How to manually remove Flash?

Question

Level 1

5 points

How to manually remove Flash?

Is there a way to manually remove every part of Adobe Flash from OSX so that I can reinstall? I have posted the following on Adobe's forums but haven't managed to get a single reply!

Flash is crashing when I try playing video in Safari, Firefox or Google Chrome.

Chrome says that I have two almost identical versions of flash installed.

I have downloaded the uninstaller - it completes and says it has uninstalled, but does absolutely nothing.

Installing new versions does nothing either, I have rebooted in between etc but nothing. I've even tried removing the browsers and reinstalling.

iMac 24 inch, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 29, 2010 10:42 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 29, 2010 10:52 AM in response to arghhhh

Quit all browsers. Navigate to /Library/Internet Plugins/ folder. Select all the Flash items in the folder and drag to the Trash. Or you can visit the Adobe site and download the Flash uninstaller.

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,163 points

Nov 29, 2010 10:55 AM in response to arghhhh

http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/uninstallflash_playerosx.dmg

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Answer 3

arghhhh Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 29, 2010 11:10 AM in response to Limnos

Thanks, but as I have said already, I have downloaded and run the uninstaller but it DOES NOTHING.

I have looked in Library / Internet plugins, but there is nothing in there.

I have even searched for 'flash player' and removed a lot of directories. But it still runs from somewhere, and then crashes, just as before.

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 29, 2010 12:46 PM in response to arghhhh

Flash only installs two items in the /Library/Internet Plugins/ folder. There must be something there because several default plugins are installed by OS X. Sure you aren't looking in /Home/Library/Internet Plugins/ folder? Are you even sure your problem is related to Flash?

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Answer 5

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:12 PM in response to arghhhh

Safari-Help-Installed Plug-Ins will tell you exactly what plugins are operating, and their file names.
It won't reveal which of these they're located in - but you can paste the paths in Safari or in Finder-Go-Go to Folder and get straight there

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/

or

~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/

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Answer 6

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:17 PM in response to arghhhh

Until you figure it out, download [ClickToFlash|http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash> to block all flash content and prevent the crashes.

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Answer 7

arghhhh Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:31 PM in response to Kappy

It has to be Flash as the Flash plug-in crashes in Safari, Chrome AND Firefox.

There's nothing related to Flash in any of the Internet Plug-In directories. I've even done a 'sudo su' from terminal to check that way.

Mad huh?

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Answer 8

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:38 PM in response to arghhhh

If the Flash plug-in is not installed then how can Flash cause your browser to crash? Have you quit and relaunched the browser since removing the plug-ins? You must do that. In fact you may even need to do a restart or open Activity Monitor and locate the flashd process and kill it.

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Answer 9

arghhhh Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:44 PM in response to Kappy

Well I guess it MUST be installed somewhere still! I'm rebooting every time I try anything just to make sure.

There's still apparently 2 versions installed. Google Chrome's 'about:plugins' still says:

Flash - Version: 10.1.103.19
Shockwave Flash 10.1 r103

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Answer 10

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:48 PM in response to arghhhh

Mayge Chrome is simply confused or it's built-in to Chrome. Of course given the beta/alpha nature of Chrome perhaps removing it may end your troubles.

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Answer 11

arghhhh Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 29, 2010 2:03 PM in response to Kappy

Ok, getting some where, if not further 🙂

Finally found the plug-in, in Chrome's package contents (by right-clicking Chrome in finder and clicking 'show package contents').

Firefox and Safari must have been sharing it somehow, as removing this stopped flash working in them also!!

Have now removed Chrome & Firefox altogether. Re-ran flash uninstaller. Yay! No flash! Rebooted, installed Flash. First use - crashed!! Closed and reopened Safari - second run, video stuttering.

I know Mr Jobs doesn't want us to have Flash anyway, but I need it for some sites and this is really doing my head in :/

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Answer 12

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 29, 2010 2:16 PM in response to arghhhh

Not so. Apple's argument is that the current implementation of Flash is too resource hungry as well as inherently unstable regardless of platform. If Adobe would make the appropriate improvements Flash needs then there is no problem in using it. This is partly why Flash isn't on the iDevices.

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Answer 13

arghhhh Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 29, 2010 2:28 PM in response to Kappy

Of course, well my Tongue is in my cheek when I say that about mr jobs, and I'm not denying it causes huge problems (like this one!), but its only fair in this context to point out the huge hole flash would make in apples AppStore profits if the idevices supported it. And I'm typing this on an iPad incidentally 😀

Anyway, right now I'm actually have to consider dusting off my windows xp box so I can use flash, which is a really depressing last resort.

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Answer 14

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Nov 29, 2010 2:34 PM in response to arghhhh

I'm not sure why you are having a problem. I use Safari with the latest version of Adobe Flash. I have ClickToFlash installed as well. I have not had any Flash related problems. Been using Flash with Safari and OS X since 10.1. I would start looking more carefully at your system rather than at Flash. Just a thought.

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