Windows 10 Manual Update Purges Flash from the OS
Mike Sanders / 4 years ago
Flash has undoubtedly been one of the most prevalent tools seen on the internet and particularly hit its peak around the turn of the millennium. Over the last 10-years, however, its application has largely been dying out due to the growth of other (arguably better) tools, and particularly in more recent years when backdoor security concerns were raised over the software.
Within the next few months, however, we can expect to see some of the biggest moves introduced that are effectively set to ‘kill’ Flash off and, in a report via TechSpot, one is already available for manual download on Windows 10.
Windows 10 Update Begins Flash Cull
As part of a new update (KB4577586) users are able to manually download a Windows 10 update that will not only see Flash removed from the operating system, but it will also entirely block users from re-installing it (as part of the OS) again. Put simply, once this is applied, there is no way to go back unless you wipe your operating system. Even then though, if the Windows 10 update has been associated with your account, the chances are it will simply be applied again.
We should clarify, however, that this update only removes ‘Flash’ from the operating system itself. In other words, if you want to install it through an internet download (as an individual app) it should still work as normal. This update only removes the support directly offered for it within Windows 10.
Goodbye Flash – We May Not Miss You, But We Have Had a Lot of Memories!
Having spent many hours of my youth fiddling around with ‘Macromedia Flash’ creating animations for websites like ‘Newgrounds’, there is a part of me that is more than a little sad to see Flash as a medium dying. All good things must, however, come to an end and while Flash has had an excellent run, put simply, and as we noted above, there are simply a lot more programs out there that are either better or simply offer more functionality for what users want.
Still, I may shed a small tear when January 1st 2021 hits as, on that day, Flash will effectively be abandoned by the mainstream internet.
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!