You Really Shouldn’t Be Running Adobe Flash Player Anymore
We are living in the last few months of 2018, and it seems that Adobe Flash’s expiration date is just around the corner. This isn’t just wishful thinking – Adobe has said it will officially end support for the ailing web plugin in 2020 .
Let’s say, the road is a tablecloth.
For a long time, Adobe Flash Player was one of the most widely used browser plugins on the Internet. Animations, web games, and entire websites were all powered by Flash. Even the YouTube video player once ran on Flash. The only problem was that Flash has some serious security issues that are incredibly easy to exploit, and over time Flash has become known as the entry point for many security breaches. Annoying ads, backdoor malware, and data collection have found their way onto many PCs thanks to Flash security holes.
That all changed when HTML5 hit the scene and since then the presence and need for Flash has diminished. HTML5 is more powerful, easier to use, and much safer than Flash, and the vast majority of popular websites switched to HTML5 a long time ago. To be fair, some parts of the internet still run on Flash, but most of them are browser games, ads, and legacy sites that never made the transition to HTML5, so chances are you’ll need Flash to view your favorite websites in 2018 low.
So if Adobe is about to ditch Flash, is a security nightmare and has been ignored by most web developers for years, you can stop using it as well. Here are some ways to disable Adobe Flash.
How to disable Adobe Flash
You have two options for disabling Adobe Flash in most browsers.
If you need or want to keep Adobe Flash for any reason, you can configure your browser to ask for permission to run the plugin. This way, you have complete control over where and when Flash starts.
Another option is to disable Flash completely. You will not receive permission prompts, so you will have to manually re-enable the flash if you need it to run on a specific website, but this will be the safest option since Flash will not work at all.
Here’s how to achieve any result in all major web browsers.
Safari
To force permissions: Go to Safari> Preferences> Security and click on “Website Preferences” next to the internet plugins option. In this new menu, find and select Adobe Flash Player from the list of plug-ins, then set When visiting other websites to Ask , then click Finish to save your changes and close the window.
To completely disable: Use the same method as above to open Flash preferences, but instead set the “When visiting other websites” option to “Block” . Click Finish to save and close.
Chromium
While Chrome once had the ability to completely disable browser plugins, recent versions of the browser have removed this feature. Instead, the only option to disable Flash in Chrome is to force permissions. Go to Settings> Advanced> Content Settings> Flash . Then, in Flash settings, turn on Ask First . You can also add specific websites to completely block or allow Flash content to play without prior permission.
Fire fox
The most recent versions of the Mozilla web browser will restrict Adobe Flash (and other similar plugins) and force default permissions , so no changes are required.
Internet Explorer
To manually set the resolution: Click the gear icon to open the Settings tab, then go to “Manage Add-ons”> “Toolbars and extensions»> «Shockwave Flash Objec t» . Right-click the Shockwave Flash Object and select More Info . In this window, select “remove all sites”, then remove the asterisk. Close windows and restart your browser.
To completely disable: Follow all the steps above until you open the More Information window by right-clicking the Shockwave Flash object. Then click the Disable button located in the lower right corner of the window.
Edge
Edge does not provide an option to require Flash to ask for permission to launch. Instead, you can only disable the plugin completely. To do this, go to Settings> View Advanced Settings , then turn off Use Adobe Flash .
How to detect a fake Flash update
If you are using the most recent updated versions of any of the above browsers, you do not need to manually install the Adobe Flash update as the browser will do this automatically and from the correct source directly from Adobe. So if you are randomly prompted to download and install one of them, it means that it is an adware of a fake version of Adobe and likely contains some form of malicious software.
However, some recent versions of this tactic have actually included legitimate versions of Adobe Flash along with any malware they pack. This is just an attempt to trick users and distract attention from whatever is sneaking on their PC, so don’t fall for it. The good news is that disabling Adobe Flash will close these security holes and even prevent fake ads from showing in the first place, although additional ad blocking software may be required to suppress them completely.
Finally, if you came here suspecting that you were infected with a fake Adobe installation, there is a lot more you need to do than just disable Flash to clean up your device. Be sure to check out our tips, guides, and software recommendations for anti-malware solutions to get you started.