By: Nick Gambino
Adobe Flash Player has been around my whole life and has been problematic for at least half of it. This was due in large part to its notorious incompatibility with iOS. Now the veteran plug-in for playing games, viewing videos and other media is no more. Adobe officially ended support for Flash software on December 31st, 2020.
While it was once the standard for media viewing in the Wild West days of the internet, Flash was truthfully always a problem and always buggy. It was eventually replaced by HTML5 as the standard. In its swan years, usage of the software dwindled to near nothing.
This led to Adobe’s decision in 2017 to kill it off by 2020. Many had argued that this should’ve been done years before. Steve Jobs was one of its most famous detractors. He even penned an open letter in 2010 laying out his arguments for why the software was effectively crap, most of it rooted in Flash’s reliance on old technology.
“Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind,” he concluded in the letter.
Whether that was the initial hammer swing that put the nail in the coffin or not, it certainly didn’t help Adobe’s efforts to keep Flash alive. Apple, especially at that time with Jobs at the helm, is a leader in innovation with a stronghold on the consumer market. Refusing to include support for Flash and then roasting it is enough to eventually seal its fate.
Just because they’ve ended support doesn’t mean Adobe Flash Player isn’t still installed on your computer. Of course, it is, and if you want to remove it and say good riddance for real, you just need to take a few simple steps.
It’s not merely a convenience. Flash has always been riddled with security issues and because it will no longer receive security updates, you’re better off 86ing it from your computer.
Here’s all you have to do:
- Download an uninstaller for your OS (Mac, Windows, etc.)
- Next, you’re going to want to run this uninstaller
- Restart your computer
- Check the status of Flash Player by going to the website
That’s all and then you can officially say “Goodbye, Flash.”
