How can I get rid of outdated versions of Flash?

Question

Hi. I'm new to the Adobe forums and I need help with Flash
Player.
On a friend's recommendation, I ran my system through Secunia
Software Inspector. It found that my Adobe Flash Player was
outdated and that I have five outdated versions of Macromedia Flash
on my system in seven different locations.
I have updated my Adobe Flash Player, and that's fine now,
but the installation failed to get rid of the old versions of
Macromedia Flash. The Secunia writeup even hinted this might be a
problem, and suggesting I go to "the vendor" (Adobe) to find out
how to solve the problem. Here's what it said:
"NOTE: When updating Flash Player, older versions are not
always automatically removed from your system. If older versions
were detected that you believe should not be present, then please
contact the vendor regarding how to remove them from your system."
These Macromedia files don't show up in my Control Panel >
Add/Remove facility. They don't even show up if I Search for
Macromedia. I did copy down the names of the files where Secunia
says they are found:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\swflash.ocx (version
4.0.7.0)
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\Flash.ocx (version
7.0.19.0)
C:\i386\swflash.ocx (version 4.0.7.0)
C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\Flasha.ocx (version
6.0.80.0)
C:\Program Files\EarthLink Setup\Windows\access\program
files\EarthLink TotalAccess\Flash.ocx ( version 6.0.79.0)
C:\i386\Flash.ocx (version 7.0.19.0)
C:\i386\NPSWF32.dll (version 8.0.24.0)
Can anyone suggest a solution? I am not at all adept at
computers (for all I know, even asking this question gives me
away), so I may need extra-simple language. But apparently, talking
to people who know Adobe is the only way I can find myself a
solution.
Many thanks.
newbuilder

Answer 1

Hi,
You may already know this, but have you checked your folder
options under the tools menu in Windows explorer?, not your browser
Internet explorer. Click folder options, click on the view tab,
click on show hidden files and folders and you can deselect hide
protected system files and folders. Hit apply and Ok. Do another
search, type in some of these file names or their extensions,
Ex.(*.ocx), and the files should come up, oh I almost forgot, down
at the bottom of the search page there are options, choose to
search for hidden files or system files, then do your search again.
Secunia says in order to disable the prior versions to delete
certain files, but it doesn't look like one can remove all the
entries and files from ones registry or hard drive, it looks like
they will always remain on your pc, but the previous flash player
versions should be disabled. When you find and remove these files,
I recommend you go back to the folder options in windows explorer
and select hide protected system files and folders. Just so you
don't accidentally delete these important files, unless you know
what your are doing, if you do, your computer will be messed up
royally. Also, it may be a good idea to also select hide hidden
files and folders. It depends on your knowledge of the pc.
Good Luck! I hope this helped you.