How to enable and disable Adobe Flash in Internet Explorer

To be able to use my South Africa photo gallery and some other interactive features on this website, you will need to have Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) installed and enabled. Most of the videos and games on the internet require Flash to work. Because Flash has been around since 1996 (see my internet timeline), there's a wealth of fun interactive content out there.

However, it's also used for a lot of animated advertising, which can be extremely distracting. It's a good idea to know how to switch Flash on and off so that you can concentrate when you're trying to research online, but you can still enable Flash for video virals and games when you're not working.

It isn't obvious how you enable and disable Flash, so I've written this guide to help you. This tutorial is written for Internet Explorer 8 but might also apply to other browsers. The key thing is that because Flash is a plug-in rather than part of the browser, you probably won't find the settings under Internet Options.

How to disable Adobe Flash

• Step 1: Click to open the Tools menu. It's at the top of the screen, just above where your webpage finishes on the right.
• Step 2: Click Manage Add-Ons. A new window opens.
• Step 3: Find the entry for Shockwave Flash Object and click it once. It will be highlighted in blue.
• Step 4: Click the Disable button in the bottom right corner of the window. If you look at the entry for Shockwave Flash Object, you'll see its status has changed to Disabled.
• Step 5: Click Close, in the bottom right of the window.

How to enable Adobe Flash

• Step 1: Click to open the Tools menu. It's at the top of the screen, just above where your webpage finishes on the right.
• Step 2: Click Manage Add-Ons. A new window opens.
• Step 3: Find the entry for Shockwave Flash Object and click it once. It will be highlighted in blue.
• Step 4: Click the Enable button in the bottom right corner of the window. If you look at the entry for Shockwave Flash Object, you'll see its status has changed to Enabled.
• Step 5: Click Close, in the bottom right of the window.

How to install Adobe Flash

Most compatible computers have Flash installed, but if your computer is new or you have upgraded the operating system, you might need to install it. For security reasons, you should only download the Flash player software from the official www.adobe.com website. The Flash plug-in is free.