fmdog44
Well-known Member
- Location
- Houston, Texas
This notice appears in the Microsoft.com site and takes effect after or at December of this year. I need Flash Player to play a couple games I frequent. This is not good for me.
Windows Will No Longer Support Flash Player
- Thread starter fmdog44
- Start date
Gardenlover
The world needs more love
retiredtraveler
Senior Member
Thanks for posting. Didn't know this. I went to Microsoft site:
Adobe will end support of Flash Player on December 31, 2020. Here’s what you can expect in the meantime for each Microsoft browser:
In the next version of Microsoft Edge (built on Chromium), Flash will be disabled by default. However, users may re-enable it on a site-by-site basis. The timeline for Chromium-based browsers can be found here.
Flash will not be disabled by default from Microsoft Edge (built on EdgeHTML) or Internet Explorer 11 prior to its removal by December of 2020.
Flash will be completely removed from all browsers by December 31, 2020, via Windows Update. Group policies are available for enterprise admins and IT pros to change the Flash behavior prior to that date.
Companies reliant on Flash for development and playback of content are encouraged to remove the dependency on Adobe Flash prior to December 2020.
The information on this page is subject to the Microsoft Policy Disclaimer and Change Notice. Return to this site periodically to review any such changes.
Adobe will end support of Flash Player on December 31, 2020. Here’s what you can expect in the meantime for each Microsoft browser:
In the next version of Microsoft Edge (built on Chromium), Flash will be disabled by default. However, users may re-enable it on a site-by-site basis. The timeline for Chromium-based browsers can be found here.
Flash will not be disabled by default from Microsoft Edge (built on EdgeHTML) or Internet Explorer 11 prior to its removal by December of 2020.
Flash will be completely removed from all browsers by December 31, 2020, via Windows Update. Group policies are available for enterprise admins and IT pros to change the Flash behavior prior to that date.
Companies reliant on Flash for development and playback of content are encouraged to remove the dependency on Adobe Flash prior to December 2020.
The information on this page is subject to the Microsoft Policy Disclaimer and Change Notice. Return to this site periodically to review any such changes.
Don M.
SF VIP
- Location
- central Missouri
I've been seeing notes on the Yahoo homepage, for months, that Flash is disabled, and will be removed at the end of the year. On the rare occasions that I need to use Flash, a separate small window comes up that allows me to enable Flash for the specific search. I'm sure that MS and all other providers will have a replacement ready by the time Flash becomes unavailable.
fmdog44
Well-known Member
- Location
- Houston, Texas
On the game site I play on Miniclip.com it always says "Flash Player is disabled." But as soon as I click on the message a box appears and I click on that and the site opens up for play.
It’s hardly news that Adobe Flash is on its way out. Major browsers have been slowly pulling support for years now, and Adobe itself has announced that it would be stopping development and support in December 2020.
This means that within the next year, pretty much no mainstream browsers will be able to access Flash content on the Web. No videos, no games, no vintage Flash sites, nothing. So why exactly is this happening, what’s the timeline, and what do you do if you really need to access some kind of flash content later?
Why is Flash going away?
Sunsetting Flash is largely a security-driven move. Flash was once the standard for videos, games, and other Web content, but it’s terrifically vulnerable to exploits, thanks to the way it uses memory and other issues. Another issue is its difficulty integrating with mobile technology due both to its tendency to suck power and its lack of support on both iOS and Android.
Keeping a piece of mostly-desktop software with more holes than a spaghetti strainer patched and sort-of safe is, as you can imagine, kind of a headache. Once other standards, like HTML5 and WebGL, became more functional and widely supported on both desktop and mobile, Flash’s days were numbered.
Currently, most browsers allow you to access Flash content on a case-by-case basis by manually approving it, but even that option is going to disappear sometime next year. Exactly when that will happen depends on the browser you’re using, as they’ve all announced different timeframes for removing Flash support, but if everything goes according to plan, any Flash content left on the Internet will be largely inaccessible by the end of 2020.
Here’s the general schedule:
Early 2020: Firefox will completely remove Flash support from consumer versions.
December 2020: Adobe will no longer update Flash or offer it for download.
December 2020: Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers (including Microsoft Edge) will remove all Flash support.
Will I still be able to access Flash content?
After 2020, accessing any remaining Flash content on the Web will still be possible, but it’ll take some work. Up-to-date browsers won’t be able to load Flash, but truly desperate Flash fans could use an older version of a browser, block it from auto-updating, and use it only for Flash content.
Of course, that comes with its own security issues, so do this at your own risk and take precautions like running it in a sandbox and only visiting sites you trust. Alternatively, there may still be browsers out there (Firefox/Chromium forks) that choose to keep running Flash in some form, so finding one of those may also help.
Of course, with Flash effectively off the Web, sites that offer Flash-based content might not be around for long, so if there’s anything you really want to save, you’ll need to download the Flash file (SWF) and use a desktop Flash player (like SWF File Player) to open it. This approach could be time-consuming and technical if you’re trying to save all of your favorite content, though.
Flash 2020 Flashpoint
The last and best option you’ll probably find for accessing this stuff is Flashpoint, which is an ongoing project to archive and distribute the Web’s Flash content. Thousands of games and animations have now been cataloged and are available for you to download and play as you like, so chances are good that you won’t even need to go manually back up the game you were afraid would disappear. If something isn’t on their list of content, you can always contribute to the community and add it yourself.
It’s estimated that only a small percentage of the Web uses Flash (Google estimates around 17 percent of users see a piece of Flash content every day), so you probably won’t notice a big difference in your day-to-day browsing. A lot of Flash-based content has either already been updated to use a modern standard like HTML5, WebGL, or Unity, and any sites that want to continue offering their content after 2020 will need to make sure they do this as well. If there’s any Flash content you’re especially attached to, now is the time to make sure it sticks around.
This means that within the next year, pretty much no mainstream browsers will be able to access Flash content on the Web. No videos, no games, no vintage Flash sites, nothing. So why exactly is this happening, what’s the timeline, and what do you do if you really need to access some kind of flash content later?
Why is Flash going away?
Sunsetting Flash is largely a security-driven move. Flash was once the standard for videos, games, and other Web content, but it’s terrifically vulnerable to exploits, thanks to the way it uses memory and other issues. Another issue is its difficulty integrating with mobile technology due both to its tendency to suck power and its lack of support on both iOS and Android.
Keeping a piece of mostly-desktop software with more holes than a spaghetti strainer patched and sort-of safe is, as you can imagine, kind of a headache. Once other standards, like HTML5 and WebGL, became more functional and widely supported on both desktop and mobile, Flash’s days were numbered.
Currently, most browsers allow you to access Flash content on a case-by-case basis by manually approving it, but even that option is going to disappear sometime next year. Exactly when that will happen depends on the browser you’re using, as they’ve all announced different timeframes for removing Flash support, but if everything goes according to plan, any Flash content left on the Internet will be largely inaccessible by the end of 2020.
Here’s the general schedule:
Early 2020: Firefox will completely remove Flash support from consumer versions.
December 2020: Adobe will no longer update Flash or offer it for download.
December 2020: Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers (including Microsoft Edge) will remove all Flash support.
Will I still be able to access Flash content?
After 2020, accessing any remaining Flash content on the Web will still be possible, but it’ll take some work. Up-to-date browsers won’t be able to load Flash, but truly desperate Flash fans could use an older version of a browser, block it from auto-updating, and use it only for Flash content.
Of course, that comes with its own security issues, so do this at your own risk and take precautions like running it in a sandbox and only visiting sites you trust. Alternatively, there may still be browsers out there (Firefox/Chromium forks) that choose to keep running Flash in some form, so finding one of those may also help.
Of course, with Flash effectively off the Web, sites that offer Flash-based content might not be around for long, so if there’s anything you really want to save, you’ll need to download the Flash file (SWF) and use a desktop Flash player (like SWF File Player) to open it. This approach could be time-consuming and technical if you’re trying to save all of your favorite content, though.
Flash 2020 Flashpoint
The last and best option you’ll probably find for accessing this stuff is Flashpoint, which is an ongoing project to archive and distribute the Web’s Flash content. Thousands of games and animations have now been cataloged and are available for you to download and play as you like, so chances are good that you won’t even need to go manually back up the game you were afraid would disappear. If something isn’t on their list of content, you can always contribute to the community and add it yourself.
It’s estimated that only a small percentage of the Web uses Flash (Google estimates around 17 percent of users see a piece of Flash content every day), so you probably won’t notice a big difference in your day-to-day browsing. A lot of Flash-based content has either already been updated to use a modern standard like HTML5, WebGL, or Unity, and any sites that want to continue offering their content after 2020 will need to make sure they do this as well. If there’s any Flash content you’re especially attached to, now is the time to make sure it sticks around.