Flash block {web link} Never be annoyed by a Flash animation again! Blocks Flash so it won't get in your way, but if you want to see it, just click on it

Partly:

• For plugin-based players, you can change the global permission setting.
• For HTML5-based players, you can auto-pause any that start, but this won't stop Firefox from buffering the video. You probably need an add-on to intervene more aggressively on pages that have autostart videos.

Plugin-based Players

The following refers to Flash because that is most commonly used plugin, but the same applies to QuickTime or other video playing plugins.

Open the Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. On the right side, find "Shockwave Flash" and change "Always Activate" to "Ask to Activate".

With this setting, when you visit a site that wants to use Flash, you should see a notification icon in the address bar and usually (but not always) one of the following: a link in a dark gray rectangle in the page or an infobar sliding down between the toolbar area and the page.

The plugin notification icon in the address bar typically looks like a small, dark gray Lego block. (If it's red, Flash needs updating.)

If you see a good reason to use Flash, and the site looks trustworthy, you can go ahead and click the notification icon in the address bar to allow Flash. You can trust the site for the time being or permanently.

That's a site-wide permission. For control of individual videos, you can add: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/click-to-play-per-element/

HTML5 Video

Firefox has a hidden setting to "auto-pause" videos set to auto-play. As noted above, users have observed that this setting does not stop videos from buffering in the background, so it doesn't completely stop the use of data. But... maybe you want to try it anyway.

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste autop and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the media.autoplay.enabled preference to switch it from true to false

Firefox pauses the video but doesn't switch the player control appearance so you may see a paused video with a pause button. In that case, to play the video, click the pause button and then click play.

Now no videos play with Flash Block.

Fiddling with this is a waste of time.

jscher2000 said

Plugin-based Players The following refers to Flash because that is most commonly used plugin, but the same applies to QuickTime or other video playing plugins. Open the Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. On the right side, find "Shockwave Flash" and change "Always Activate" to "Ask to Activate".

Adobe Flash cannot be set to "Ask to Activate"

Hi wendygoerl, I use "Ask to Activate". Do you only have the option of "Never Activate"? In that case, your Flash may need updating.

Could you check your Flash plugin version number(s) on the following page:

Type or paste about:plugins in the address bar and press Enter to load the page. Then use Find (Ctrl+f) to look for npswf which is the beginning of the file name for the Flash plugin. You should find one or more entries similar to the following:

File: NPSWF32_22_0_0_209.dll
Path: C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_22_0_0_209.dll
Version: 22.0.0.209
State: Enabled
Shockwave Flash 22.0 r0

What version(s) do you find?

I've got the latest Firefox and Flash. I ALWAYS set everything I can to "ask to activate" It's been this way for at least the last five (full) versions of Firefox and Flash. The "ask to activate" option is unclickable.

Hi wendygoerl, I should ask you to start a new question so we don't bother the original poster with more thread updates on their question. Also, that will allow you to share data about your add-ons in case those are a factor.

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems

As you know, scroll down the page past suggestions that you've seen before to continue with the form.