Warning! Flash player updates wipe out Flash CS user profiles

Adobe Flash users beware!

It has been brought to our attention that Flash Player 14 updates wipe out your entire user profile with all your Flash settings, commands, interface layouts and keyboard shortcuts.

After updating the 'benign' browser plugin on more than one occasion under Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 all user preferences were deleted and Flash CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5 and CS6 start in First Run mode, which means they are reset with all settings to default.

Please, backup your user settings in 

C:\Documents and Settings\Your-User-Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Flash ***
or
C:\Users\Your-User-Name\AppData\Local\Adobe\Flash ***

before updating the browser plugin.

After the update if your settings are erased all that you need to do to restore them is to copy your original files back while Flash is closed.

I have just tested this on a Windows 8.1 machine with Flash Player v.14.0.0.179 downloaded from Adobe website. At the end of the installation the installer silently deleted the whole Adobe settings folder, i.e.
C:\Users\Your-User-Name\AppData\Local\Adobe

Macromedia Flash 8 profile remains intact.

This bug would potentially affect not only Flash user settings but all other Adobe products installed on the computer.

If you have any additional information about this problem, please report in the comments section below.
Thanks!

 
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