Hi there! I can sympathise greatly with your problem. I hate
irritating popups, and also use Guidescope
(http://www.guidescope.com/) to block all adverts.
The first thing you need to do is to close Internet Explorer. Then,
find one or both of the following files:
swflash.ocx
flash.ocx
Since you wish never to use flash again, delete these files. (You've
already done that once, so I'm sure you know what you're doing!).
Then, you need to disable ActiveX activities from Macromedia's
installation sites:
* Load up Internet Explorer, and click on the tools menu.
* Click on Internet Options.
* Click on Security.
* Click on Restricted
* Click on Sites
* Click on Add
Add the following:
*.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com
Click OK, and click Add again, and type:
*.macromedia.com
Click OK.
This will now stop any ActiveX activities from those sites only. Since
these are the sites where the Flash installer comes from, you
shouldn't ever see it again.
Macromedia may, in the future, distribute their Flash application from
a different site. In that case, you will start seeing the popup again
(oh no!). But all is not lost. You can do the following:
* Start downloading the Flash installer. While it is running....
* Click on Start.
* Click on Run
* Type "command", press enter.
* Type "netstat -a", press enter.
Look for the site (Eg: mm.com) which Flash is installing from. Add
that to the list of banned ActiveX sites, as above. Then uninstall
Flash, as above.
Hope this helps - if you need technical clarification, then don't
hesitate to let me know!
Check this article out for a little more information:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V6D626221 |
Request for Answer Clarification by
frustrated-ga
on
26 Jun 2002 10:22 PDT
Your answer LOOKS good, but it seems to be crucially incomplete,
because it doesn't work when I try it. I still get the annoying popup
window asking "Do you want to install and run Flash...?".
Here's what I tried, per your answer:
1. Closed IE
2. Searched for *flash.ocx
3. Deleted them
4. Added *.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com and *.macromedia.com to my
list of "Restricted Sites" in IE.
Then I tried IE again, and it still asks me "Do you want to install
and run Flash...?" when I access a site (Yahoo mail) that is trying to
use Flash. I even tried "netstat -a", which showed macromedia.com
trying to do HTTP access, and nothing else suspicious.
Please clarify what else must be done to disable Flash animations
without being forced to dismiss a popup dialog every time a Web page
tries to use Flash.
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Clarification of Answer by
seizer-ga
on
28 Jun 2002 10:12 PDT
Whoops! Sorry that that doesn't seem to be working out for you. I did
(briefly) test it with IE 6.0, and it seemed to work for me - but as
with most computer related things, your mileage may vary.
So instead, I have a number of possible alternative ideas. I hope that
you find at least one of them useful.
The first is to run a small filtering proxy program (see the great
suggestions in the comments). These filter all returned data before
passing it to the browser, thus removing elements you aren't
interested in. I haven't personally tested these, but have heard good
things from a number of people. As a bonus, they also block
advertisements, which you may see as a good thing.
The second, is to fully install Flash. Then, with all instances of
Internet Explorer closed, rename the .ocx ActiveX control to .oc_
(replace the X with an underscore). The registry entries report that
it is installed when Internet Explorer asks, thus disabling the
"Install now?" popup, but disabling playback. This was suggested here:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P29232821
Finally, a company called FlashSwitch provides a utility which
disables/enables playback with a system tray utility.
http://www.flashswitch.com/ has all the details.
Hopefully, one of those alternative methods works out for you: good
luck!
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