Microsoft Edge Browser Won't Run Flash By Default

Web browser makers are waging war against Flash, pushing it ever closer to its demise. Microsoft, who hasn't been taken seriously in that space for until recently, doesn't want t be left behind. Available to Windows Insiders first and then coming to the Windows 10 Creator's Update next year, Microsoft Edge will take a stronger approach to decreasing Flash's use by requiring users to click to even load Flash content instead of running them by default and then making users pause or stop them.

So here's how the upcoming version of the Microsoft Edge browser will behave. If a website supports HTML5 for videos and ads, Edge won't even load Flash. For those that do, users will be prompted whether they want Flash to run on that site. They then have to option of doing so for that single instance only or forever.

Aside from Flash being a security liability, websites that employ the outdated technology are considered to be significantly heavier than their HTML5 counterparts. As such, pages that use Flash are often criticized for loading slow, eating up bandwidth, and draining batteries.

This somewhat heavy-handed approach isn't alien to users of other browsers who already took such steps to ensure the eventual death of Flash. At the same time, those browsers also acknowledge that some popular sites do rely on it to function and, therefore, provide a whitelist where Flash actually works by default. Microsoft Edge will likewise provide a list which it promises to curate and shorten as it actively monitors the browser's Flash usage.

SOURCE: Microsoft