Thursday, June 12, 2014

Adobe Flash Updater - Automated Install of flash without Bloatware

Updated 7/13/2016


I am going to not be using Sourceforge for my project home too much longer, all my projects will be moved to my blogger pages due to the inability of the maintainers of sourceforge to keep their site up and running and failure to notify users of down times. It is poor management

A little about me. I been doing desk-side support in EDU for over a decade. I have extensive hands on experience with troubleshooting machines mostly Windows based. I write code which should be evident from this posting, and have managed people as well. I consider myself a professional in the IT field with that much experiences as well as a degree in the sciences as well as A+ certified.

I have created a fully Automated install of Adobe Flash player without the need to go to any Adobe website to preform the update.
This file has been white listed by Symantec.

The updater is a standalone exe which means it is not technically installed; its just ran as needed and works by pulling the latest install files from the Official Adobe Website and installing them quite simply put.

The installer has several options each option has a clickable link for further explanation as to what it does, but for most people the default setting I have set will be suitable. You can check the tick box to allow or disallow the additional actions to be preformed.






The updater works in the following way basically:

1) Will close a majority of Flash dependent programs. There are quite a few popular ones
2) Will download the Adobe Uninstaller and uninstall ALL versions of flash based on the Operating system
3) Will clean up any system files based off operating system
4) Clean flash player cache for all users
5) Remove any stale flash player files from Google Chrome that could prevent Flash Player from launching in Chrome for all users
6) Go out to the Official Adobe Website and obtain any relevant Flash Player files based off of your Operating system, and install them. NPAPI, PPAPI, and ActiveX ( Windows 7 only )
7) Clean up/delete and files that were downloaded.
8) Set Flash to Update when a new version comes out ( tick box is default but can be unchecked )

In Windows 8.x and above step 2 will not uninstall ActiveX flash as it is integrated into the OS.
In Windows 8.x and above step 3 is not done.
In Windows 8.x and up Flash player is integrated into the OS and you must run windows updates to update flash player versions.

This actually does a clean install of Adobe Flash Player based off your operating system.

This installer has to be only downloaded once. You do not have to go out and re-download this every time a new version of flash player comes out. The only time you might want to re-download it is to check for a newer version of the utility. As of this writing Version 4.0.0.1 is the latest and will be updated when changed. 

The installer is fully automated and is 100% hands off except for running it and choosing Start or cancel

The Utility also creates event logs when complete to tell you what it did. it is fairly simple
411 for success
611 if the cancel button was pressed

A few people want a 32 bit version, however, 64 bit is the future and I do not want to keep writing for older technology as it will not promote people to embrace new technologies quite simply. If you do not like this I am sorry. I have an old school bat file to do the basics of GUI based version 

The original code has been tweaked several times since release mid 2015, and the original project was based off the old school bat file i mentioned just a few lines up.

Sept 3 2018 - I added the removal of McAfee Safe Connect to this silent removal tool.

Flash Uninstaller click here, and browse to the folder that Says Uninstaller ONLY

McAfee True Key and Security Scan remover


For Those those of you unlucky to get the McAfee Security Scan and or True Key installed on your machine when using the Adobe website to attempt to update flash player I have a remover that uninstalls both of them. There is an intentional and deceptive 10 minute install and launch delay for True Key, so you might not see it right away.

Once again a 64 bit uninstaller that removes all traces of those two programs and any remnants that are left behind by the windows uninstall process. This uninstaller is 100% SILENT you well see NO prompts, and you ONLY know its running by the system tray icon.

Download McAfee True Key and Security Scan remover 64bit Windows ONLY


ALSO:
I have some additional possible solutions for flash player crashing in Firefox if the Mozilla Forums prove useless as do for many for this issue.

For best performance with Mozilla Firefox use the 64 bit version of Mozilla Firefox as it is much more stable than the 32 bit version.

Mozilla Firefox all versions

You can check them out here: http://firefoxcrash.blogspot.com/2013/12/firefox-crashes-adobe-flash-player.html

Some other Firefox solutions are here: http://firefoxcrash.blogspot.com/



Cheers

Aug 22 2017 Version 4.2.0.0
Fixed: Minor display issue fixed that I noticed. Should not effect anything except the ascetics of the program.

March 4 2017 Version 4.1.0.8
1) Added:  A indicator that if your machine has not been rebooted in  more than 5 days it might be helpful to do so as I have noticed that somethings things do not work right with lengthy up times. ANY button can be pressed and it is up the user to reboot it is NOT forced.
2) Fixed: I prevent the removal of FlashPlayerApp.exe and FlashPlayerCPLApp.cpl for windows 8.X and above and prevents its removal if ActiveX is NOT selected on Windows 7. The control panel can be restored by re-installing ActiveX flash player. For Windows 8.X and up you have to go to Control Panel - Uninstall or Change a Program - View installed updates. You must select to uninstall the Security Update for Adobe Flash Player( see screenshot below ). Once that is removed, run Windows Updates, and it should re-install that update.



November 27 2016 Version 4.1.0.0
1) Added a DPI fix for higher DPI monitors. On a 125 DPI monitor the GUI did not show everything.
2) Added a debug log that resides in Documents of the current user. Basically each thing that is done literally is logged after it is completed.
3)  Fixed the advanced menu so that the player types are remembered when the advanced menu is opened and closed. PPAPI, ActiveX and NPAPI will retain setting until program is closed. All other button will reset as they may not need to be re-run.



September 18 Version 4.0.0.2
1) Redesigned the GUI to move options to an advanced menu.
2) Progress will show in the main window of the GUI now
3) To uninstall without installing any flash player just uncheck all the version in the advanced menu.
4) The buttons will be disabled during the run, and re-enabled when completed. To kill ay anytime in the system tray, right click and hit 'Exit'
5) The advanced menu will return to defaults after the app runs each time.
6) In Windows 8.X through Windows 10 the ActiveX and Fix permissions will be disabled as they are either not recommended or useless in those Operating systems.

September 5 2016 Version 3.3.2.2

Changes:
1) Added a detail of deletions and changes made on the machine. Stored in a txt file located in Users Documents
2) Corrected an oversight where the 32 bit plugins re actually here:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
and the 64 bit plugins are located here:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

This does not change anything except correct the logs and references in the logs.

3) Changes the code structure a bit to make it more fluid. Nobody will notice this change