The dark art of removing the Flash plugin from Firefox in Ubuntu Linux
When I did my Xubuntu install (the same is true for Ubuntu), I immediately started Firefox and went to my first Web page with embedded Flash.
And then it happened.
Firefox asked me if I wanted to download and install the Flash plugin. Why say no? So I said yes.
Problem: Dailynews.com -- the Web site from the newspaper I work for -- is covered in Flash Addsads, content come-ons, etc., and it was dragging my old systems to a crawl. On a modern 3 GHz system, it's OK to run a ton of flash. Not so on a 1 GHz converted thin client with questionable video and audio throughput.
But how to get rid of Flash? It's not so easy. Mozilla's help pages offer instructions on how to expunge Flash from Windows and Mac OS X, but nothing on getting rid of it in Linux. It's not an installed package, so Synaptic doesn't even know it's there. Apt-get also knows nothing. Why? Because it's hidden.
Finally, after a few sessions of Googling for an answer, this Adobe page provides the answer:
Removal instructions
Manual removal (for users who installed the plug-in via Install script):
Delete libflashplayer.so binary and flashplayer.xpt file in directory /home//.mozilla/plugins/
And for those with RPM package systems:
RPM removal:
As root, enter in terminal: # rpm -e flash-plugin Click Enter and follow prompts
On a related note, a commenter said I should try the Firefox extension Stop Autoplay. It didn't work.
But the other method does. I'm Flash-less -- and on my low-powered system, that's the way it's going to stay.
Update: After a half-hour, I can say definitively that my system is running much, much better. Flash is one of those things that's great if you've got the power but a CPU-hogging nightmare if you don't.
Bottom line, choosing applications that match your hardware (and needs) is the way to go. No matter the window manager (or "desktop environment"), some apps just need a lot of juice.
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You wrote:
"Problem: Dailynews.com -- the Web site from the newspaper I work for -- is covered in Flash. Adds, content come-ons..."
The abbreviation for "advertisements" is "ads," not "adds."
Could you just use adblock plus and block individual ads instead of removing flash altogether?
Try out this Firefox add-on that blocks flash, it works fine for me on both windows and Linux:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433
Just as Dr. Laura is her kid's mom, I am my blog's editor, hence adds instead of ads.
I stand corrected (somebody's got to do it).
"Problem: Dailynews.com -- the Web site from the newspaper I work for -- is covered in Flash. Adds, content come-ons, etc., and it was dragging my old systems to a crawl. On a modern 3 GHz system, it's OK to run a ton of flash. Not so on a 1 GHz converted thin client with questionable video and audio throughput."
You may wish to remind your employer that not everyone has a 'state of the art computer' nor high speed internet, and that all they are doing with such a badly designed site is driving users, and potential customers, away from their site to the competition. Those that do find work-a-round, like you did, won't be able to take "full advantage" of the site, like the company hopes.
The company lacks clue.
Yes, adblock as the others have said does wonders. I keep mine set just to block all content "*" , then turn it on and off depending on the site.
Barring that, Lynx from the command line does wonders!
A commenter above recommended the Flashblock extension. I use it regularly with good results on both (x)ubuntu and ms/windows.
First there is a ff plugin called "flashblock" . It allows you to control when you want to play flash and when not.With this plugin installed any flash object will not play by default, you will see just it's play area with a flash logo on it. Clicking that area or logo starts playing (only that object - not all objects from the page).It's a better aproach to flash than adblock and friends. This way you can benefit from having flash installed when you need it and from not having it eat up all your cpu.
As about uninstalling it just search for libflashplayer.so on your filesystem. If you installed it as an unprivileged user it is more likely that it is installed somewhere in ~/.mozilla/
I use Adblock plus and FlashBlock.
Adblock Plus stops most, close to 100%, non flash ads, and Flash Block gives me to option to play the flash file by covering the flash ad with a play button. On the very occasional site where flash block doesn'r work I use RIP (Remove It Permanently) to remove the Divs or Iframes that contain the Flash ads.