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Microsoft Will Block Outdated Versions of Flash Player Starting October

Say goodbye to old version of the insecure Flash Player

Sep 13, 2016 16:27 GMT  ·  By
The Internet is slowly migrating from Flash Player
   The Internet is slowly migrating from Flash Player

Adobe’s Flash Player has the bad reputation of an insecure piece of software and it’s not a secret that it is affected by tens of vulnerabilities every year, with the parent company launching patches every single month.

As a result, running an outdated version of Flash Player is extremely risky and Microsoft is trying to make sure that you’re on the latest build by making some changes to Internet Explorer.

Starting October 11, 2016, old versions of Flash Player will be automatically blocked in Internet Explorer on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 - this decision does not impact Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 users, as these systems are automatically updated to the latest version of Flash Player when it is released.

“Starting on October 11, 2016, we’re expanding the out-of-date ActiveX control blocking feature to include outdated versions of Adobe Flash Player. This update notifies you when a Web page tries to load a Flash ActiveX control older than (but not including): Adobe Flash Player version 21.0.0.198 and Adobe Flash Player Extended Support Release version 18.0.0.241,” Microsoft announced today.

Microsoft Edge users not impacted

Internet Explorer is the only browser getting this update and Microsoft Edge, which is currently available on Windows 10 exclusively, is not impacted. Flash Player is built into Edge and is automatically updated through Windows Update as part of the Patch Tuesday cycle.

Microsoft says that Internet Explorer will warn of Flash ActiveX control blocking once per tab and all subsequent out-of-date controls will be allowed. Users who are not members of the Local Administrators groups on the PC will not see any blocks, it says.

Flash Player no longer has a future in the modern web, especially because it remains insecure despite the plethora of updates it receives, and with the Internet migrating towards HTML5, it’s just a matter of time until more such measures are put into place.

Microsoft has taken several measures to protect users of its browsers and is already blocking outdated Java and Silverlight content, so seeing Flash Player being added to this list kind of makes sense.