If you haven’t already, you should disable Flash on your computer. Although operated by a trusted company, Adobe, it is outdated and insecure software.
Adobe Flash is what used to be absolutely essential for things like watching online videos (like YouTube) and playing online games. But Steve Jobs hated Flash, and when he removed support for it from all Apple products, the days of Adobe Flash were numbered.
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Then Android dropped support. Then HTML5 was born, which shoved a boot into the dying body of Flash, condemning it to uselessness.
The development of HTML5 has made Flash completely meaningless, and those who still use it become vulnerable to all kinds of malicious attacks from nefarious people.
So in the interests of online safety, it’s time to disable Adobe Flash once and for all. Trust me, this won’t affect your web browsing in the least. And in the process, you will become much safer.
Two ways to disable Adobe Flash
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Note, I said disable , not remove . While you can completely uninstall Flash, you don’t need to. Just turn it off and leave.
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Although you have Flash installed on your computer, the problem is actually with the browser. This is the moment when potential attackers can exploit vulnerabilities and inject malware.
So you have to disable it at the browser level and there are two ways to do it. Today I am going to focus on Chrome and Firefox. Safari users don’t have to do anything as Flash is disabled by default.
If you are using Microsoft Edge, you can read my post on disabling Flash for Edge However, you should consider switching from Edge because Microsoft will soon be replacing it with a Chromium-based version.
Install Flash Blocker
Install Flash Blocking Plugin
If you want something fast and painless, you can go the route of installing an extension / plugin that will do the job for you. Installing extensions is not always the best solution as they slow down your browser. But if you are conservative in your choice of extensions or don’t like getting your hands dirty, this may be the best solution for you.
For Chrome, Flashcontrol is the most recommended. After installing the plugin, you will see that some web players that have not been updated to HTML5 do not work, for example:
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But since most of the Internet is currently running HTML5, this sort of thing isn’t really that common. But since you are only turning Flash off, not uninstalling it, in theory you can turn it back on if you want to watch a quick video that would otherwise not work. But obviously you should avoid this.
For Firefox, you should try Flash Block Plus
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Disable it in your browser settings
Turn it off in browser settings
While installing an extension is the fastest and easiest method, it is not necessary. If you can find your way to browser settings, you can disable Adobe Flash in well, flash.
In Chrome, enter the following into the address bar (without http: //)
chrome: // settings / content / flash
Then the Flash settings in Chrome will appear. It should look like this.
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Move that blue switch to the left with your mouse and Ask first (Recommended) changes to:
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Below is an optional blacklist and whitelist. So you can either leave Flash running and just blacklist individual sites (which is quite tedious and time-consuming), or you can block Flash entirely and whitelist certain trusted sites.
In Firefox, the Flash browser plugin has been removed in newer versions of the browser (although you can still install it if you want). But older versions of the browser will still have Flash. If you are using an older version (earlier than version 52), you need to enter the URL in the address bar:
about: addons
Then click on the Plugins tab. Find Flash and disable it. You may need to restart your browser.
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