OS 10.12.6

Quite often a Flash player window appears telling me there is an update when I don't even have Flash Player. Is there a way of preventing this annoyance?

jaybass

The only reasons you should be getting those update notices for Flash Player are

1. You have not completely uninstalled Flash Player
2. You are visiting web sites that have out-of-date Flash content

Therefore a two pronged approach may be necessary to eliminate the unwanted popups. To be sure you have gotten rid of any Flash Player detritus on your system, re-uninstall Flash Player. (Adobe's official uninstall instructions may be found here, or you can follow Cult-Of-Mac's instructions.) You might also perform a Spotlight, Find Any File, or EasyFind search for the term flash or player as a final fail safe. If the cause is due to flash content on the website(s) your options are:

1. Many sites converted their Flash content into HTML 5 and archived the Flash version in a special section for compatibility with older systems. Be sure you are accessing the correct section of the site.
2. Contact the site(s) webmaster and request the content be updated
3. Find alternate sources for the content
4. Learn to live with the popups (not recommended but may be necessary in some — hopefully very limited — cases)

com.macromedia.Flash Player ESR.plugin.sb
com.macromedia.Flash Player ESR.plugin.sb
com.macromedia.Flash Player.plugin.sb
com.macromedia.Flash Player.plugin.sb
Flash Player
Flash Player
Flash Player 1

These are the files that will not delete/trash after removing all the other FP files. I used the 'find any file" app. I downloaded the uninstall app but these files remain.

Will these remaining files still allow the appearance of the F/P window? If so, what else can I do?

jaybass

I have not, personally, used Remove-it but you could consider it.

First you will have to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) following these instructions following that you can delete the files. When you are finished deleting all the files BE SURE TO RE-ENABLE SIP again following the steps in the linked Mac Reports article.

Joe, I have booted up in recovery mode and typed in csrutil disable which upon clicking software, it showed SIP disabled. I restarted and I deleted the F/P items. I then shut down and restarted in recovery mode but the screen was black with a padlock. I went though the procedure (3) times but the padlock appeared (3) times. I also typed in csrutil status (3) times so I guess I didn't do something correctly.

So I have gotten rid of F/P but SIP is still disabled. I will not use my computer until you say it is safe to do so.

jaybass

I finally enabled SIP. The problem was that entering csrutil status will not work. I found out by duck ducking that says Sierra had to enter "enable" instead of status.

Thanks for your help.

jaybass

I'm glad to be able to help. As you found the details tend to evolve over time, so precise instructions can be difficult. The crsutil command does not even exist in Big Sur on my M1 Mac.