How to remove flash and keep it from bugging you.
Seriously, those Flash ads are getting really annoying these days.
Disabling Macromedia Flash on Microsoft Internet Explorer
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.
Set Internet Explorer to prompt you before installing any ActiveX controls (plug-ins):
Close all Internet Explorer windows.
Open the Internet Options control panel.
In the Security tab, click Internet, then click Custom Level.
Make sure that Download signed ActiveX controls is set to Prompt, and that Download unsigned ActiveX controls is set to Prompt or Disable.
Click OK to save the security settings.
Remove Flash:
Open the Internet Options control panel, if it isn't already open.
In the General tab, under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings, then click View Objects.
Right-click on the Macromedia Flash icon and select Remove.
Close the Downloaded Program Files window.
Click OK to close the Settings window.
Clear the Internet Explorer cache:
Open the Internet Options control panel, if it isn't already open.
In the General tab, under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files.
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.
Prevent Internet Explorer from prompting you to install Flash:
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 "#".
At the bottom of the file, add the following line:
0.0.0.0 download.macromedia.com activex.microsoft.com active.macromedia.com
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.
Or, better yet (although I haven't tried it yet) toggle flash on/off in the systray with Flash Toggler.
thank you. thank you. thank you.
Posted by: chris hohns on October 27, 2002 02:16 AMOr just install an ad-proxy like privoxy or proxomitron, and get the benefit of removing all popups and ads at the same time without having to hack IE ;)
Posted by: Cadmium on October 20, 2003 11:09 AMEXCELLENT!
Works on win2k Sp4 with ie6 sp1
Thanxs again:)
Peter.