Answer:
Flash will reach the end of life on December 31, 2020. Adobe has been advising that they will no longer support Flash after that date for about two years.
Flash has had security problems several years and there have been new ways developed to do animations like Flash and Adobe ha chosen to no longer support the product. For several years due to the lack of improvements and security problems developers have moved away from Flash. Most browsers have announced they will remove Flash from being an add-on in their browsers so it
will no longer work in them.
Flash has been around a long time and in its day was a wonderful (although not simple) to get animation and video in web pages. However, it has come to the point where it has finished its life.
In all likelihood you are not accessing web sites or using programs that use Flash any longer.
You can leave the program on your machine (most users will have Flash Player, as they are not developing Flash applications so never needed to buy Flash). However, if you choose to leave it on your machine, you need to get the latest updates to the program which Adobe just sent out again. With Adobe no longer supporting and the main place it is used in browsers and the developers of browsers dropping Flash, there will really be no need to keep Flash or Flash Player.
If you do install the updates watch the screen where you choose what to install as it will have an option to get McAfee Security. I do not recommend that product, so I recommend you uncheck it. Then do the update.
Flash has been replaced by items in HTML5 which includes in it the ability to play videos and audio.
Adobe will not answer questions about Flash or provide any more updates (content or security) after 2020 ends. Security people look forward to this as Flash has been a security problem and developers have moved to HTML5 and other ways to put video in web pages and games.
Thanks, John, for the question.
Send me your questions about computers to me at the paper or to my e-mail dwight@dwightwatt.com and tell me you read this in this paper. I will pick a question to answer each week.
Dwight Watt does computer work for businesses, individuals and organizations and teaches about computers at a college in northwest Georgia. His webpage is www.dwightwatt.com and his email address is dwight@dwightwatt.com.
