Adobe has announce in a blog post that they will officially “retire” Flash at the end of 2020, finally putting an end to their (and our) constant struggle to keep it updated and safe from hackers.
Flash was an amazing technology back in the early days of the web. It allowed content creators to fill our world with all kinds of active content that would otherwise have been difficult to produce.
But that is no longer the case.
Modern technologies have now made Flash obsolete, and one security flaw after another has made it downright dangerous. Thankfully, the end of the Flash era is in sight.
Surprisingly, many websites and content developers are still using Flash to create new content. Adobe has graciously decided to give those folks plenty of time to transition to other platforms – hence the December 2020 “retirement” date.
If your favorite website(s) and web service(s) still use Flash you’ll have no choice but to keep it installed on your computer for the time being. If that’s the case, make sure you update it with the latest security updates just as soon as possible after they are released.
If you don’t need to have Flash installed on your computer, I strongly recommend that you remove it right away since it isn’t benefiting you in any way while posing a major security risk.
Adobe has published instructions for removing Flash from your computer and your web browsers. You’ll find them right here if you have a Windows machine. Click here if you have a Mac.
Bottom line: Flash used to be the platform of choice for content creators world-wide, for good reason. But now it’s time for it to go. It certainly deserves our gratitude for all the good its done in the past, but the future belongs to more modern (and much safer) technologies.
Bonus tip: Read this post for a step-by-step guide to completely ridding your PC of malware.
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