Flash Control is an extension for the Google Chrome web browser that gives the user full control over Adobe’s Flash plugin. Flash Control blocks all Flash contents on a page by default, and offers manual and automatic options to display and use them.

The easiest option is to click on the small control in the upper right corner of the Flash element to instantly load it on the page. All, without reloading the whole page.

flash block

It is possible to block the Flash element at any time again using the same controls. What makes FlashControl special is the customizability of the extension.

Flashcontrol’s options support white- and blacklisting of sites. Whitelisted sites and elements are excluded from being blocked by the extension, while blacklisted sites and elements will always be blocked. It is for instance possible to blacklist specific elements on a site, and whitelist others. That’s a highly flexible way of dealing with Flash contents on the Internet.

A click on the icon in the Chrome Omnibar on the other hand displays additional options and links. It is for instance possible to enable Flash on the active page, unblock the website, add the website to the whitelist, disable the extension and open the options.

flashcontrol

The general options are shown in the screenshot above. More interesting than those are the whitelist and blacklist pages to block or allow contents or sites automatically.

FlashControl is a solid add-on for Chrome users who want more control over Flash on the web. Especially the option to block specific Flash elements permanently should be interesting to many Internet users.

• Browse At Work – Adds an option to use a webproxy for specific requests.
• Dr. Web Anti-Virus Link checker – Sends a link to a file to the anti-virus checker which scans the content and warns you if malicious content was found.
• FlashBlock – Block nasty flash ads with this add-on. More and more websites use flash advertisement which is not blocked by most ad blockers.

• Fox Tor – Adds a button to Firefox which enables the Tor anonymity service.
• Foxy Proxy – adds lots of functionalitity to the proxy settings like the ability to use multiple proxies.
• Http only – Makes it impossible to read cookies using javascript by encrypting them.
• Key Scrambler – Encrypts the keystrokes on the way to your browser, defeats keyloggers.
• No Script – Block Java and Javascript and enable it only for trusted websites using a whitelist.
• Safe Cache – Defends against web privacy attacks.
• Safe History – Defends against web privacy attacks.
• Show IP – Displays information about the website that you are currently connected to. Makes it possible to lookup the owner of a website for example.
• Stealther – Makes it possible to temporarily disable certain privacy related settings like cookies, disk cache and browsing history in firefox. Firefox offers a similar option in the privacy options menu which lets you clear those settings with the click of a button (or when you exit firefox). The second method deletes everything, the first makes it possible to keep the settings (cookies for example) for trusted websites and enable stealther only when you browse other sites.
• Temporary Inbox – Use this service to create a temporary email address which can be used to register at certain websites that require a registration. This is great if you want to avoid that your real email addresses are sold and you get flodded with spam. (Trashmail.net is an alternative.)
• View Cookies CS – A basic cookies manager, edit cookies, protect, unprotect, import and export.