Got Flash? Of course. It’s the video standard for the world wide web. Everybody uses Flash video, right? It’s not dead yet, but if there’s a God in heaven, may Flash die quickly and without mercy.
In the meantime, we have browsers to use and web pages to view. Many of those web pages display Flash videos and ads. Here are a couple of beneficial ways to eliminate Flash or to manage Flash on your Mac.
First, delete the Flash plugin from your Mac. That means no Flash on Safari or Firefox. Both browsers will run better without the plugin. That means fewer crashes, longer battery life, and you won’t miss the ads.
What about Flash video?
These days, most videos on the world wide web are also available using HTML5, which is why your iPhone and iPad can view most YouTube videos (Flash doesn’t work on Apple’s iDevices, and works poorly on other handheld devices).
Here’s the way I can still view Flash videos on my Mac. Whenever I encounter a video that requires the Flash plugin, and it happens less and less these days, I bring up Google’s Chrome browser. Flash is built in to Chrome, and for some strange reason, it actually works better than Adobe’s plugin for Safari and Firefox (courtesy of Daring Fireball’s John Gruber).
If you don’t like that burdensome two step approach, there’s another way. Rather, a couple of other ways. First, there’s ClickToFlash, a free Mac Safari extension which prevents the Flash plugin from loading automatically. Second, there’s ClickToPlugin by the same developer.
With ClickToFlash, every Flash object is replaced by a simple placeholder. If you want to see the Flash video, simply click the placeholder. ClickToPlugin works similarly, but simple prevents any plugin from loading in Safari until you want it to.
Other solutions include the commercial FlashFrozen which works differently. If Flash begins to hog your Mac’s CPU, or drain the batter, or both, FlashFrozen can freeze it, or even kill the plugin.
Flash shows up on so many web site pages as ads that your Mac can overheat. Battery life is reduced. I’m in favor of an online Occupy Flash movement.
Out with the old. In with the new.
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