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Safari is the default browser on Mac. Over period of time it will load very slow and ultimately most of us will end up in using Google Chrome. You will never turn back to Safari, once started using Chrome. By default Chrome has a Adobe Flash Player plugin but it will ask you before loading the pages with Flash player.
In this article we will explain, how to enable Adobe Flash player in Mac Chrome and other options to control the behavior.
- Default Chrome behavior – ask first
- Possibility of enabling Flash on all sites
- Flash option in Chrome to allow or block specific sites
1. Default Behavior of Chrome – Ask to Enable Flash for Specific Site
When a page with Flash content is loaded, Chrome will show the “Click to enable Adobe Flash Player” message with a puzzle piece like below. This is because the default settings for Flash content is to ask for permission before run.
You can just click on the message and then click “Allow” button (on some cases, you may directly see a popup message to allow or block running Flash).
Allow Flash in Chrome for Specific Site
This will enable Flash player only on that particular site. When you allow the site to run Flash content, Chrome will automatically add the site in the exception list in the settings. From next time onwards, the site will load the Flash content without asking permission.
2. Enabling to Run Flash by Default – Removed on Latest Chrome
Remember Flash is basically a multimedia platform to play videos and games online. Since Flash players has lot of security vulnerabilities, HTML5 is used in all modern websites instead of Flash. Also running Flash content will drain the battery life of your Mac. Considering all these facts, Apple does not offer Flash player for Safari.
But Chrome comes with already installed Flash player and asks your permission before running. Earlier Chrome had a “Allow sites to run Flash” option, which is removed in latest Mac Chrome version. So there are no ways to enable Flash on Chrome on all the sites by default. This is a clear indication that the “Flash” section will be removed soon from the Chrome to encourage sites to use HTML5.
3. Allow or Block Flash for Specific Sites
Now the latest Chrome version has only options to allow or block Flash on specific site. Open the command URL “chrome:settings/content” on the browser’s address bar.
Scroll down and click on the “Flash” option.
Open Flash Settings in Chrome
It will open up the next screen with multiple options like below. As you can see the default option is “Ask first (recommended)”, hence Chrome will ask with the message “Click to enable Adobe Flash Player”.
Let us check out all the options to control the Flash settings for your need.
1. Ask first – This is the default behavior and Chrome will ask you before running Flash as explained above. It is also a recommend option by Google. Disable this to block sites from running Flash by default. When you block Flash content, Chrome will show the below message on Flash enabled sites.
Blocking Adobe Flash Player
2. Block – add URLs of the sites you want to block Flash content. Use this option when “Ask first” is enabled.
3. Allow – add URLs of the sites you want to allow Flash content. Click on the “Add” button against “Allow” option and enter the trusted site’s URL. Use this option when “Ask first” is disabled.
Summary
Below table shows the summary of using Flash options in Google Chrome on Mac. You can choose the suitable combination for your need.
Ask first | Block | Allow | |
Completely Block Flash | Disable | ||
Completely Enable Flash | NA | NA | NA |
Ask Before Running on All Sites | Enable | ||
Block on Specific Sites and Ask on All Other Sites | Enable | Enable | |
Allow Only on Specific Sites and Block on All Other Sites | Disable | Enable |
We have just marked the completely enable flash option as “NA (Not Applicable)” which essentially means you can’t do this.
Adobe announced the end of Flash support by 2020 and the browsers like Chrome will stop Flash support with similar timeline.
By the simple virtue of browsing the web over the years, nearly all of us have seen a variety of pop-ups asking us to download or upgrade Flash Player for Mac. Usually, there’s little explanation involved, which leaves you thinking, “Do I really need to install Adobe Flash Player on Mac?”
Adobe Flash is a proprietary software that started in the late ‘90s as a way to include advanced interactivity, gaming functionality, and video capability into your browser. By the early 2000s, Flash was supported by every major browser and seemingly ran the internet. That is until Steve Jobs himself declared a war on it.
In a press release published by Apple in 2010, Steve Jobs laid out his reasons for not integrating Adobe Flash in the Safari browser by default. His main criticisms of the platform were its closed proprietary nature, slow updates, weak security, and increasing availability of open standards that were arguably better equipped to handle browser interactivity.
For a long time, Adobe Flash security issues were the primary reason most developers discouraged people from installing the application. As you may have noticed, oftentimes Adobe Flash Player download for Mac pop-ups haunt you on the least trustworthy websites. It’s highly likely that those were hackers using Adobe Flash installers to find a way into your system.
Fortunately, in the last 10 years, the popularity of Adobe Flash has decreased significantly. By now, 95% of all websites have switched to the open HTML5 standard. This even includes all the major video companies, such as Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. In fact, the popularity of the Flash technology has declined so much now that Adobe decided to end its Flash support in 2020.
So is Adobe Flash Player safe? Generally, yes, given that you download Flash Player for Mac from Adobe’s official website. And sometimes there is no way around installing Flash as you might still need it to run that lagging 5% of the web properly. Whatever the reason, below we’ll discuss how to manage Adobe Flash safely and securely.
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How To Install Adobe Flash Player On Mac
If you absolutely need to download Adobe Flash Player for Mac, you should at the very least do it securely. Good tips to note are install Flash only when required, disable it when not in use, update it regularly to get the latest security patches, and delete it completely as soon as you can make the full switch to more modern web technologies.
Safely install Adobe Flash Player on Mac
If there would be only one takeaway from reading this article, it should be: never ever download Flash Player for Mac from unrecognized websites.
Using Macs in general is very safe. But by far the most popular way for hackers to get into your system is to persuade you to download malware that’s masking itself as a well-known program. And Flash Player for Mac tops the list, having the worst security record out of any software. Moreover, Adobe Flash is the number one reason Macs crash overall.
So when you are about to install Adobe Flash Player on Mac, you should:
- Go to get.adobe.com/flashplayer (this is the only official Flash Player for Mac distributor)
- Click “Download now”
- Navigate to your Downloads folder and open the .dmg file
- Proceed through the installation instructions
- Restart the browser, after which Adobe Flash Player for Mac should be activated
Update Adobe Flash Player for Mac regularly
Once you have Flash Player installed, you need to remember to update it regularly (e.g. once a month) to avoid any security issues. To check whether there’s a new version of Flash available:
- Open System Preferences
- Click on the Flash Player and navigate to the Updates tab
- Select Check Now or Install Now if there’s an update available
Disable Flash when not in use
When you encounter a website that doesn’t work properly without Flash, proceed to install the player from the official (very important) website as per the steps above. But for complete security, turn off Flash right after you use it and enable it only when there’s no workaround.
To disable Flash Player for Mac in Safari:
- Go to Preferences and then Websites
- Scroll down to Plug-ins and uncheck the Adobe Flash Player
Similarly, disabling Flash can be done in Content Settings in Chrome and Addons > Plugins in Firefox.
Completely uninstall Flash Player for Mac
There’s a lot of confusion with regards to deleting Flash Player. As we’ve seen, when you download Flash Player for Mac, it doesn’t install itself as an app, but rather integrates into your System Preferences.
Hence removing Flash Player is not as easy as just dragging it to the Trash. Adobe has a whole page devoted to the uninstallation process and makes you download a separate tool to delete Flash properly.
To remove Flash Player the Adobe way:
- Download the uninstaller for your macOS
- Launch it as any app and follow the instructions
- Restart your Mac
However, due to the Flash Player’s pervasive presence on your Mac, it’s highly recommended that you use a professional third-party uninstaller like CleanMyMac X.
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To uninstall Adobe Flash Player on Mac with CleanMyMac X:
- Navigate to the Uninstaller tab
- Select Adobe from Vendors
- Check the box next to Flash Player and click Uninstall
Recover files lost to Flash Player
Sometimes you simply can’t prevent the malware from getting into your system. And most of the time you only realize that infiltration happened after the fact, when you discover some of your files completely gone.
Good news is you might be able to recover your files if you act quickly. As soon as you notice any files missing, install a professional Mac recovery app like Disk Drill and follow this process:
- Launch Disk Drill app from Applications
- Find your hard drive in the list and click Recover
- Choose one of the recommended options, from disabling system protection to connecting another Mac, to allow Disk Drill to recover lost files
Finally, to stop compromised apps or files from getting into your system, use a malware protection utility in CleanMyMac X on a regular basis.
To scan your Mac for viruses with CleanMyMac X:
- Select the Malware Removal tab
- Click Scan
- Delete anything suspicious that shows up in the report
Overall, there are very few reasons to download Flash Player for Mac today. Nearly all modern websites have switched to community-supported standards like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. But if you need to use Flash, make sure to download it from the official source and turn it off when not required to protect yourself from its security flaws.
In addition, make sure you’re fully protected from any worst-case scenarios by checking for malware with CleanMyMac X and recovering lost files with Disk Drill. And if you use Google Chrome, you can avoid Adobe Flash Player download for Mac altogether as it comes pre-installed in the browser.
Don’t feel like spending money on buying all the professional apps? Both CleanMyMac X and Disk Drill are available for you to try for free, along with more than 150 high-end Mac apps and utilities, through Setapp — the best platform for curated Mac apps. Adobe Flash might be on its way out, but in the meantime, you should definitely verify that you’ve been using it responsibly all this time.