Is it viable to completely uninstall Flash?

[Hephaestus]

I still really dislike Flash, it makes my MBP hot and it's sluggish. I've heard a lot of people here saying that they have totally removed Flash from their computers and they have never looked back.

My question is, is it viable? Flash does seem to still have a big presence online. Surely a lot of websites, especially shopping ones still need it? Also, what about YouTube? How are people viewing YouTube if they've removed Flash.

Does one need to tweak a lot of settings and install other safari add-ons? A little clarification here would be greatly appreciated!

 

[GGJstudios]

I still really dislike Flash, it makes my MBP hot and it's sluggish. I've heard a lot of people here saying that they have totally removed Flash from their computers and they have never looked back.

My question is, is it viable? Flash does seem to still have a big presence online. Surely a lot of websites, especially shopping ones still need it? Also, what about YouTube? How are people viewing YouTube if they've removed Flash.

Does one need to tweak a lot of settings and install other safari add-ons? A little clarification here would be greatly appreciated!

Some websites won't function without Flash. For Flash-related issues:

• Find your Flash version and make sure it's the latest version available. Never install or update Flash from a pop-up on a website. Always go to Adobe's site to get Flash or updates.
• Install ClickToFlash (Safari), Flashblock (Firefox) or FlashBlock (Chrome) to control which Flash content plays on websites.
• Try using the YouTube HTML5 Video Player to watch YouTube videos, when available. (May impact fullscreen viewing. See link for details.) Some have reported better performance with HTML5, while some have reported worse. Try it and find out what works best for you.

 

[Small White Car]

Easy: Install Google Chrome and only use it when you need Flash.

Unlike other browsers, Chrome has its own built-in version of Flash. So you can remove the plug-in from your system, use Chrome when you need it, and then when you shut down Chrome you're guaranteed to have no Flash running in the background.

So you have Flash when you need it, but you can feel safe that Safari or Firefox or Camino aren't running some Flash ad in the background because they're simply no longer capable of it.

Just remember to shut down Chrome when you're done and you'll be fine. Follow the above tip about using Youtube's HTML 5 player and you'll kill most of your need for Flash right there.

 

[Feed Me]

Easy: Install Google Chrome and only use it when you need Flash.

I use this method and this Safari extension for YouTube in HTML5, since YouTube's own HTML5 player sucks and isn't supported for a lot of their videos. This extension works for every video.

 

[shurcooL]

Easy: Install Google Chrome and only use it when you need Flash.

Unlike other browsers, Chrome has its own built-in version of Flash. So you can remove the plug-in from your system, use Chrome when you need it, and then when you shut down Chrome you're guaranteed to have no Flash running in the background.

So you have Flash when you need it, but you can feel safe that Safari or Firefox or Camino aren't running some Flash ad in the background because they're simply no longer capable of it.

Just remember to shut down Chrome when you're done and you'll be fine. Follow the above tip about using Youtube's HTML 5 player and you'll kill most of your need for Flash right there.

Yep.

 

[GGJstudios]

Easy: Install Google Chrome and only use it when you need Flash.

Except that would be a royal PITA to switch browsers every time you encountered Flash on a site. That's horribly inefficient. Switching browsers is not necessary, as Flash can be managed quite well in Safari.

 

[Small White Car]

Except that would be a royal PITA to switch browsers every time you encountered Flash on a site. That's horribly inefficient. Switching browsers is not necessary, as Flash can be managed quite well in Safari.

I have Click2Flash. My leaves Flash running in background tabs all the time. I can't look at the Dock and know that Flash isn't running.

I would suggest something that's a little bit of work but actually works over something that's easy but ineffective. (Trust me, that's what I'm currently doing and I don't suggest others follow me.)

Also, if it's that much trouble, I suggest using this to automate the process:

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/03/14/use-applescript-to-open-current-safari-url-in-google-chrome/

 

[GGJstudios]

I have Click2Flash. My leaves Flash running in background tabs all the time. I can't look at the Dock and know that Flash isn't running.

With ClickToFlash, Flash isn't running on any tab, background or not, unless you've permitted it. It blocks all Flash content on all tabs, unless you allow it. While your method may work well for you, it doesn't for those who don't want 2 browsers running simultaneously (which defeats the idea of managing Flash), and who rely on Safari bookmarks, adblockers and extensions that don't exist in Chrome.

 

[Small White Car]

With ClickToFlash, Flash isn't running on any tab, background or not, unless you've permitted it. It blocks all Flash content on all tabs, unless you allow it.

Sorry, auto-correct seemed to have auto-corrected an entire word out of my post. Hate when that happens.

I meant to say that "my wife" will view Flash content and then leave the tab open in the background. I have no way of knowing what's going on without going through every single tab manually which is clearly a lot more work than just using Chrome once or twice a month.

 

[Weaselboy]

Easy: Install Google Chrome and only use it when you need Flash.

Unlike other browsers, Chrome has its own built-in version of Flash. So you can remove the plug-in from your system, use Chrome when you need it, and then when you shut down Chrome you're guaranteed to have no Flash running in the background.

So you have Flash when you need it, but you can feel safe that Safari or Firefox or Camino aren't running some Flash ad in the background because they're simply no longer capable of it.

Just remember to shut down Chrome when you're done and you'll be fine. Follow the above tip about using Youtube's HTML 5 player and you'll kill most of your need for Flash right there.

I have been doing this and it works quite well.

Give this a read from John Gruber.

For the rare occasion I run across a site that requires flash, I run the below script from Alfred and the site launches in Chrome.

The advantage of not having Flash installed in OS X is many sites will detect you do not have Flash and serve up a HTML5 version of site. If you have Flash installed (even with ClicktoFlash) the site will see you have Flash installed and try to serve up the Flash version.

I have noticed over the last year fewer and fewer sites require Flash.

tell application "Safari" to set currentURL to URL of current tab of window 1
tell application "Google Chrome"
	activate
	if not (exists window 1) then make new window
	tell window 1
		if URL of active tab is "chrome://newtab/" then
			set URL of active tab to currentURL
		else
			make new tab with properties {URL:currentURL}
		end if
	end tell
end tell