Time to update the Flash player. Here's how

If you are reading this on a computer, it's a sure bet that Adobe's Flash Player is installed. A couple days ago, Adobe released a new version of the Flash Player web browser plugin and there are few things you need to know to upgrade correctly.

To confirm that you need an upgrade, point your browser to adobe.com/products/flash/about. The just-released version of the Flash Player is 9.0.124.0. The prior version, 9.0.115.0, was released in December 2007. Each web browser installed on your computer is a free agent (so to speak) so you need to check each one to know if an upgrade is needed.

If you need to upgrade, don't, not yet.

Uninstall First

The Flash installer has a long history of not removing older versions. Since it's never good to have buggy software on your computer, the first step to upgrading the Flash Player is removing any and all prior versions. Windows users can get a report of all copies of the Flash player from the free online Secunia Software Inspector. I suggest opting for the "thorough system inspection". Recently, on a brand new computer, Secunia found a copy of the downright ancient Flash Player version 6.

Firefox users on Windows will have two copies of the Flash player. Adobe packages Flash as an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer and as a "plugin" for Firefox, Opera, Netscape and Mozilla.

There are three ways to uninstall the Flash player, the normal way, the manual way and the recommended way.

For Windows users, the normal way is, of course, the "Add or Remove Programs" thingy in the Control Panel. In the past, this has not been reliable.

Instead, I suggest downloading Adobe's Flash Player uninstaller which, quoting Adobe, "will remove Adobe Flash Player from all browsers on the system." A new version of the uninstaller was released on April 8th. Good thing too, as the prior version had some issues. You can read about the Flash Player uninstaller here. There is a version for Windows, a version for Mac OSX and another version for Mac OS8 and OS9. Linux users can find both install and un-install instructions at the Adobe Flash Player for Linux Readme

The Flash uninstaller needs some care and feeding. Adobe warns that it can not remove in-use files, so they advise quitting ALL running applications. They also warn that "Internet Explorer users may have to reboot to clear all uninstalled Flash Player ActiveX control files. If you're not certain, select the "Show Details" button in the Flash Player uninstaller. If there are any log lines that begin with "Delete on Reboot..." then you'll need to reboot BEFORE running the Flash Player installer again."

Below is a screen shot of the Flash Player uninstaller:

After running the uninstaller, I suggest that Windows users run a "thorough" scan with the Secunia Software Inspector to insure that all versions were really removed. Any instance of the Flash Player that was left behind is a candidate for manual removal. As show below, Secunia points you directly to the offending file(s).

In my experience, the Flash Player has always been a single file. Renaming or deleting the file should logically uninstall it. If you opt to rename it, be sure to change the file type. I got burned recently when I changed the file name but left the file type unchanged. For example, to rename x.dll, use x.dll.DONTUSEME rather than x.DONTUSEME.dll.

Installing

You can get the latest version of the Flash Player at www.adobe.com/go/getflash. The web page detects your operating system and browser and offers the correct version of the software automatically.

Internet Explorer users get an option that Firefox users (on Windows) do not - also installing the Google Toolbar. There is no need to install the Google software. In general, if software companies offer to throw-in extra stuff for free, it's to their benefit, not yours.

The install process, in Windows, is very different for Internet Explorer and Firefox. The Internet Explorer installation is done within the browser. The Flash Player is an ActiveX control, so you will likely have to approve the yellow toolbar warning and then again approve the installation in a pop-up window.

The Firefox install starts with downloading an installer file (install_flash_player.exe). Then you have to shut down Firefox and run the installer. When it's done, you should see something like the screen shot above. At this point, I suggest taking Firefox on a visit to the Adobe Flash tester page to insure that everything went according to plan.

As I write this, I've upgraded just a couple machines. One Windows XP machine had version 9.0.28.0 of the Flash Player and, in the interest of research, I installed the latest version directly on top of the old version. It failed, as you can see in the screen shot below. However, re-running the installer worked fine.

The Flash Player may well be the most widely used software in the world. Make sure your copy is up to date.

Update April 11, 2008: Someone commented below that the Flash uninstaller failed to remove old copies of version 6 and 7 that a "thorough system inspection" with the Secunia Software Inspector found. I can't confirm this, so if you find these old versions of the Flash player, please let me know your experience, either with a comment below or send me an email at my personal website, michaelhorowitz.com.

Update April 12, 2008: If Firefox seems to be using the wrong version of the Flash Player, or any other plugin, see Tracking down Firefox plugins.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

[RicABlair]

Excellent and timely advice.

[brewster1]

Hi and thanks! I have one question. I also found "Macromedia Flash 6 and 7!" But the uninstaller tool did not remove them. Is this a problem?

thanks again

[brewster1]

follow up:

I searched for the file adresses that Secunia found (on 'extensive' search only) and manually deleted them. Now they do not show up.

[mjm01010101]

Even if old files are on the machine, they will not be used when a newer version is installed. The registry and activex settings prevent this.

[rmiller1959]

I'm sure you've heard of this from your other readers, but when I run
the Secunia Software Inspector, it always identifies unsecure
instances of a specific file associated with the Macromedia Flash Player
(NPSWF32.dll). I've done the uninstall routine to remove the older
versions of Flash Player and installed the latest on my machine -
Secunia's scan even detects it as secure.

The instances of the unsecure Flash Player file appear to have
been installed by other programs (Logitech Harmony Remote Software 7, for example). The last time I tried replacing the older file with a copy of the most current one,
however, the application had a fit and I had to use the Windows
Installer Clean-Up utility and reinstall the program to set things right
again. How am I supposed to contend with that? I'd appreciate any
workarounds of which you might be aware.

[rickster]

While everybody's experience will differ (OS versions and old versions of Flash), I am cautioning users with the saying "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!" Unless you are proficient in upgrading software and following this guide to a tee, it still will not insure that something with the upgrade might go wrong. I too experienced still having Flash 6 and 7 even though I had prevoiusly run the uninstaller. I too feel that Adobe has dropped the ball...they have made upgrading Flash a pain in the a**. While I don't consider myself an expert, I have experience installing and upgrading software. Adobe even has the odasity to caution the upgrade when using the SubInAcL tool by washing their hands if your system screws up. After spending numerous hours trying several methods, I gave up. Within 10 minutes, I not only installed Firefox but also with the Flash upgrade! Looks like there might be a future market for a competitor for Flash.

[rickster]

While everybody's experience will differ (OS versions and old versions of Flash), I am cautioning users with the saying "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!" Unless you are proficient in upgrading software and following this guide to a tee, it still will not insure that something with the upgrade might go wrong. I too experienced still having Flash 6 and 7 even though I had prevoiusly run the uninstaller. I too feel that Adobe has dropped the ball...they have made upgrading Flash a royal pain. While I don't consider myself an expert, I have experience installing and upgrading software. Adobe even has the odasity to caution the upgrade when using the SubInAcL tool by washing their hands if your system screws up. After spending numerous hours trying several methods, I gave up. Within 10 minutes, I not only installed Firefox but also with the Flash upgrade! Looks like there might be a future market for a competitor for Flash.

[rickster]

While everybody's experience will differ (OS versions and old versions of Flash), I am cautioning users with the saying "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!" Unless you are proficient in upgrading software and following this guide to a tee, it still will not insure that something with the upgrade might go wrong. I too experienced still having Flash 6 and 7 even though I had prevoiusly run the uninstaller. I too feel that Adobe has dropped the ball...they have made upgrading Flash a royal pain. While I don't consider myself an expert, I have experience installing and upgrading software. Adobe even has the odasity to caution the upgrade when using the SubInAcL tool by washing their hands if your system screws up. After spending numerous hours trying several methods, I gave up. Within 10 minutes, I not only installed Firefox but also with the Flash upgrade! Looks like there might be a future market for a competitor for Flash.

[delianeal]

This was great advice - I ran the Secunia software and had 5 or 6 old versions of Flash Player and 3 or 4 old versions of Java - I have Vista and my laptop is "only" a little over a year old! It took me four tries before I got all the old junk uninstalled to Secunia's satisfaction, but now Secunia says I have around a dozen up-to-date versions of Internet Explorer (they all have happy little green checks next to them). I use Firefox - is this something I should be worried about?