The Internet would not be the way it is today without the help of Adobe Flash Player. Back in the day, it was a fundamental part of our browsing experience and it was it was essential for any user. However, things do change, and in a time where technology has become so intertwined with our lives, it has been proved that Flash Player is not safe enough and it can represent a vulnerability.
As no one wants to be exposed to any kind of attacks, Flash quickly became some kind of a threat for online security and other alternatives, such as HTML 5 have been found. Finally, Adobe itself decided to end Flash Player in 2020. This means that we have only two years left.
Despite the fact that Adobe Flash Player is living its last days, this does not mean that it has been abandoned. In fact, it continues to receive constant updates, and any discovered flaw is solved as quickly as possible. That is exactly what Microsoft did when it released the KB4051613 Windows Update for Adobe Flash Player. Flash continues to be included in some Microsoft programs, such as Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge.
Fixes brought by the KB4051613 update
If you are curious about what this new update brings, you should know that there aren’t too many official details. In fact, the support article from Microsoft Knowledgebase only tells us that the “update resolves issues in Adobe Flash Player”, which can be a little too vague.
However, we managed to get more information from Adobe. Their website included more details about the fixes that come with the KB4051613 version: “In today’s release, we’ve updated Flash Player with an important functional fix impacting Flex content and recommend those users impacted update.”
For those who do not know, Adobe Flash Player had a bug which led to several crashes in the in the VMware vSphere , for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. This issue appeared in Adobe Flash Player version 27.0.0.170, but it appears that this new update manages to finally fix it.
On the Knowledgebase site it was also mentioned that this update is a prerequisite for Windows Server 2016 and pre-Windows 10 systems and you should also know something important. After you install the KB4051613 update, you will need to install language packs anew.
How to download the Adobe Flash Player KB4051613 update?
As always, there are more ways to get this new update.
Normally this new update is available for the Windows version that natively support Adobe Flash Player. Here are the versions for which Windows released the update: Windows 10 RTM, Windows 10 Version 1607, Windows 10 Version 1511, Windows Server Version 1709, Windows Server 2016, Windows 10 Version 1709 (Fall Creators Update), Windows 10 Version 1703 (Creators Update), Windows 8.1/Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Server 2012 R2, Server 2016.
If you have any of these versions, you go right ahead and get the update through Windows Update. It is quick and simple, and you should not have any problems. All you have to do is check the Update status and press the Download button. Alternatively, you can find this update on the Microsoft Update Catalog website, where you can install it manually.
If you have a different Windows version, you should know that you need to get the latest Adobe Flash Player version yourself. In order to do that you need to go to the Adobe site and get the update manually.
Since this new update appears to take care of only one issue, it is not vital to get it right away, unless you work with VMware. While it is best to keep all your programs up-to-date, this might count as an exception since it does not bring something that is essential for you.
Before you update Adobe Flash Player don’t forget to do a backup. The update should work smoothly, but you never know when something occurs, and you do not want to put your data at risk. Having the option to restore your system to a previous state might save your files in case something goes wrong.
