FlashControl for Chrome

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffAugust 12, 2013Flash is a great bit of technology; it is, after all, what brings us YouTube videos and many addictive online games. Sometimes, though, Flash is used in annoying ways, such as advertisements that float over the news article you're trying to read, or autoplaying videos that blow your cover when you're surfing instead of working. FlashControl for Chrome is a handy browser add-on that gives users the power to interact with Flash only when they want to.The extension is quite easy to use. Once it's installed, an icon is displayed in the address bar of any Web page that contains Flash; clicking this icon lets users quickly show all the Flash on the page, whitelist the site, unblock the site, or disable FlashControl entirely. Flash elements on every page are grayed out and replaced with a Flash icon and a couple of buttons. One of these buttons lets users turn each element on and off, while the other lets users add a particular element to either the whitelist or the blacklist with a right- or left-click. The extension has a few adjustable settings as well, such as control over the toolbar's location and animation and custom colors for the control panel background. Unlike many browser add-ons, FlashControl for Chrome even has a built-in Help file that explains its features. Overall, we found that FlashControl for Chrome was an effective way to block unwanted Flash elements, speeding page loads and reducing the amount of advertising we encountered.FlashControl for Chrome installs and uninstalls without issues. We recommend this add-on to all users.