On January 1, 2021, Adobe finally pulled the plug on Flash and stopped supporting this outdated technology. Since then, different companies have been removing Flash from their browsers, operating system, etc. In the upcoming month, Microsoft will release a Windows update to hammer the last nail into the Flash's coffin. The company has quietly updated its blog, providing more details about the final stage of the Flash removal from Windows. It is a significant change, considering that more than 1.3 billion devices are running Windows 10 only. Soon, billions of computers will get rid of the old technology.
In October 2020, Microsoft released a patch, allowing users to remove Flash from supported Windows versions. That patch is optional, meaning users have the freedom to choose when to ditch Flash in their systems. In June 2021, the Preview Update for Windows 10 1809 and newer will include that patch (KB4577586) by default. Again, Preview Updates for Windows 10 are optional, which means you can keep using Flash for one more month. Microsoft releases optional "C-updates" on the third and fourth week of each month, allowing users to test patches before shipping them publicly next month.
In July 2021, "Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player" will become mandatory as part of monthly cumulative updates for all Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 versions. Starting from July 2021, the patch will be included in every "Patch Tuesday" for supported Windows versions (hence the name "cumulative.")
Do note that "Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player" not only removes Flash from Windows. It also prevents future installation, keeping users safe from the old technology's vulnerabilities and security holes.
If you do not want to wait for Microsoft to release the updates, you can go to Windows Update Catalog to download and install the KB4577586 patch manually. Also, Windows 10 will automatically remove Flash and all associated files when users update to the latest version, 21H1. The latter is currently available in Windows Insider Program, and Microsoft plans to ship that minor update in the upcoming weeks. You can read more about changes in Windows 10 21H1 here.
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