I’ve been using Google Chrome instead of Firefox for quite a while.  I moved mostly for the simpler functionality and aesthetics.  When I first jumped ship there were not a lot of extensions available for Google Chrome, but that quickly became a non-issue as many extension developers ported their stuff over.

Getting to the point, today I was leaning over a co-workers shoulder and saw his flash blocker icon in on his toolbar and it reminded me that I used to use the extension in Firefox, but never re-checked for it after my initial set-up.  As I was trying to determine which of the two top-rated Flash Block extensions I wanted to use, I read a review (dated: May 5, 2011) stating that Google Chrome will block flash natively.

Hark!

So I set it up, tested it out, and love its simple yet effective functionality.  Here are the details.

Setup

Note:  These instructions disable ALL plugins, not just Flash.  This was a perk for me.  Luckily, they’re all easily managed … just check out the Usage section below.

Note:  These instructions are subject to change.  If you have issues following them, check out Google Answers or try Googling for a solution.

NOTE:  If you’re currently in Chrome, you can simply point your browser to the following URL and jump to step 5:  chrome://settings/content

1. Click the wrench icon  to the right of your address bar.
2. Click Options (Preferences on Mac and Linux; Settings on Chrome OS), as shown:
    
3. Click Under the Hood, to edit that section.
4. In the Privacy Section, Click the Content settings button, as shown:
    
5. Scroll down to the Plug-ins section.
6. Select Block all, as shown:
    

Your settings should auto-save.  Don’t worry about customizing permissions for specific websites; I’ll explain why below.

Usage

Note:  The Setup instructions above disables ALL plugins, not just Flash.  This was a perk for me.  Luckily, they’re all easily managed …

Now to show you how it worked for me (version 16.0.912.75 m).  First, I browsed over to YouTube and picked a random video.  Voila! Instead of a video, I got a gray box, as shown:
 

Running that video is a breeze, I just right click the gray box and select Run this plugin from the context menu, as shown (Hmmm … plug-in or plugin? Hyphenation is the question!):
 

What’s more, I got an icon at the end of the address bar that shows you that the page you’re on has blocked plug-ins, as shown:
 

Clicking that icon gives you some useful configuration options, as shown:

Conclusion

I hope this helps!  There’s no sense installing extensions to do what the browser can already handle quite well on its own.  What’s more, I don’t have to install multiple extensions to disable multiple plug-ins, since this process disables all plug-ins, not just Flash.  Simpler can definitely be better!

For a complete list of all your plug-ins, browse over to chrome://plugins.