How do I stop these infernal Flash ad's from playing?

Factual Questions
1

Dammit!!

I was willing to put up with siezure-inducing flashing GIF’s and bouncing java “Catch the monkey” ad’s, unwanted 10X webcam pop-under windows and scrolling Geo-pop’s boxes, but these Flash ad’s have to go!! Can anybody tell me how to prevent them from playing without sabotaging my ability to play those Flash animations I want to see?

2

You should be able to set the flash plug-in to prompt you whenever one is about to be displayed, and then you can disallow ones you know are ads.

I know of no other way to do this.

3

Where would I find that plug-in menu? Didn’t see it anywhere in the “preferences” window.

4

In the browser address window type: disable flash plug-in

You can find web sites on dealing with flash. Here is one I got that way:
http://www.smokindesign.fsnet.co.uk/faq/

5

*Louie types “disable flash plug-in” in the browser address window.
A search page from MSN came up, but Flash is still enabled. Hmm…
*Louie opens up the other browser and types “disable flash plug-in” in the browser address window.
A search page for Netscape came up, but Flash is still enabled. Damn it.
*Louie types in “disable bad advice from handy” in browser address window.
*Louie checks and handy is still there. Fuck.

You can get rid of those ads temperarily by clicking here. As for the unwanted Flash ads, the only way to stop them is to get rid of the Flash player on your computer.

6

Thanks Louie. I had the same experience with the address window approach but was too polite to mention that.

I did find a way to subvert the hateful Maliciousmedia Flash by Farking with the BIOS, but I wouldn’t suggest it.

7

You’re welcome. :slight_smile:

But now you got me curious. How did you disable Flash with the BIOS?

8

If you are using Internet Explorer, it is really quite easy. The object that plays Flash movies is an ActiveX control so you just need to disable ActiveX controls and you will get a message stating something similar to ‘ActiveX controls are not enabled so the page may not display correctly.’ Most of the time you won’t care.

To disable them, open the internet options (found on tools menu in IE5, but it can also be done in IE 4) and select the security tab for IE 5. Select custom level and change ‘Run ActiveX controls and plugins’ to either disable or prompt. Prompt is more flexible and after you select it, you will be prompted whenever an ActiveX control wants to run in your browser and selecting ‘no’ will prevent Flash videos from playing.

If you choose prompt, it will give you the ability to select ‘yes’ when you want to view Word or Adobe documents, for example in the browser. Always select ‘no’ at first and you can always refresh and change your mind if something you want to see doesn’t display.