Adobe Flash Player is a free software plug-in used by web browsers to view multimedia, execute rich Internet applications, and stream video on your Mac.
Adobe Flash Player is the most popular multimedia player plug-in available. However, recently there have been security concerns which has threatened its popularity as users seek safer alternative solutions. Opera, Firefox and Chrome contain built-in versions of Flash running in sandbox mode. This method is safer than running Flash as a plugin. However, currently the reality is that you still may need the Adobe Flash Player on your Mac because many websites will not work well if you uninstall it. Here I’ll show you how to install Adobe Flash Player and how to set it up correctly.
Chrome Stable is the default version of Chrome which is updated with all the features and fixes thoroughly tested on Dev and Beta where as Chrome Canary is the cutting edge developer version (future version) of Chrome with all the latest updates and features which can be installed alongside Stable Chrome.
How to install Adobe Flash Player on your Mac.
1. Go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ to download the Adobe Flash Player installer.
2. By default, the installer package will be downloaded to your “Downloads” folder.
3. Select the file on your Mac and double click to install it.
4. Select “Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended)” and click “DONE” to complete the installation.
If you installed Adobe Flash Player, but still cannot view online videos on certain websites, you need to check Adobe Flash Player on your browsers.
How to set up Adobe Flash Player on various browsers.
Safari
1. Launch Safari and go to the Apple menu bar and click Preferences.
2. Select the Websites tab and select On for “When visiting other websites.”
3. Refresh the browser tab, or restart the browser.
Google Chrome
1. Launch Chrome and type chrome://settings/content in the address field.
2. Select “Ask first (recommended)” and turn it on.
3. Refresh the browser tab or restart the browser.
Opera
1. Launch Opera and go to the Apple menu bar and click Preferences.
2. Select the Websites tab and then select “Allow sites to run Flash”
3. Refresh the browser tab or restart the browser.
Firefox
1. Launch Firefox and go to the Apple menu bar and click Tools – Add-ons.
2. Click the Plugins tab and turn the “Shockwave Flash” to “Always Activate.”
Note: (SWF (Shock Wave Flash) is a special format created by Macromedia, which has been acquired by Adobe. It is widely used in web design, animation production and other fields.)
For enhancing the user experience and security, Adobe is always trying to improve Adobe Flash Player. However, sometimes when you view a website, a Flash Player upgrade popup appears. Most people would click the “update” button to update their Flash Player, but this could be a false popup used by hackers to compromise your Mac. This is a method hackers use to trick you into downloading adware and malware through a false popup.
Be careful and don’t trust any automatic updates of Adobe Flash Player. Here I will tell you how to install real Flash Player updates and set it up.
How to update Flash Player on Mac safely
1. Go to the Apple menu bar and select System Preferences.
2. Select Flash Player.
3. Select the Updates tab and select “Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended)”. (Note: The Flash plug-in is officially updated 1~2 times a month, so selecting this option avoids frequent update.)
4. You may now notice that the Flash Update settings now shows NPAPI and PPAPI plugins. Let me explain them.
NPAPI – used by Safari, Firefox
PPAPI – used by Chromium, Opera and Chrome (Chrome’s implementation is built in)
5. Click Check Now to confirm that you currently have the latest version installed.
If you had clicked a false popup and downloaded adware, don’t worry, the Apple App Store has many antivirus apps, such as Trend Micro’s Dr. Antivirus, that you can use to do a free scan.
Follow the steps below in case you downloaded a fake Adobe Flash Player.
1. When you first install Dr. Antivirus, click “Pattern Update” to make sure your virus pattern is up to date. We suggest you update the virus pattern every day.
2. After the first installation, we highly suggest you perform a full scan of your Mac to check all files for possible infections. The Full scan will take more than one hour.
3. If you still find adware and a full scan has not found any viruses, we recommend you use Adware Cleaner. You can access Adware Cleaner in the left panel of the Dr. Antivirus window.
How to uninstall Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player for the Mac is a plug-in, not a Mac OS X application. When you try to uninstall Adobe Flash Player from your Mac, you might find that this plug-in is not so easy to delete. For example, you might see this message:
Cannot find Adobe Flash Player in your Applications folder.
In this case, Adobe Flash Player could not be removed and no reason was given. The following steps show how to uninstall Adobe Flash Player with no remaining parts.
1. Go to the /Applications/Utilities/ folder on your Mac and double-click the Adobe Flash Player Install Manager app.
2. Click Uninstall to begin the process.
3. Type the password and click Install Helper.
4. If your browser is running, the following window will appear. Select “Force Close All” to continue.
5. After the uninstaller removes the Adobe Flash software from your Mac, click Done.
Last updated: August 21, 2019
Flashpocolypse. Sure it’s a silly name. But what *pocolypse isn’t? The beginning of the end of Flash has been circling overhead for some time, but the beast will not die. The latest release of Google Chrome certainly must weaken Flash’s resolve to live for much longer. In June, Google announced in a blog post that it introduced a beta feature in Chrome that would “intelligently pause content (like Flash animations) that aren’t central to the webpage.” That feature is no longer in beta. Flash content that Chrome deems non-central no longer plays by default.
The primary intention of killing Flash content in this manner was to help preserve laptop battery life. Its impact reaches farther than power consumption. Publishers dependent on Flash advertisements, for example, may no longer see impressions or corresponding revenue from Chrome visitor activity on their sites. Google’s own ad network, AdSense, does not deliver Flash ads, opting instead for HTML5 ads. As such, the impact on AdSense publishers will likely be minimal. Myriad recent security issues with Flash Player must also be a consideration when deciding to block Flash ads by default. No matter the reason, we will show you how to unblock Flash in Chrome so you aren’t deprived of any of the great Flash ad content you may still encounter.
First, please note that this article was first published in 2015. An updated version of this article is available here. Malwarebytes free for mac 10.9.5.
To unblock the Flash Player plugin in Chrome, and show a recommended prompt to allow Flash content when you encounter it, click the Customize and control Google Chrome button. It is the icon with 3 vertical dots located to the right of the web address bar. Click Settings.
Scroll down to the bottom of the Settings page, and click the Advanced link. When the page expands to display advanced settings, scroll down to the Privacy and security section, and click Site Settings.
In Site Settings, scroll down to the Permissions section and click Flash.
To unblock Flash in Chrome, toggle the Block sites from running Flash button to Ask first.
The option exists to manage certain Flash behavior on specific sites. When you encounter Flash content, Chrome asks you to Click to enable Adobe Flash Player. When you click to enable Flash, click to Allow or Block Flash for that site.
Review and remove sites you allowed or blocked from Flash settings. Click the Trash icon to the right of a site to remove it from the Allow or Block list.
Thank you for visiting Tech Help Knowledgebase to learn how to unblock Flash in Chrome.
Image credit:Pixabay / Pexels
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