Solved Can I Uninstall Windows 8.1 Native Flash Player?

My copy of 64-bit Windows 8.1.1 has version 12 of Flash in C\...SysWOW64\Macromed.

I'm not sure why I have this out-of-date version of Flash on my computer. My copy of IE 11 has an up-to-date version of the Flash plug-in (currently v.14) and my copy of Google Chrome has its own up-to-date Flash player.

I haven't found a way to update the Flash player in C\...SysWOW64\Macromed, but in any case I don't know why it needs to be there in the first place.

Can I safely uninstall the Flash player in C\...SysWOW64\Macromed?

go to this link: Adobe Find Flash version and click on: Check Now.
If it's out of date then scroll down and download the latest version as of now is: 14_0_0_179
CAUTION: Uncheck McAfee before clicking download, close browser then run

Hello Daddyman,

Flash Player for Internet Explorer in Windows 8/8.1 is updated via Windows Update now.

For other browsers, you could use the "plugin-based browsers" for Windows below.

Adobe Flash Player Distribution | Adobe

(More details)
http://www.eightforums.com/browsers-mail/2871-latest-version-adobe-flash-player.html

Folks, thanks for your help. Apparently there is a difference between the Flash player that is installed at C\...\SysWOW64\Macromed and the Flash player add-on for Internet Explorer.

The Flash player that is installed at C\...\SysWOW64\Macromed is at version 12 on my computer. This is the Flash player that is listed in Control Panel > Programs and Features.

The Flash player for Internet Explorer is at version 14 on my computer. This is the Flash player that is listed in Internet Explorer > Manage add-ons > All add-ons. (It's called the Shockwave Flash Object.)

The Flash player in Internet Explorer is updated through Windows Update. If I go to Adobe Find Flash version in Internet Explorer and click on Check Now I see the message Flash Player is pre-installed with Internet Explorer in Windows 8 and I can see that I have version 14.

The Flash player at C\...\SysWOW64\Macromed is not updated by Windows Update. This is the Flash player that I am asking about.

I wonder: Do either of you have a Flash player installed at C\...\SysWOW64\Macromed? If so, what version of Flash do you have? (If not, perhaps mine was installed a third party application long ago removed.)

Since Internet Explorer has its own Flash player, which is updated by Windows Update, and Chrome (my default browser) has its own Flash player, which is updated by Google, and other browsers like Firefox have their own version of the Flash player which is updated by the respective browsers' developers, I wonder why I have a Flash player at C\...\SysWOW64\Macromed. It doesn't seem to have a reason for existence, which is why I am asking if I should uninstall it, because the version is outdated.

I guess when you use the link in my post, you are using IE to check so it tells you that you have the latest version for IE which updated via Windows Updates.

Google Chrome or Firefox do not update the flash player but via a scheduled service called: Adobe Flash Player Service and if this service is disabled then you don't get the update notification.

For now, just manually uninstall the flash player: Uninstall Flash Player | Windows

Instead of using IE, Use chrome to access the website and check for the latest version as in post #2 above.

topgundcp said:

Google Chrome or Firefox do not update the flash player but via a scheduled service called: Adobe Flash Player Service and if this service is disabled then you don't get the update notification.

Click to expand...

I believe that Chrome has its own internal updater for its version of Flash. I can't speak about Firefox. In any case, I do not have the Adobe Flash Player Service in my Windows services. The version of Flash in Chrome is up-to-date.

topgundcp said:

Instead of using IE, Use chrome to access the website and check for the latest version as in post #2 above.

Click to expand...

When I use Chrome to access the website and check for the latest version as in post #2 above, I get this message:

Flash Player is pre-installed in Google Chrome and updates automatically! You can skip the steps below [referring to the steps to install the Flash player.]

topgundcp said:

For now, just manually uninstall the flash player: Uninstall Flash Player | Windows

Click to expand...

That's what I plan to do unless I can come up with something else. I still have not been able to distinguish between the Flash players installed at \sysWOW64\Macromed (the 64-bit player) and \System32\Macromed (the 32-bit player) and the Flash add-on that is part of Internet Explorer. I wish I knew what the difference is.

Over the weekend I might uninstall Flash Player 12 (after first making an image of my system partition) and then try IE, Chrome and every other installed program to see if they still work properly. If everything works, I'll leave it at that. If there are problems I'll restore the image and keep searching for an answer. I just don't like the idea of having an out-of-date Flash player on my computer.

Personally, I use Firefox for my web browsing task. However, I also installed Chrome for use with Chromecast so I can watch the video on big screen TV.

I found something interesting with Chrome today. Yes, Chrome does have its own version of Flash Player and update it via Googleupdater when it updates Chrome and the Flash Player bundled with Chrome is in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\37.0.2062.103\PepperFlash
so the question is: What version of Chrome are you running now ? I am running the latest which is: 37.XXXXX and the current flash version is 14.0.0.177.

If you install the latest flash (14.0.0.179) from Adobe which is under:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
and If you decide to use the version from Adobe then you need to disable the built in version as shown in the screen shot:

Thanks again for all your advice, which helped me work through this issue.

I checked with Adobe and it turns out that the version 12 Flash player is a plugin for non-Internet Explorer browsers. It was probably left behind when I uninstalled Firefox.

Adobe advised me to uninstall the version 12 Flash player, which I did. After a restart all is well. Problem solved.

Daddyman said:

Thanks again for all your advice, which helped me work through this issue.

I checked with Adobe and it turns out that the version 12 Flash player is a plugin for non-Internet Explorer browsers. It was probably left behind when I uninstalled Firefox.

Adobe advised me to uninstall the version 12 Flash player, which I did. After a restart all is well. Problem solved.

Click to expand...

Great. Glad we could help.