In addition, an emergency “switch” was introduced into the Flash Player code in advance, which prevents the launch of any Flash content, starting from January 12, 2021.

Last year, in preparation for the final end of support for Flash Player, Microsoft created update KB4577586 to remove Adobe Flash from all versions of Windows 8, 10 and Windows Server and prevent it from being reinstalled.

At that time, the update was only available through the official catalog and could not be removed after installation. However, the update was optional, although it was forcibly rolled out in February to some Windows 10 machines.

In general, the company promised that in early 2021 this update will be distributed via WSUS and Windows Update and will be made mandatory. On Microsoft’s blog can be found a post that reveals further plans regarding KB4577586.

Starting June 2021, Microsoft plans to include KB4577586 as part of optional Windows 10 cumulative preview updates for Windows 10 1809 and later.

It also became known that in Windows 21H1, the preview version of which will become public this month, the KB4577586 update will be installed automatically, that is, the Adobe Flash Player plugin will be automatically removed.

It is unlikely that the final removal of Flash Player will be noticed by users, because now it is actually useless and cannot be used to display content.

However, let me remind you that with the shutdown of Flash, strange things began to happen in some parts of the world: for example: End of support for Adobe Flash caused interruptions in the Chinese railway system, as well as Authorities of South Africa create their own browser to continue to use Flash. It is also interesting that a special version of Flash for China turned into adware.

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Let me remind you that Flash Player support was finally discontinued on December 31, 2020. In addition, a unique mechanism for self-destruction was built into the software code in advance, and starting from January 12, 2021, Adobe forcibly blocks the launch of any Flash content.

The plan of the Adobe developers worked exactly as it was supposed. On January 12, the South African tax service began to experience problems: the department stopped receiving tax returns through its website, as the download forms were Flash widgets.

Instead of abandoning Flash and switching to HTML or JS, the South African authorities took a non-trivial step. The fact is that this week the Revenue office introduced its own browser, SARS eFiling Browser, a stripped-down version of Chromium with two main functions. Thus, the browser re-enables Flash support and gives users access to the SARS eFiling website. Fortunately, the browser only allows access to the official website of the Revenue service, which slightly reduces the potential risks for its users.

At the same time, SARS eFiling Browser is available only for Windows. That is, macOS, Linux, and mobile OS users still cannot submit tax return files.

Also, as I reported, the discontinuation of Flash support and operation came as a surprise to the staff of the railway system in China’s Liaoning province.

Apple Daily reports that China Railway Shenyang’s railway software is based on Flash, and after the technology shutdown on January 12, employees lost control of the entire system.

According to ArsTechnica, the problem was solved only the next day, by installing an old version of Flash and blocking updates.

The post Authorities of South Africa create their own browser to continue to use Flash appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

Let me remind you that earlier the developers have already warned that they will ask users to remove Adobe Flash from their machines by the end of the year.

In the latest update, the actual date of “death” of Flash is decided: January 12, 2021, after which any type of Flash content will not be launched inside the application.

The fact is that even if the user does not bother to uninstall Flash on his own, a few months ago the company added a kind of “time bomb” to the code, which will prevent the application from being used in the future.

It is also worth recalling that in October this year, Microsoft already released an update that removes Adobe Flash from all versions of Windows 10 and Windows Server, and also prevents it from being reinstalled on the device.

The “death” of Flash is expected to have minimal impact on the web ecosystem, as, according to a study by W3Techs, only 2.3% of sites still use Flash, which means that this figure has significantly decreased in recent years (for example, in 2011, the market share Flash was 28.5%).

Along with the release of the latest update, Adobe took the time to thank all Flash users and web developers who have been using it in their everyday lives and work for so many years:

Let me remind you that OS Windows 7 was also hard and reluctant to leave us: Microsoft released farewell updates for Windows 7 in january 2020, but My Digital Life forum community has found an illegal way to extend support for Windows 7.

The post Flash content will be blocked from January 12, 2021 appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

Let me remind you that work on a complete rejection of Flash Player support has been going on since 2017, when Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, as well as Adobe itself, announced the official date of the final “death” of the technology.

Preparations for this event are in full swing.

The company also said that all “Flash content will be blocked from running in Adobe Flash Player after the support expiration date.” That is, the company has added or is planning to add a kind of time bomb to the Flash Player code to prevent its future use.

Let me remind you that the vulnerabilities of the Adobe Flash Player technology have traditionally been included in the ratings of the most dangerous bugs for quite some time. For example, recently Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency (CISA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published the TOP 10 software vulnerabilities, most commonly exploited in 2016-2019, and of course Flash Player got its rightful place there.

Now representatives of Microsoft have come up with a similar initiative. This week, KB4577586 was released to remove Adobe Flash from all versions of Windows 10 and Windows Server and to prevent it from being reinstalled on the device.

The update is only available through the official directory and cannot be removed after installation. Later, in early 2021, the company plans to distribute the update through WSUS and Windows Update.

Bleeping Computer journalists tried to figure out what exactly is removed after installing KB4577586.

During tests, it turned out that the version of Flash Player (32-bit) included with Windows 10 and accessible through Control Panel is being removed. However, the Adobe Flash Player component built into Microsoft Edge and other browsers stays in place, just like any other standalone version of the program.

The post Microsoft has released an update to remove Adobe Flash from Windows appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.