People are confused because Adobe announced that they are discontinuing their Flash Player by 2020, which is true. Flash
Player is that old browser plugin that was insanely popular back in the
day, but became obsolete when Apple stopped using it and the industry
shifted to using HTML5.

Thank you, Apple.

The main issue though, was that Flash is
terribly insecure. Malware developers use Flash as an easy tool to create
attacks because the software has so many zero-day exploits that make this
possible.

Here's a good explanation of how to avoid using Flash.

Flash to disappear in 2020

Flash is incredibly unsafe. I won't have it on my work computers (which are PCs).

No need to panic. There's a solution and you can visit browser options/plugins and choose, "ask before activating".

The First step is to make sure your WiFi network (the router) is safe and secure. Most people are hacked because their network is not protected by appropriate anti-malware/anti-virus software and weak passwords.

I wonder how many work and home computers are linked to routers that use the 198.162.1.1 standard? The risk begins right there! A simple change of the last digit to a two digit between 10 and 99 eliminates most of the attempts.

Thanks for asking this question Oklamoni. I've been wondering the same thing. I can't use my favourite solitaire site anymore because I won't activate Flash. Solitaire Paradise won't let me in unless I activate it. I knew that Adobe wouldn't support Flash anymore but I don't know how to get in now.

yup, blfenton, that is where I am. I play jumble every day. Guess, I need to find another site where it can be played. I have not played it on my new laptop... and really don't relish getting the old one out daily for it.

Michael, since it isn't a downloadable game, I am online, when I play it. I got turned on to this game, when I visited friends in St.Cloud. They have it in their daily paper.

I am not a happy camper.

Moni

Moni,As long as you have virus and malware protection and set
Flash to "ask to activate" in the browser settings, I'd keep playing it
until the programmers develop an alternative pathway.

Flash is necessary with my work, because the Chat won't work without it. Every time I log on, it asks if I want to use Flash. It's set for "ask first"

Google for non flash games. Or whatever you want to use that is saying it requires flash. I won't have it on my computer. If you do install it then be sure to look for updates on it and do them immediately.

From Firefox....

Plugins such as Flash are a performance and security problem for Firefox
users. However, some legacy Flash content hasn't yet been ported to
HTML and is valuable to users. Rather than block plugins entirely,
Firefox is limiting the impact of plugins by blocking certain domains
from using plugins. These blocks improve Firefox security and
performance and also make the click-to-activate feature more valuable to
users by reducing unnecessary prompts.

Caution: somewhat off this topic.

My favourite topic "The kitchen table" was once on my chosen topics list, but disappeared.

I think I may have got it back on for a while, but it hasn't been there for some time, which seems to mean that I can't open a thread ... which is somewhat of a heavy load, for such a vociferous old fart.

Can someone tell me what I gotta do to get this place back on my list of chosen topics?

Hope you've got a good start on this new year.

ole joyful

joyfulguy - Here is the link, Can you book mark it? I have it listed under my topics which is on the left hand side of the page. This thread is on Kitchen table, so now I;m confused.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/kitchentable

"Can someone tell me what I gotta do to get this place back on my list of chosen topics?"

Yours will look different than mine but somewhere toward the upper right you should see "Follow".

Click that and it will once again appear in your chosen topic list.

=========================================================

As for Flash, I use a third party player for the couple flash games I have. That player doesn't see the web, and games are old and proven (to me) to be safe.

I'll use the Flash plugin whenever I choose. If there's a flash video I need/want to watch, I'll allow it.

Firefox is set to block dangerous and intrusive flash content.

I block so many ads that I'm not sure Firefox ever blocks anything.

I use Linux. If I used Windows would I do differently? Probably not. But that's just me.

Michael, another big security issue are routers set up to broadcast and using the default router name, account and password.

Most home IT users are not informed about routers, how they work, how to log on, how to change access, etc. It's true that many remain with User= admin and Password=password out of lack of attention. A somewhat mitigating factor is that many use routers supplied by their ISPs and these have had the passwords changed.

I don't go to online game sites but there are many mainstream websites that still use Flash. I will keep it active on my PCs until the time comes when it's no longer needed. I lose no sleep about doing so.