Disabling Macromedia Flash on Microsoft Internet Explorer
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Ed Swierk
25 Nov 2001


Macromedia Flash is the evil little program responsible for many of the blinking, pulsating ads that are popping up all over the Web.

Of course Microsoft makes it none too easy to remove Flash and prevent it from ever coming back. Following these instructions should help you banish Flash forever, or at least until advertisers figure out some other way of forcing you to keep it.

These instructions are known to work with Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows 2000. They may require modifications on other versions of IE or Windows.


1. Set Internet Explorer to prompt you before installing any ActiveX controls (plug-ins):

a. Close all Internet Explorer windows.
b. Open the Internet Options control panel.
c. In the Security tab, click Internet, then click Custom Level.
d. Make sure that Download SIGNED ActiveX controls is set to Prompt, and that Download UNSIGNED ActiveX controls is set to Prompt or Disable.
e. Click OK to save the security settings.

2. Remove Flash:

a. Open the Internet Options control panel, if it isn't already open.
b. In the General tab, under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings, then click View Objects.
c. Right-click on the Macromedia Flash icon and select Remove.
d. Close the Downloaded Program Files window.
e. Click OK to close the Settings window.

3. Clear the Internet Explorer cache:

a. Open the Internet Options control panel, if it isn't already open.
b. In the General tab, under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files.
c. Click OK to close the Internet Properties window.

If you stop now, Flash ads will not appear, but IE will pop up a dialog box every time you view a page containing a Flash ad. You can prevent this from happening 99% of the time by continuing to the next step.

4. Prevent Internet Explorer from prompting you to install Flash:

a. Click Start, then Run, and enter this command:

notepad %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

A Notepad window should appear with a file in which most of the lines begin with "#".
b. At the bottom of the file, add the following line:

0.0.0.0 download.macromedia.com activex.microsoft.com active.macromedia.com

c. Close the Notepad window and click Yes to save changes.

This last step will prevent your computer from ever accessing the Internet addresses where the Flash plugin is normally found. If you later find that you need to access one of those addresses, just remove it from the hosts file.

Hey thanks for the tip, works grrrrrrrreat... jackha

Why would you want to remove Macromedia Flash Player, Macromedia is a great tool. Macromedia's products are the best web developers software on the market.

"Macromedia Flash is the evil little program responsible for many of the blinking, pulsating ads that are popping up all over the Web."

I didn't write it, though 219 people seem to have found it of use I don't disable it either as some sites require it.

I really HATE all that crap. I long for the days of old where the internet was a nice place to live where annoying flashing banners did not appear all over the plae trying to sell you things.

That's why I have a 202K hosts file

Stop using Idiot Exploiter and start using Opera!

No cookies, cache or history on exit! No spyware! No M$!

http://www.opera.com/download/

If it crashes it returns you to all the pages where you were! I don't know any other browser that does that!

It also doesn't remember passwords and user names, not to mention not being compatible with many web sites. I really wish they could make it do that, then I'd love it, it's so fassssst too.

Opera 7 has a 'Wand' feature to remember passwords and usernames!

As far as 'it' not being compatable with many web sites; the problem isn't Opera, it's W3C compliant, it's the sites themselves that aren't.

Copy the address of a site that isn't displaying properly and paste it here:

http://validator.w3.org/

Then see how many errors ir lists on the page/site!

Opera 7 is fantastic and more compatable than previous versions. It has more features than IE and remembers passwords, lists page links, handles email, opens multiple tabbed windows, prevents popups (you can even select to allow only popups that you initiated by clicking on a link), it even has its own built-in download manager that can resume broken downloads, etc. The best browser yet by far - I wouldn't use anything else now that I've used Opera.

Mozilla is better........

Mozilla Firebird is good. I did not like Opera that much.

i use avantbrowser (a front-end for IE) and you can let it block flash animations or enable flash if you need it.

Mozilla Firebird pwnz all.

Per Microsoft: If you have PowerPoint, you won't need MacrMedia at all.
Disable ALL ActixeX controls in your Internet Explorer and the MacroMedia pop-ups disappeared for me, using Internet Explorer v6 and Windows98SE.
Roy