Hate annoying Flash ads? So do I! Try my new gadget, FlashBang…
Last night around 3AM I was browsing the web and listening to Dark Side pretty loudly. I suddenly heard a really loud gunshot come from my speakers that literally made my heart skip a beat. I look a bit lower on the page and notice a really annoying Flash movie ad that just starts playing without me doing a thing. That’s when I said enough is enough and decided to do something about it since it’s obvious people who create Flash will continually use sound without user interaction. Flash really needs to remember sound levels across sessions to prevent someone from giving themselves a heart attack. To prevent Flash ads from loading and playing sound as well taking over the top layer of a page I created FlashBang.
FlashBang is a very simple application. Upon installation it adds an icon to your standard toolbar in Internet Explorer. Clicking the icon then toggles Flash on and off. The application accomplishes this by simply adding or removing a registry key. This is pretty much the same thing the new Manage Add-ons does in Internet Explorer with SP2 except it requires that you refresh the page for the changes to take affect. The plus is that it doesn’t require more than two clicks so enabling and disabling Flash is quick and easy. When you disable Flash you’ll see an icon in the lower right hand corner of the window as seen here.
The system requirements are that you are running XP with Service Pack 2 OR Vista and have the .NET Framework 1.1 or later installed and of course that you’re using Internet Explorer. The application is provided on a free of charge and free to distribute basis. I will gladly accept donations of any amount via PayPal.
Download: FlashBang (updated 4/27/2007 12:01AM, please uninstall previous versions first)
If you have any questions or comments feel free. 
UPDATE: Renamed from TorchFlash to FlashBang thanks to Dylan Greene.
Also, it looks like there is a minor bug in that if you have IE open while you’re installing FlashBang the icon won’t be activated in IE by default. Please be sure to close all IE windows before installing FlashBang. If you run into this little bug go to View then Toolbars then Customize, scroll the list and Add FlashBang to the toolbar.
If you’ve uninstalled FlashBang you can still Disable and Enable Flash using the Manage Add-ons feature of Internet Explorer found under the Tools menu. You may need to visit a site which normally has Flash to see Flash pop into the list. Really though, this is all the app actually does to block Flash ads. Sadly it means disabling all other Flash and not just the ads. Other options include a nice big hosts file, or also use FireFox which has some other ways of blocking ads through CSS and such.
UPDATE: I’m releasing a minor update to FlashBang which will fix any issues regarding installation on a machine with only the .NET Framework 2.0 installed. At this point if you have 1.1.4322, 2.0.50727.0, or later installed, FlashBang should work without any issues. To check which version of the .NET Framework that you have installed run the following at a command prompt ” reg query hklm\software\microsoft\asp.net “.
UPDATE: Now installing on Windows Vista! I had to update the Visual Studio installer to recognize Windows v6, aka Vista. FlashBang will now install on Vista without any known issues… well, other than the UAC stuff. I do NOT have $125 to get a cert to code sign these free apps since well, I’ve only had $5 donated thus far. Until I can get the app code signed anyone running UAC will be bugged while installing FlashBang, and bugged again when they go to toggle Flash on and off in IE. On the plus side, there is a check box in the Protected Mode prompt in IE to quit prompting about the app in the future. I suggest people check that box till I can get a cert and code sign my apps.
Tags: Designing, Ideas, Internet, Rants, Work
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December 2nd, 2004 at 9:12 am
I have XP with IE6x SP1(don’t intend on installing SP2,as it will mess up alot of my software etc, and have been warned not to install it by many computer knowledgable people and recent articles indicate that a great many people have also not installed it because of all it’s bugs). I would like to get your FlashBang as my PopUp Blockers do not Block Flash Ads and many sites are using them now because of PopUp Blockers. Would you consider doing a version for XP IE6x SP1? Please.
December 2nd, 2004 at 9:29 am
The app as it currently stands uses features that only exist in XP SP2 and Server 2003 SP1. See the manage add-ons link above. Since that’s not in XP pre SP2 it won’t work. One of the only ways I can think of toggling Flash instantly would be to rename the Flash.ocx file. Then again that might generate a file in use error and the rename would fail. I’ll look into doing a version for IE that will work on any version of Windows. In the mean time I’d say really take a closer look into installing SP2. There hasn’t really been any talks of a SP2a so there can’t be *that* many problems with it. I can’t really see waiting for a SP3 either
.
- Corey
December 2nd, 2004 at 4:35 pm
Hey DucksNotInARow — please install SP2. It’s so much better than SP1. If you end up with serious problems, send me mail and uninstall. thanks!
Dean
December 3rd, 2004 at 5:14 am
How about a handy version of FlashBang for Mozilla? Or is it more difficult than that?
Help! Humans!
TimJor19
December 3rd, 2004 at 6:57 am
There are plenty of solutions if you Google for Block Flash Ads Mozilla. Here’s one example, http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/adblock.html. Unlike the other browsers IE doesn’t have such an open and growing developer community.
December 8th, 2004 at 4:57 pm
Pity only does SP1. BTW I like the look of this blog. VEry funky
November 10th, 2005 at 8:16 pm
1 click toggle – very cool. Any way to do a page refresh automatically "onclick"? Users could save milliseconds by not have to click twice. Or howsabout a grey icon when flash is disabled?
Petty requests. This app is exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks!
November 17th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Have considered it but at this point I probably won’t be making any major changes to the app till Vista. It’s a nice free app that gets the job done so don’t really want to get too fancy with it.
December 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
works perfect!
February 14th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Does your program work with AOL browser? They are really annoying!
March 28th, 2007 at 1:59 am
This utility is awesome. I HATE flash adds. THANK YOU for creating this.
October 27th, 2007 at 4:43 am
Hi Corey,
Thank you so much for this great app! Flash video ads on web pages were driving me crazy and your app has solved the problem for me!
I have just one request for you to consider in any future versions: could you please add a "safe" list feature so that I can mark certain domains or websites as "ok" to run flash on and just auto-disable flash on all the others? That would be amazing
Many thanks,
Adam
November 27th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Hi, i’ve enjoyed your software for some years now and its GREAT !
I just upgraded to IE 8 and it seems it doesnt affect flash anymore.
Could you look into it and perhaps issue a new version?
Thanks again!
November 27th, 2009 at 10:42 am
What OS are you using? Have you tried reinstalling FlashBang since upgrading to IE8? I’ve not tested on Vista after an upgrade from IE7 to IE8. However, it’s working just fine on Windows 7 with IE8. Let me know and I can test it out. But I’d assume an uninstall / reinstall would resolve any issues.
November 29th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Hi,
I’m using windows XP SP3, i did uninsatll and reinstall several times just to make sure.
I do see the button on IE8 but it doesnt disable the flash (i do refresh to the page to check if flash is disabled but its still runing)
Any help is much apreciated
Thanks
Asher
November 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Does clicking on the FlashBang icon in the toolbar just do nothing? I don’t see any changes between IE7 and 8 that should cause the plugin to stop working. The plugin just checks a reg key and updates it. Of course, if you don’t see the icon that shows disabled plugins then we know it’s not working. I’d also test manually disabling/enabling it through Tools then Manage Add Ons.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Hi,
Yes, clicking the flashbank cutton does nothing.
Yes, i tryed disable/enable the flash add on and it works fine.
Could it be IE8 migrated the REG keys of flash else where then your settings?
Or perhaps your settings work with flash version before 10, which is the flash version i have on IE8.
Thanks
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:43 pm
The Flash CLSID has remained the same, it’s primarily how Flash can auto-update itself and not break compatibility with everything
.
You can check the following registry key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}
If the key doesn’t exist and Flash is ENABLED. The app simply does the check and either deletes or creates the key.
See more from Adobe here:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/145/tn_14526.html AND http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19148.html
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:33 am
Hi,
Ok… i run regedit and checked “in realtime” – your app does delete this key when i click the flashbang button BUT flash is still running after refreshing the page
So… i think you need to find perhaps another reg key to enable/disable flash unique to IE8 as well.
I spend some time to search the keys on the 2nd link you provided and saved/delete/checked if flash still running/resored keys – unfortunatly all keys were useles in disabling flash.
As if IE8 retain all objects info onload and doesnt check with the resgistry file for every html page run.
Perhaps the brains in microsofts R&D thought every milii-second counts for competeing with the other browsers
Hope you can come up with a solution, perhaps a regkey i couldnd find my self.
Thanks,
Asher
March 1st, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Running IE8 under XP+SP3.
I forgot where I got FlashBang, but wanted a replacement because there is no indication of whether it is on or off (FlashBlock for Forefox changes the appearance of the toolbar button), then found your site again. “Add-on disabled”? I _never_ noticed this before. I can uninstall the FlashBang add-on (unlike so many others)? Cool.
Uninstalled it. Downloaded another copy from you, just in case it is a later version, exited IE, and installed it.
It _does_ seem to work, but still no ‘disabled’ indication (for me).
The front page of Zillow.com has a flash object on it — enabled = animation, disabled = a single ‘screen’ that does not change (it is the last screen of the animation). Same on other pages containing flash objects — the “placeholder” is a single ‘screen’ of image data.
Is there an IE setting that stops the display of the “add-on disabled” message? I don’t see one in Tools>Options>[everything in there].
March 1st, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Well if you got a copy of my FlashBang anywhere else it wouldn’t have been from me
. I tested Zillow out against IE8 in Windows 7 and had no issues seeing the Add-on Disabled balloon pop up and the icon in the status bar displays correctly.
You can go to Tools then Manage Add-ons in IE8 to verify the current status regardless of what the status bar displays. I don’t believe there’s a setting to change the display of this notification in the status bar.
I should also mention that at this point any further updates to this utility probably won’t be coming any time soon unless Windows 8 requires an update or some other major flaw is found. I won’t be making any updates for XP or even Vista. I quite honestly no longer have the time to do much more than that and as this app is free and I’ve received a total of 2 donations I haven’t found much of a reason to do anything beyond what little work I’ve done thus far.
IE8 on XP SP3 should have no issues with this add-on from the testing I did in a VM it behaved exactly the same. If Flash objects are being disabled properly I wouldn’t worry too much about it.