# Firefox bans Flash **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183 "2015-07-14T23:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/1 "2015-07-14T23:40:48Z")
So [Firefox has banned Flash](http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/flash-now-too-dangerous-to-run-on-firefox-mozilla-says-20150714-gicfct.html). I’m seeing one disadvantage – it makes it harder to play my favourite online game – and one advantage – I’m seeing a lot fewer advertisements. Any other consequences of Mozilla’s decision? ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/2 "2015-07-14T23:49:57Z")
It’s already fixed and the “ban” is over. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/3 "2015-07-14T23:51:54Z")
I wouldn’t quite say that they have **banned** it. You can use Flash as long as you accept the warning prompt. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/4 "2015-07-14T23:51:55Z")
Ah well, back to seeing all those Flash ads. ---
**Author:** ![MareIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MareIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MareIt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/5 "2015-07-14T23:55:56Z")
it is still blocking Flash for me… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/6 "2015-07-15T00:13:07Z")
I’ve hit several sites where it won’t accept the override. One is the very dangerous USPS site. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/7 "2015-07-15T00:39:42Z")
It’s my understanding that Adobe has released an update which has resolved the problems Firefox was objecting to, and all is now well. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/8 "2015-07-15T01:13:36Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It’s my understanding that Adobe has released an update which has resolved the problems Firefox was objecting to, and all is now well. Version 18.0.0.209. All is well until the next exploit comes around tomorrow morning. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/9 "2015-07-15T02:22:38Z")
My Flash (and in fact, all of my Adobe products) is far out of date, because I got sick of the update installers crashing partway through every single time I tried to update them. So now, every day and a half when there’s a new update, I just quit the updater. It remains to be seen if I ever actually use Flash, but so far, I’m not seeing any drawbacks. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/10 "2015-07-15T03:39:15Z")
What’s an alternative to Flash if I want to, say, watch anything on YouTube? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/11 "2015-07-15T03:56:04Z")
> [@susan](#): > > What’s an alternative to Flash if I want to, say, watch anything on YouTube? Youtube already uses [HTML5 by default.](http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7926001/youtube-drops-flash-for-html5-video-default) ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/12 "2015-07-15T14:31:31Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It’s my understanding that Adobe has released an update which has resolved the problems Firefox was objecting to, and all is now well. Assuming you’re not using Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/13 "2015-07-15T18:33:38Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Ah well, back to seeing all those Flash ads. There are, of course, many different Flash-stopping plug-in and add-on utilities available. Many are free or even donate-what-you-wish. Be careful when searching for them, of course, and from whom you download them. Many sites will bundle such goodies with malware-packing installers :mad: –G! \* Let’s Be Careful Out There!\* ---
**Author:** ![Antene1941](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Antene1941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antene1941)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/14 "2015-07-15T19:24:38Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > So [Firefox has banned Flash](http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/flash-now-too-dangerous-to-run-on-firefox-mozilla-says-20150714-gicfct.html). I’m seeing one disadvantage – it makes it harder to play my favourite online game – and one advantage – I’m seeing a lot fewer advertisements. > > Any other consequences of Mozilla’s decision? Wouldn’t have known because Firefox is not my default browser - Chrome is, and that comes preloaded with Flash. 🙂 I think I’d be in trouble if I couldn`t use Flash. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/15 "2015-07-16T09:54:33Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > Version 18.0.0.209. I’ve had that update for two weeks already. I am very confused by all this, some of it seems contradictory and an overreaction. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/16 "2015-07-16T09:58:54Z")
I got a warning the other day but I just figured it meant Flash was out of date. I updated Flash and it stopped happening. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/17 "2015-07-16T19:42:54Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I got a warning the other day but I just figured it meant Flash was out of date. I updated Flash and it stopped happening. The problem was there was a period of about a day where there was no update to Flash–the most current version was 18.0.0.203, but it had vulnerabilities brought to light by the Hacking Team hack, and exploits were in the wild for them. So from Tuesday evening when Firefox enabled the block to Wednesday afternoon when Adobe released the update there was no way to get Flash not to block by default–“update now” links would only lead to the current version already marked as vulnerable (which could be a bit confusing), so the “ask to activate” was the only thing you could do with it. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bans-flash/725183/18 "2015-07-17T03:30:08Z")
At the time I posted, YouTube was still showing a blank window with the “disabled for your protection” notification. Things are now opening again.