We all need flash. It’s a given. Because Adobe (the maker of Flash Player) knows that, they take every opportunity to track you and install their extra programs on your computer.

We dont want any of that.

It used to be an extra program “GetPlus” came along for the ride, but that annoyance seems to have subsided. Now they sometimes sneak in McAfee Scanner. I trust McAfee, but if you already have antivirus, this programs adds little and runs all the time, slowing down your system. And who knows what they’ll put in the future?

So when you get this window:

[This specific example is for the v16.0.0.235 update]

DON’T click DOWNLOAD

Note: if you dont see this window, it might be because your adobe flash is set to download and install updates automatically. You can change this in the flash entry in control panel (blog post coming soon).

Two ways

1. My personally verified safe files

I plan to keep the following location up to date with the latest download files, selected and verified by me: Montgomery Minds box.com Flash Player file storage. (If that doesnt work try this or this.) That page has hash values and exact files sizes in the description for each file, and in the source.txt file in that folder.

(You can browse all the files i have for download at: Montgomery Minds box.com file storage)

At the end of your install you’ll see that “Allow Adobe to install updates” is checked by default–BAD. That will let them install whatever they want next time. Instead, check “Notify me to install updates” and then check Montgomery Minds box.com Flash Player file storage next time you are notified, and download from there.

2. Second-best way

Or, as of 2/16/2015, the next best recommendation is go to the Adobe FlashPlayer FAQ / Flash Player Help / Installation problems (its title keeps changing) and search for something called something like “direct link” or “downloading the installer directly”. It is often in a section dealing with download or installation problems, eg, “Still having problems?” and listed as an alternative to the default installation method. That’s good, because the default installation method is “heavier”, containing as much junk as adobe can put in there. For a while now, the direct link filename has been called something like "install_flash_player.exe" and "install_flash_player_ax.exe" for IE (Internet Explorer). Mouse over the link that looks like the “direct link” and see if the file name is something like that. Note that the filename "install_flashplayer11x32_mssd_aaa_aih.exe" is not a good one.

Also note the size.

The direct link "install_flash_player.exe" today is 17.4MB. That’s big. That’s good.

The “network install” more invasive method "install_flashplayer11x32_mssd_aaa_aih.exe" today is 1.0MB. That’s small. That’s bad. That means it’s really going to contact the adobe website to download the real stuff.

Direct Link – Example URLs

Here’s a direct link accurate as of this writing: http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player.exe (at the time it was version 16.0.0.235).

• (Previous link: http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/support/install_flash_player.exe (at the time it was version 12.0.R0))

And http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_ax.exe for IE.

• (Previous link: http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/current/support/install_flash_player_ax.exe for IE.)

And http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/latest/help/install_flash_player_ppapi.exe for Chromium based browsers and Opera

• (A flash specifically for Chromium based browser and Opera is relatively new, ie, appeared in 2014. The standard Chrome browser however does not use this–it has flash support built-in.)

Check version, Check installation

No matter how you get your files, to check whether your installation is working, or what version you have, or whether you have the latest, try one of these two pages (valid as of 1/3/2014; they keep changing):

• About Adobe Flash Player at url: https://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
• Flash Player Help at url: https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html. Click on the “Check Now” button.

If that doesnt work, Google check flash version site:www.adobe.com or validate flash installation site:www.adobe.com, ie only on the adobe.com site to protect yourself from malware, or better yet, DuckDuckGo it eg: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=check%20flash%20version%20validate%20flash%20installation+site:www.adobe.com

References:
“Get Adobe Flash Without GetPlus in Firefox” on techsupportalert.com

“Get Adobe Flash and Reader without GetPlus in Firefox”
and updated “Download the Latest Adobe Flash for Firefox and IE Without Any Extras”