The software plug-in Adobe Flash Player (AFP) is an indispensable tool for playing multimedia content that can be found on the Internet. But sometimes when updating the application it is necessary to solve the unpleasant problem associated with its removal, since there can be several versions of the same add-in in the system, which can provoke conflicts. And browsers can behave incorrectly, trying to use one or the other modification.
Further, we will not consider issues related to how to remove Adobe Flash Player from a Mac computer, but focus on more common Windows systems (although the uninstall processes are very similar to each other).
Disabling the plugin in browsers
It’s worth mentioning right away that users who decide to get rid of this player should initially think carefully about how expedient it is to delete it, because after that it will be impossible to reproduce the contents of some sites in full.
On the other hand, if you use an alternative, for example, in the form of an add-on Shockwave Player, there is nothing wrong with removing AFP. But best of all, the original plugin is simply disabled.
To do this, in any browser you need to go to the add-ons (extensions) section and click on the button or disconnect hyperlink. Some browsers also have a delete button, but the player itself is not completely removed from the system (the browser just stops using it).
In any browser there are such settings, only the main section names or combinations entered for access in the address lines are distinguished.
How to remove Adobe Flash Player from a computer (Windows 7, etc.) using regular tools?
We will begin the consideration of uninstallation with tools that are offered by Windows itself. Immediately I want to warn all users that during the update process the plug-in is downloaded to the computer, after which the installation is performed in manual mode. That is, there is no guarantee that the old version will be removed.
Thus, in the simplest case, the question of how to remove Adobe Flash Player from a computer comes down to using the standard section of programs and components located in the “Control Panel” (you can quickly access it through the “Run” menu, which states control line), search the list of installed applications for the version of the player to be uninstalled, and click the delete button in the panel above.
You do not need to restart the computer yet. If you consider the question of how to correctly remove Adobe Flash Player from your computer, you also need to remove from the system residual program components that are not removed by the standard Windows uninstaller.
Manual search for residual keys and files
Manually cleaning the registry is not recommended, because if you don’t know anything, you can delete the keys of a more recent version of the player.
For this, it is better to use optimizer programs. But you can get rid of the files left after uninstalling yourself. It is necessary to clear the contents of the following directories from the usual "Explorer":
- Macromed / Flash directory of the SysWOW64 system folder (only for 64-bit systems).
- System32 / Macromed / Flash (also in the system directory).
- Macromedia / Flash Player and Adobe / Flash Player in the hidden AppData folder (the search can be set using the attribute% -% appdata%).
But only after that you can reboot and check what the reaction of the browser or the operating system itself will be.
How to remove Adobe Flash Player from a computer (Windows 8, etc.) using a proprietary utility?
However, the developers of Adobe Corporation to simplify life for users of any level took the path of least resistance by creating a special uninstall utility that can be downloaded directly from the official website.
The problem of how to remove Adobe Flash Player from a computer with its application is solved quite simply. We start the program and wait for the end of the uninstallation process. Again, for fidelity, you need to check the contents of the folders described above and clean the system registry, if necessary.
Using uninstallers
However, you can ease your task by using special programs designed to completely uninstall any program and with the complete removal of all its remaining components, including files, folders, and entries in the system registry.
One of the most powerful utilities is the iObit Uninstaller program, which is very popular among users. It has a list of installed programs, very much like the Windows programs section. As usual, you need to find the application in it, and then click the delete button (sometimes the player can be in the browser plug-ins section).
However, in the matter of how to remove Adobe Flash Player from the computer completely and completely, it is desirable to use automatic in-depth scanning, which will just determine the presence of all the waste elements, after which a list containing them will be displayed on the screen.
Next, you need to mark all the components, put a “bird” on the file destruction point and press the clear button. After that, you don’t have to dig into the registry or directories.
What to use?
As you might already have guessed, the problem of how to remove Adobe Flash Player from the computer is optimally solved by using specialized tools, since neither the system tools, nor the utility from the developer, in most cases do not completely remove them.
In general, to be honest, deleting a player makes sense only if the system is supposed to use an equivalent alternative replacement for it. But, as is believed, to play multimedia on the Internet, nothing better has not yet been created.