Adobe Flash wants to run on websites which I'm pretty sure doesn't need it.

[mkvamm1]

So back when I had Adobe Flash it wanted to run on websites which I've never seen it wanted to run on before. I have uninstalled it and it doesn't ask me anymore (obviously) but I'm still curious as to why it happened.

[obobski]

*LOTS* of sites have Flash content embedded into them, especially for advertisements (but increasingly for basic stuff that should be done with HTML, like menus), and if you have plug-in on-demand (which it sounds like you did/do), you will see a lot of that stuff flag-up before it runs. The modern web is more or less infested with Flash at this point, and its pretty hard to browse many sites without working Flash support, and if they rely on Flash for presenting multi-media content (e.g. h.264 video), without working Flash h/w acceleration (i.e. from a GPU).

 

Generally having plug-in on-demand is a good way to improve both performance and security - only letting the specific applet that you're trying to use (e.g. watch a video on Youtube; not the 50,000 ads, pop-unders, pop-ups, trackers, animated widgets, etc ad infintium that they want to deliver along with it) reduces the amount of stuff your browser has to download and render and display. It also, in principle, can block some nasties that deliver thru Flash, or more often, JavaScript.

Edited February 22, 2016 by obobski

[JimboUK]

I use this, it's handy because it gives you the option to load the element should you choose to do so. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flashblock/cdngiadmnkhgemkimkhiilgffbjijcie?

[Vagrant0]

I use this, it's handy because it gives you the option to load the element should you choose to do so. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flashblock/cdngiadmnkhgemkimkhiilgffbjijcie?

For firefox, noscript plugin works well. There's also flashblock which works alongside it and allows you to see both the site that the request is coming from as well as manually approve or deny it. I strongly suggest these for anyone who uses Firefox and has enough literacy to recognize sites and enable content intelligently.

https://noscript.net/

http://flashblock.mozdev.org/

 

I would also suggest the WoT (Web of Trust) addon since it often works as an indicator about a site's legitimacy before you visit it by means of a search, it will also auto-block and prompt for sites that have been reported as questionable or dangerous. It has saved me from more careless link clicks than I care to admit and is something I strongly recommend any time I get a chance.

https://www.mywot.com/