Adobe Flash remains at the center of various security concerns reported in the recent months, including yesterday's Yahoo ad network being hackedthrough unpatched Flash vulnerabilities. While Apple doesn't natively support Flash with its Safari browser or its devices, Chrome still comes with Flash enabled.

How to disable Flash in Chrome on Mac or Windows:

Considering several high security risks that Flash exposes your computers to, it might be a good idea to disable Flash in Chrome on all your devices, including OS X or Windows machines. This doesn't mean that you won't be able to use the websites still utilizing this plugin, including the mass favorite YouTube, as you can tweak the settings to have it runwhen needed. You will have the choice to disable Flash plugin completely or when the Flash player is allowed to run. Follow these steps to disable Flash in Chrome and get rid of the security vulnerabilities.

Go to chrome://settingsClick on Show advanced settings…Under the Privacy section, click onContent settings...tabIn the pop-up windows, under the Pluginssection,Check theLet me choose when to plugin contentif you want to have the handle of playing Flash videos and other items in your browser. This will also rid you of those annoying video ads based on Flash. You can always choose to play them but they won't run automatically.OR, you can check the detect and run important plugin contentif you don't want the hassle of playing everything by yourself. This option, when enabled, will help Chrome moderate when it is necessary to run Flash content on a site. Chrome will automatically run that content for you.When you want to view a disabled Flash video or other item on a site, right or control-click it and selectRun This Pluginfrom the context menu. Your selected video will then start playing.

If you want to completely disable Flash,

Click onManage individual plugins...under the samePluginssection of theContent settingswindows.Click onDisableto disable Adobe Flash completely.

These are a very few and simple steps to help your machine stay safe from the innumerable vulnerabilities that Adobe Flash exposes you to. Not to forget Flash's resource hogging activities too. Choose the options best suited to your consumption of Flash-based content while still managing your security.