Old flash player files clogging up system

[Akkedis]

Yesterday I updated Flash Player. Afterwards, I did a search of my hard drive (Windows 10; search 'file:flash AND exe'). It came up with 16 exe-files ranging between 816kb and 3375kb. Many are simply duplicated as shown below in chronological order:

I am really curious:

Do I really need all of these on my machine?

What will happen if I delete all older duplicates?

Why didn't yesterday's update get rid of some of the older files before replacing them?

[kglad]

[moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Using Flash Player]

[_maria_]

Do I really need all of these on my machine?

Everything in C:\Windows\%SysDir%\Macromed\Flash and is the version of Flash Player used by the browser.  These are requried as long as you have Flash installed.  FlashPlayerApp.exe in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 is the Flash Player Settings Manager and is required. 

On Windows 10, Microsoft integrates Flash Player ActiveX Control in IE and Edge browser and all updates are released by Microsoft via Windows updates.  The most recent version of Flash Player ActiveX is in the C:\Windows\%SysDir%\Macromed\Flash directory.  Note that the integrated Flash Player ActiveX is a component of Windows IE/Edge and is not deleted when Flash Player is uninstalled.

What will happen if I delete all older duplicates?
Why didn't yesterday's update get rid of some of the older files before replacing them?

The files in C:\Windows\WinSxS are related to Microsoft updates.  Whether or not they are required is a Microsoft question.

More information on the C:\Windows\SxS directory is available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2795190/how-to-address-disk-space-issues-that-are-caused-by...

[Test Screen Name]

On no account try to remove files in WinSxS. Windows puts them there, Windows takes them away. They are part of the machinery of Windows. In general, the quest you are on is a dangerous and mostly fruitless one. Most people have no clue what these files are or how they get there.