Online video and animation software has been slowly dying out in recent years. Its demise began when Apple decided not to allow people to use it on iPhones and iPads, forcing most websites to switch to other technologies.
But a new change to the Chrome browser means that almost every website also has Flash content blocked by default. And this is not only about annoying ads, which can be solved by installing the extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/free-vpn-for-chrome-vpn-p/majdfhpaihoncoakbjgbdhglocklcgno, but also about other useful features. People can still allow certain websites to display Flash content, but it is allowed. The top 10 sites that use Flash are enabled by default, meaning people using sites like YouTube and Facebook won't be hit with messages asking if they want to enable it. However, this exemption is valid for a year, after which they will be blocked by default.
Google's new offering, which is expected to hit consumer versions of Chrome later this year, would make computers look like websites don't even have Flash installed. This would mean that most websites would default to HTML 5, a similar but much more secure technology.
Google probably made the change to protect people from the various security and privacy issues Flash users face. Many computer experts recommend that Flash be disabled because it has so many security holes, and as businesses have moved away from using it, the software has become much less necessary.
Even Flash's creator, Adobe, encouraged people to move away from Flash, and it gradually became a much less common way to animate videos and other parts of websites.
The proposal is currently under review and may change slightly before it arrives in Chrome later in 2016. But it can now be enabled by going to Settings, browsing to privacy and content settings, and selecting the "Let me choose when to run" content extension.
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