Tired of Adobe Flash Security Vulnerabilities? Here’s How to Disable Flash in Chrome

Adobe Flash remains at the center of various security concerns reported in the recent months, including yesterday's Yahoo ad network being hacked through unpatched Flash vulnerabilities. While Apple doesn't natively support Flash with its Safari browser or its devices, Chrome still comes with Flash enabled.

How to disable Flash in Chrome on Mac or Windows:

Considering several high security risks that Flash exposes your computers to, it might be a good idea to disable Flash in Chrome on all your devices, including OS X or Windows machines. This doesn't mean that you won't be able to use the websites still utilizing this plugin, including the mass favorite YouTube, as you can tweak the settings to have it run when needed. You will have the choice to disable Flash plugin completely or when the Flash player is allowed to run. Follow these steps to disable Flash in Chrome and get rid of the security vulnerabilities.

1. Go to chrome://settings
2. Click on Show advanced settings… 
3. Under the Privacy section, click on Content settings... tab
4. In the pop-up windows, under the Plugins section,
   1. Check the Let me choose when to plugin content if you want to have the handle of playing Flash videos and other items in your browser. This will also rid you of those annoying video ads based on Flash. You can always choose to play them but they won't run automatically.
   2. OR, you can check the detect and run important plugin content if you don't want the hassle of playing everything by yourself. This option, when enabled, will help Chrome moderate when it is necessary to run Flash content on a site. Chrome will automatically run that content for you. 
5. When you want to view a disabled Flash video or other item on a site, right or control-click it and select Run This Plugin from the context menu. Your selected video will then start playing.

If you want to completely disable Flash,

• Click on Manage individual plugins... under the same Plugins section of the Content settings windows.
• Click on Disable to disable Adobe Flash completely.

These are a very few and simple steps to help your machine stay safe from the innumerable vulnerabilities that Adobe Flash exposes you to. Not to forget Flash's resource hogging activities too. Choose the options best suited to your consumption of Flash-based content while still managing your security.

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