I turned on my PC to find an update notice for Flash Player. Nothing unusual about that. And since Flash Player is especially vulnerable to attack, I decided to install it immediately. This is what a legitimate Flash Player update looks like. It will just pop up on your PC. You’ll sometimes see fake notices come up as pop-up ads when you’re visiting online sites. One way to be sure that it’s the real thing is to just go to the Flash Player website at https://get3.adobe.com/flashplayer/update/activex/
When I arrived at the update site, I noticed something new.
Adobe does a tricky little thing where it sets you up to automatically download programs when you update Flash Player. These aren’t malicious programs, but they aren’t necessarily anything you want. In the past, it was a trial version of an anti-virus, but I noticed they’d switched it up and were now offering a download of the Google Chrome browser. Additionally, it would switch Chrome to your default browser and also add a Google toolbar to Internet Explorer.
So, if you have suddenly acquired a new toolbar in Internet Explorer or now have a different default browser, this may be the reason why. It’s simple enough to avoid this. Just uncheck the boxes next to the offer.
Then click on Update now.
You’ll have to grant permission for the update to install. It usually takes just a couple of minutes to finish.
When it’s done, click Finish. You will need to restart your browser for the update to take effect.
You won’t have to worry about Flash Player updates much longer. Adobe is pulling the plug on Flash Player in 2020.