Can you live without Flashplayer?

Adobe's Flash software is now blocked by default on all versions of the Firefox web browser.

Mozilla, which develops Firefox, imposed the block because recently unearthed bugs in Flash were being actively used by cyber-thieves.

The bugs were detailed in a cache of documents stolen from security firm Hacking Team that was hit by attackers last week.

Adobe said it took Flash's security "seriously" and was planning bug fixes.

Flash is widely used on many websites for both multimedia and interactive elements

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33520935

Seems quite a few websites (mainly gaming ones like IGN) still require Flashplayer to watch videos and probably the biggest website of them all - Facebook - requires it to watch videos on the main website (mobile version doesnt)

So as more and more security experts are calling for Flash to be killed off, is it possible at the moment?

In the BBC article Mozilla are asking Adobe to set a date for turn off to allow developers to plan their move away from Flash. That date could be 5 years into the future - but all the time there is no date then there is lesser incentive for developers to move to alternatives.

So, no, a lot of systems at present could not live with the kill of Flash. But, setting a date if Adobe doesn't plan to make it significantly more secure would at least give a target.

Not sure about blocked by default. It's flash plugin blocks out of date versions by default, forcing an update or a manual 'allow' on a site by site basis.

I use the Flashblock extension anyway, as I rail against sites that employ automatic flash videos and eat my bandwidth without asking me first. The sudden unexpected video not only damaged one's experience of said sites, it leaves open very nasty situations if a site gets hijacked, or redirected to some other site.

Is it possible to kill it off? Certainly. Do the 'killers' have a value for money alternative to sell to video stream providers?

With regards the flash software you must make sure that it is up to date at all times irrespective of what browser you are using.

Adobe Flash protected mode in Firefox
(Redirected from Enable Flash Protected Mode Settings on Firefox)

Flash protected mode is a security feature for Firefox which is implemented by Adobe for Windows operating systems (Windows Vista/7/8 or above). This feature is enabled by default, to make it difficult for attackers to access your computer.

Flash protected mode might cause Flash performance problems in Firefox, such as persistent hangs or plugin crashes. This is especially true for users on Windows touchscreen devices and for users who use accessibility tools.

You can turn off Flash protected mode by following these steps:

Click on the menu button new fx menu , followed by Add-ons.
Click on the Plugins panel and select Options next to Shockwave Flash.
Remove the check mark next to Enable Adobe Flash protected mode.

flash protected mode fx38

Click the menu button New Fx Menu and then click Exit Close 29
to close Firefox completely, so that the change can take effect.

When you reopen Firefox, Flash protected mode will be disabled.
Warning: Disabling Flash protected mode makes your computer more vulnerable to security exploits. Do not disable this feature unless you are affected by poor Flash performance.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/adobe-flash-pro...

Trouble is Nick there are more and more zero day exploits found that take Adobe a week or 2 to fix them.

Yes i'm afraid the flash player is taking a vast amount of exploits at this time

No, it's been driving me mad.

Even the BBC news uses it.

The default blocking was temporary, due to a security exploit that has apparently been around for years, but only recently entered the public domain, making it more dangerous.

Adobe quickly released an update, which has seen the block lifted (at least on Chrome), but it annoyingly still warns that it will "soon be unsupported". I believe "soon" translates as: "September".

But I read recently that 28% of websites still use it.

Facebook does (although FB was apparently amongst those calling for its demise), the BBC does, the National Lottery does - to name but three legitimate sites I visit fairly often.

I think Chrome will be dead for me once it stops supporting Flash, as too many of my bookmarked sites still use it.

It's not that I particularly still want to keep it - it's that major sites I frequent haven't migrated from it yet, which means they will be permanently broken in my browser.

I don't think a browser abandoning a technology that's still used by almost a third of sites is exactly putting the user first.

Cant you chose to activate it, like i am with Firefox? Dont use Chrome

At the moment, it's only a warning - it's annoying, but doesn't stop you using it.

However, the reason for the warning is it will become unusable from September, and there won't be a workaround/override.

I believe Firefox is headed the same way. I don't know if the timescale is the same, but I think they are committed to ending support, which means it will stop working for you too sometime soon.

I recently discovered there is an ESR variant of flash and this ESR version has had less vulns than the feature updated version, so I am going to switch to the ESR version soon.

With youtube changed to html5 I do use it less but sadly I still have some sites that use flash so I cannot do away with it yet.