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I think I'm going to leave Adobe Flash out...

glitch

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I've just recently rebuilt my desktop machine after complete system failure (except the hard drive, which was pulled, luckily). I took the opportunity to do a fresh install of Arch Linux, removing my defunct (and unused) Windows partition to free up the 100 GB set aside for it. I've been installing software from the Arch package repositories as I needed them, and yesterday I got a link from a friend to YouTube, which reminded me that I didn't have the Adobe Flash plugin installed.

I think I'm going to skip it, though. Flash ads and embedded content are some of the things that help make the WWW a less pleasant experience. If I really need to view Flash content, I can do so either in a WinXP virtual machine or by downloading the FLV file directly.

Does anyone else run without Flash installed? Have you noticed a negative effect in your browsing ability, or just a lack of annoying content you weren't looking for anyway?
 
At least in more recent versions of IE (and problably lots of other browsers too), you can disable/enable flash and other plugins, which means that it can be enabled just in the cases it is needed.

However, then flash-based ads are usually replaced with either still images or animated .gif's.
 
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I don't have flash installed on most of the machines I use. For one, it doesn't work very well, and two - I have no interest in most flash content. It's definitely one of the detracting things on the internet.

-Ian
 
I really hate Flash and think it's horribly misused, but unfortunately any time I try to go without it, it's just a matter of time before I end up finding one thing I actually need that uses it.

My workaround is installing the Flashblock plug-in, which replaces all of the blinky Flash crap with a play button. Then, if it turns out that I can't use the page without the blinky Flash crap, I can press the little play button and let it start. Frequently a page uses multiple Flash components, and I can just hit play on the one I need, to spare myself some blinky crap. If there's one thing the web absolutely, positively doesn't need, it's more blinky crap.

Installing Adblock Plus with the malware domains subscription is another good move. If there's any malicious Flash crap going around, the malware domains subscription will block it. Along with other ways of delivering fake defragmenters, antivirus software, and other trojan horses.
 
If you use Firefox, you can install Flashblock, which disables Flash by default. You will have to click on the specific item to activate the Flash content. It's pretty handy. As Dave mentioned, Adblock Plus is a really good addition to Flashblock.
 
i use firefox and noscript. Its basically flashblock on steroids. Blocks all scripts from running. I can enable specific ones when I need to. Once I installed it, i havent had any malware on my system on over a year.
 
I've got one of those iPads, which Apple has absolutely refused to support flash on, and considering that it's supposed to specifically be an internet device I find it quite annoying just how much of the internet is broken with a total lack of flash support.

The Firefox/Flashblock method is much better in my opinion as well, since it keeps the annoying bits at bay yet still allows you to use flash when needed.
 
I have Flash installed, since there's a few sites I want it for and none of the lightweight browsers have HTML5 support yet, but I'm a zealous user of Flash-block plugins, since every goddamn site these days has half a dozen stupid ads that slide out over the page and cover up what you're reading until you click to make them go away. It's the same reason I use Noscript - 90% of the non-HTML/CSS content on the Web is just flagrant abuse of the reader.
 
I kinda enjoy it on my off topic 64-bit windows 7 system. I've been using Shiretoko (64-bit compiled version of Firefox) but there is no support for a 64-bit version of Flash. On the bright side I safely browse without it and still with most other firefox plugins working. Doesn't Opera also support disabling of web features/plugins.. been a while since I played with it but I recall it also having similar but less fun plugins like Firefox but with theoretical smaller memory footprint (and less memory leaks though Firefox points out those are commonly caused by the plugins not their native application).

Although for truly safe browsing I still use ob1 (off by one) where you can disable all java and just have a plain view of a website. That's usually only if I'm going to some strange website that I want some clear text data on but don't trust.. not an every day browser.
 
I'm not really worried about it from a security standpoint, since I'm running Linux, and a not-super-popular distro at that, also on a 64-bit system. Flash has become what I remember banner ads in the late 90's becoming...rarely does it present me with information that I wish to see!

I don't use AdBlock as I redirect queries to most of the really annoying ad people (DoubleClick and friends) at the premesis router...they all fail to resolve. I wasn't aware of the FlashBlock plugin...I'll definitely keep that on hand if I discover Flash is more useful than not having Flash.
 
The "NoScript" plug-in is another useful tool. Requires permission to run scripts on pages.
 
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