Flash and Keeping Your Browser Updated

Recently we’ve all been bombarded with headlines and news stories talking about the level of IT support and devices available for children across the country to help them access education while physical school buildings remain closed to many.  After nearly a year, many of us have already overcome issues around IT provision for our work and have shifted focus – quite rightly – back to delivering the highest standard of service to our clients.

It is crucial that we look after our IT devices in the same way as other valuable tools such as cars, bicycles, cookers or lawnmowers. It can often be very easy to take tools such as computers for granted, and only really start to think about them when something goes wrong or stops working.  Unfortunately, this can sometimes be too late, and can mean that we’ve missed opportunities to resolve issues relatively quickly and cheaply.

A good example of this was when Windows 10 launched, and Microsoft offered free upgrades to encourage users to move to the new operating system from other recent versions.  Although many people across the world took up this offer, some left it too late and had to pay to upgrade their systems at a later stage.

Over the Christmas period, you may not have noticed a small news story from Adobe, reminding people that after more than twenty years, they would be retiring their Flash technologies.  Even if you did spot the story, you may not have realised what it referred to.

In a nutshell, Flash was a technology platform that allowed people to develop interactive, multimedia content for the internet and deliver it as relatively small files.  The technology predates streaming services and complex web browsers such as the ones that we have today, many of which use a different technology called HTML5 to deliver content more efficiently and more securely.

Now that all of the major web browsers support HTML5, the Flash technology has become much less important in terms of delivering content, and actually presents a risk to many users because it requires them to use a “plugin”, or extra code added to their web browser.  This plugin provides an extra opportunity for hackers and other individuals to find security weaknesses and gain access to your device – and more importantly to your data.

From 12 January 2021, users with the Flash plugin started to see security warnings preventing them from accessing some types of content on the internet – and on the Development Zone.  Users with up to date web browsers, such as the latest versions of Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox will automatically have been redirected to content produced in HTML5 (where available).

If you have seen such warnings recently, or have been unable to access training courses on the Development Zone because of this issue (you will have seen an image with the Flash logo instead of the course), we would strongly urge you to look at what internet browser you are using, and consider upgrading it as a priority.

Web browsers such as Firefox and Chrome are available for download and use free-of-charge and will run on relatively old hardware, so updating does not have to be an expensive process.  Devices using Windows 10 should already be getting the latest version of Edge as part of the normal update cycle that happens in the background without you needing to take any action. 

Users of Windows 7 and 8 devices, or many mobile phones and tablets may have to take action themselves to update their browsers – if you’re in doubt, you should contact your IT team and ask for advice.

It’s worth taking a few minutes out of your day to update your browser – if you haven’t done so already – as not only will you avoid the issues with Flash, but you’ll gain additional security updates, and in many cases additional features to support and enrich your online experiences.