It's no secret that using Flash Block in Firefox can help protect you from drive-by browser attacks, but what you might not know is that Internet Explorer has a Flash Blocker, of sorts, built right in.
Over at the
Winhelponline blog, they've written up a guide to activating the hidden
feature, which uses a built-in tweak that is normally used to kill
ActiveX controls on specific websites, but can be reversed to only allow
a plug-in to work on sites you specify. To make the change for
yourself, just head into the Tools -> Manage Add-ons screen and
double-click on Shockwave Flash in the list. Once you're there, click
the Remove All Sites button to remove the default * option, which allows
all sites to use Flash.
Once you've
made the change, you'll be prompted anytime you visit a site that uses
Flash, and you can enable Flash for just that single site. It's not as
elegant of a solution as the Flash Block add-on for Firefox, but if
you're stuck using Internet Explorer at work, it's a great way to keep
yourself safe—not to mention blocking annoying Flash animations.
