Earlier this year, Adobe married its security update rollout with Microsoft’s, so every second Tuesday of each month, both companies release patches and vulnerability fixes for their software.

Today, Adobe introduced the stable version of Flash Player 16, thus making another step towards a more stable and secure release that would protect users in a much more effective way when browsing the web and loading Flash content.

Since it’s a security release, Flash Player 16 is mostly based on fixing bugs and other performance issues, but the company is yet to provide us with the full changelog, as it updated its download center with the new version only a few minutes ago.

Obviously, everyone is recommended to get the new Flash Player as soon as possible, especially because it fixes security flaws that would make their computers vulnerable when viewing Flash content.

Internet Explorer users getting it later today

Even though the new version of Flash Player is now available for download for all users out there, those who stick to Internet Explorer as their default browsers will actually receive version 16 later today.

Bringing together their security release rollouts wasn’t the only thing that Adobe and Microsoft did many months ago. Back in 2012, when Microsoft introduced Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, the company decided to bundle Adobe Flash Player right into the browser, without asking users to download an add-on or anything like that, which could make things more complex for them.

Instead, Flash Player is now available in Internet Explorer by default, but this doesn’t come without compromises.

Whenever Adobe rolls outs a new Flash Player update for its users, Microsoft needs to deliver the new version to Internet Explorer machines as well, so the two companies should work closely together to make sure that everyone gets patched.

Obviously, Internet Explorer users will get the new version via Windows Update, together with all the Patch Tuesday bulletins scheduled for today.
Critical update for everyone

Keeping Flash Player fully updated is critical for every user out there, especially because vulnerabilities in this client runtime environment can be easily exploited by cybercriminals online.

Compromising websites with malicious Flash content that can take advantage of these flaws is a common activity these days, so patching flaws in the app is critical to say the least, especially when talking about organizations and companies hosting private files and documents on their local drives.

Obviously, everyone should download Flash Player 16.0.0.235 as soon as today, while Internet Explorer should make sure that the new version is deployed on their PCs via Windows Update when it becomes available.