Apple on Wednesday released Safari 5.1.7, an update to its Web browser. One of the new security features is that Safari will automatically disable old versions of Adobe’s Flash Player.

“Out-of-date versions of Adobe Flash Player do not include the latest security updates and will be disabled to help keep your Mac secure,” according to Apple’s support Web site. “If Safari 5.1.7 detects an out-of-date version of Flash Player on your system, you will see a dialog informing you that Flash Player has been disabled. The dialog provides the option to go directly to Adobe’s website, where you can download and install an updated version of Flash Player.”

This is a great thing that will remind people with older versions of the software to update. The best way to keep your computer secure is to have the most update-to-date software and it’s good to see Apple doing this.