ken

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Hurray!! Thanks so much!

After downloading and installing the update for x64 v2004, the “Macromed” items are no longer under system32 and syswow64!

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Paul T wrote:

This is the MS catalog page for the removal patch.
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/search.aspx?q=4577586

cheers, Paul

Clicking the title or the download link only opens a window where there is nothing to download. Clicking the .msu file does nothing.

What am I doing wrong?

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Ken wrote:

Clicking the .msu file does nothing

Try it in an MS browser. 🙂

cheers, Paul

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Ken

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Thank you Paul: it downloaded and now I installed it. Now what else do I have to do? Or is flash completely removed by installing this patch?

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That should be all you need to do, apart from backup. 🙂

cheers, Paul

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I ran this and found some folders as detailed above were left behind and nneded to be removed.

Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7640 Core Ultra 7 155H 32GB Win 11 Pro 23H2 (22631.4890)
Dell Inspiron 15 7580 i7 16GB Win 11 pro 24H2 (26100.3194),
Microsoft 365 Version 2502 (18526.20118)
Location: UK

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