How to Clear Flash Cookies
Adobe ended its Flash Player product, but you might still find flash cookies out in the wild. Here's how to get rid of them.
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There are many bonafide uses of flash cookies. Banks, for example, might use a flash cookie to recognise your computer and thus add a extra level of security to your account.
However, the use of flash cookies can also be abused and be invasive of your privacy and surfing habits. We'll teach you what a flash cookie is and how to avoid cookies with the best ad blockers and VPNs.
Adobe shut down its Flash Player support in 2020, which means Flash no longer gets security updates. This could increase your risk if you still have Flash Player installed on your computer or visit websites that install flash cookies on your computer.
/images/2023/03/01/logo-total-adblock.png){kind=logo}
Total Adblock
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Instantly blocks distracting ads on millions of websites, including YouTube video ads
-
Blocks third-party trackers to protect your privacy and information
-
Improves page load times and enables faster browsing
- Free version excludes top 15,000 websites
Instantly blocks distracting ads on millions of websites, including YouTube video ads
What is a flash cookie?
Flash-based websites will invariably plant flash cookies (also called Locally Shared Objects or LSOs) on your computer. A flash cookie is able to handle more complex information than a browser cookie and is able to pass information across the different browser types you may have installed on your computer.
How to avoid flash cookies
Editor's note: Since the end of Flash Player, the following guide might be out of date. If you need help managing your cookies, please refer to our guide on how to clear cookies.
Previously, when you visited a Flash-enabled site, you'd get a notification asking your permission to download Flash elements. Now that Adobe prevents its Flash Player from running Flash content, you may not see this notification and might see an error message instead.
To delete existing flash cookies, click the tab on the right side labeled "Website Storage Settings". You'll see a list of websites. Click Delete Website or Delete All Sites to clear flash cookies.
While flash cookies are no longer around, there are still other types of cookies you may wish to block on your devices. You can block cookies by using an ad blocker or a virtual private network (VPN) with ad-blocking capabilities. Many of the best ad blockers and VPNs include tracker blockers, which is what helps with cookies.
Here are some recommendations for ad blockers and VPNs to avoid cookies:
- Total Adblock: Made by the creators of TotalAV antivirus, Total Adblock is an easy-to-use ad blocker with free and paid versions. Our testing proved that Total Adblock can block tracking ads, invisible trackers, and even create a nearly-unique fingerprint for our browser.
- NordVPN Threat Protection: NordVPN has its own ad, tracker, and malware blocker, and it's available to purchase separately from the VPN. During our testing, we found Threat Protection passed 2/3 of its tracking tests, and it passed for both malware detection and phishing detection.
Get NordVPN | Read Our NordVPN Review | Read Our NordVPN Threat Protection Review
- Surfshark: On top of being an affordable VPN provider, Surfshark also provides unique features like ad, tracker, and malware blocking. Surfshark CleanWeb also passed 2/3 of its tracking tests and it had a perfect ad-blocking test score.
Get Surfshark | Read Our Surfshark Review | Read Our Surfshark CleanWeb Review
Total Adblock
-
Instantly blocks distracting ads on millions of websites, including YouTube video ads
-
Blocks third-party trackers to protect your privacy and information
-
Improves page load times and enables faster browsing
- Free version excludes top 15,000 websites
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