Tasks for the weekend – January 9, 2021

[Susan Bradley]

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

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jburk07, rc primak, CK722RAY, WCHS, Sueska, abbodi86, CyGuy, scoobydoo

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[James Bond 007]

Manually installed KB4577586 on my Windows 8.1 systems some time ago. Flash has been successfully removed.

Flash was full of security vulnerabilities. I think this update should have been provided a long time ago.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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[Alex5723]

%appdata%\Adobe\Flash Player and %appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player

There are not deleted Flash files in system32 and wow64 after running KB4577586.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to access attached files.

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rc primak

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[Susan Bradley]

Ergo the “may”.  They were removed from my system.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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[anonymous]

After installing the patch, a search with Everything for “adobe flash” finds 25 objects. A search for “flash player” finds 13 objects. “macromedia” still finds 2 objects.

The whole of flash is still present in WinSxS, and will not let me remove it.

Microsoft’s definition of “remove” seems a bit alternative, to say the least.

Left Hand and Right Hand….

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[Susan Bradley]

You are on 20H2.  Hmmm I’m not positive that the December updates removed Flash.  I’m not seeing that it was removed here, the Get flash test on my 20h2 still shows flash is installed.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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rc primak, Alex5723

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[Alex5723]

Should I manually remove the all ‘Flash’ folders or remove parent Adobe/Macromed folders ?

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[Alex5723]

Susan Bradley wrote:

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.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Alex5723.

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rc primak

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[SelfMan]

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.

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jburk07

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[Susan Bradley]

I did that and nothing came back.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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rc primak

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[Susan Bradley]

Mind you that was 2004 not 1909.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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jburk07

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[SelfMan]

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)

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by SelfMan.

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jburk07, rc primak

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[abbodi86]

SFC will restore it only if you manually removed ActiveX flash files from C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash

if you installed the updated remover KB4577586, then all will be good

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jburk07, rc primak

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[SelfMan]

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

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jburk07, rc primak, Susan Bradley

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[Bruce]

I have attempted to uninstall Flash several times, both via Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features and via Adobe’s downloadable uninstaller.  This seems to work, but is not permanent.  Flash just keeps coming back.  Also, attempts to remove the leftover four folders manually always fail with a warning that trusted installer privilege is required.  Furthermore, I keep getting Adobe popups saying that a Flash update is available to be downloaded.  What might be causing this failure to remove Flash?  (Windows version is Win10 Pro 1909.)

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[NaNoNyMouse]

Bruce wrote:

Also, attempts to remove the leftover four folders manually always fail with a warning that trusted installer privilege is required.

Running KB4577586 (a search of Woody’s will turn up a number of recent references to it) worked for me in removing those folders, as well as removing Flash from Control Panel, but it doesn’t seem to have worked for everybody

Might be worth trying, at least

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[rick41]

Bruce wrote:

Also, attempts to remove the leftover four folders manually always fail with a warning that trusted installer privilege is required.

I didn’t have that problem, though maybe that’s because I am still on Windows 7.

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[anonymous]

Is turning off Flash in ‘Settings/Cookies and site permissions’ as good as uninstalling it?

 

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[PKCano]

No, it should be uninstalled for security reasons.

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jburk07, rc primak

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[anonymous]

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.

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7084871?hl=en

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rc primak

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[rc primak]

Presumably Chrome will take care of pepperflash. Eventually.

Chrome 88, to be exact. I run the Beta, and Flash support has been removed completely.

-- rc primak

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by rc primak.

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jburk07

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[anonymous]

Yup! Chrome found its update later in the day but it did not remove leftovers. Everything took care of locating for manual deletion two pepperflash folders buried away in:

users\{name}\appdata\local\google\Chrome\user

data and

users\{name}\appdata\local\google\Chrome\user\default

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[Coldheart9020]

Just to note: the x64 1903 & 1909 files are identical (verified by MD5 hash) – so you can install either one.

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[OscarCP]

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.

Windows 7 Professional, SP1, x64 Group W (ex B) & macOS Mojave + Linux (Mint)

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bassmanzam

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[rick41]

Regarding the deletion of files that may remain post-uninstall:  Is it OK to remove the referenced folders entirely, instead of just the files (and presumably any sub-folders) within them?  From some of the comments above I infer that that’s exactly what some are doing?

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[OscarCP]

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.

Windows 7 Professional, SP1, x64 Group W (ex B) & macOS Mojave + Linux (Mint)

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rick41, rc primak

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[Tom]

I’m on 2004 and uninstalled Flash last year using  the Adobe uninstaller. I don’t have any Flash extensions in Chredge or Firefox so I thought it was all gone. I did follow up and looked in System32 and SysWOW64 and found a Macromedia folder with stuff still in it in both folders. So I tried deleting both folders and got the message I don’t have access rights and I need permission from System. (I logged in as admin before I tried this). So I attempted to take ownership of those folders and was again stopped while taking ownership. How do I get rid of these folders?

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[Tom]

Trying to delete file by file I get the message I need permission from “trusted installer”.

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rc primak

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[Susan Bradley]

Did you try the Microsoft KB download?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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Tom

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[Tom]

I tried to. But when I searched for KB4577586  on the Microsoft update site, the list ends at Windows 10 1903. There’s no downloads for 1909 or 2004.

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[PKCano]

Look on page 2 – there are two pages in that list on the MS catalog.

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jburk07, Tom

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[Tom]

Thanks. Missed that. I was looking at the bottom of the page for a NEXT and missed the top. (The top of the page was off-screen). OK. So I ran the update and checked both System32 and SysWow64 and the Macromed folder was still there. But the.ocx and .dll files were gone. There were still .log and .cfg files in a Flash folder and there were some other folders including a Temp, but no system files. So I deleted the log and cfg files without problem and was then able to delete the empty folders.

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[PKCano]

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.

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jburk07, geekdom

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[WCHS]

Thank you, Susan, for the instructions in your ‘Tasks for the Weekend blog’ and the explict, clear demonstration in the YouTube video. I learned more than just how to remove Flash, namely how to open a MS-catalog file and execute it from there!

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[Terry J]

This is my first time posting so I am not sure this is the right place to ask this but I have searched the internet and have not found an answer yet to the question of:  How will this affect the use of my projector that uses flash in my browser to control it?

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[Paul T]

You will not be able to use your browser.
You could try one of the Flash alternatives like Ruffle.

cheers, Paul

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[anonymous]

What we see above is the people who are both aware and who care. Flash must be hanging about in a lot of systems.

Sigh! I miss they simple days when thorough uninstallation was simply a matter of tossing away the floppy disk. Even the later version – click on folder and press delete worked incredibly well. Now, you use add/remove, your PC will have traces in registry, data folder, System32  folder…  anywhere!

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[Alex5723]

anonymous wrote:

click on folder and press delete worked

This works now too. I use (only) portable apps which run from drive D (nothing on C drive).

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[Cijan]

Hi,
Windows 10 Home v 1909 (build 18363.1256
I’ve followed the steps in the video, and by looking through this topic in case i missed something. The steps I followed:
1.checked in all the file locations mentioned, and saw the Macromedia/Flash files in various locations.
2. ran the ‘check now’ on https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html to see where flash is enabled and if it is installed.
– Firefox (primary/default browser) and IE both showed it as installed, but disabled.
– Edge and Chrome both showed it as pre-installed, but disabled.
3. I downloaded and ran KB4577586.
4. Checked again using the adobe ‘check now’ …
– FF and IE show it as not being installed… great.
– Edge and Chrome STILL show it as being pre-installed but disabled. (Can’t find any Flash plug-in for either.)
5. Checked file locations – all previous found instances of files under Macromedia folders are gone. (Not sure where the ‘ocx’ is that people mentioned?)
I made sure ALL browsers were closed AND ran the actual downloadable uninstall program from adobe as administrator twice, followed by restarts.

So why do Edge and Chrome STILL show it as being installed? Do I need to be concerned?
Is it because Cortana is hanging onto an Edge process?

Has anyone actually run that ‘check now’ on the https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html website?

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[abbodi86]

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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jburk07

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[Cijan]

Thanks! I’ll leave well enough alone now – at least it’s not enabled in those browsers.

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