How does Pale Moon 24 handle plugins?

Frequently Asked Questions about the Pale Moon browser and their answers.
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Moonchild
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How does Pale Moon 24 handle plugins?

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-08-27, 18:47

Pale Moon 24 handles plugins (like Flash, Java, etc.) a little differently than previous versions. Since this may be confusing, here is a run-down of the new options:

In the add-on manager

Under Plugins, you will now have a drop-down choice to either Always activate (the default), Ask to activate, and Never activate:
  • Always activate: The plugin is allowed to load and run on all sites by default.
  • Ask to activate: The plugin will only be activated/allowed on a per-site basis when you allow it (either temporary or permanently)
  • Never activate: The plugin is disabled, and will never be loaded.
Some plugins with known vulnerabilities will automatically be set to "Ask to activate" to keep you safe.

While browsing

If you encounter a site that uses plugins, and plugins are allowed, they will automatically load and run with no further special indicator.
If you wish to see a plugin indicator on all sites, you can set the preference plugins.always_show_indicator to true in about:config -- this will enable the address bar indicator shown below for plugins whenever there is a plugin in use on a page:

If a plugin is blocked, you will see the following indicators on the screen:

In the Address Bar:
pluginblocked.png
pluginblocked.png (3.29 KiB) Viewed 11292 times
And in the area where the plugin would be on the page:
Example for Flash
Example for Flash
activateflash.png (1.65 KiB) Viewed 11292 times
If you click on the plugin area or the indicator in the address bar, a choice will pop up to either allow temporarily ("Allow Now") or permanently for that particular website ("Allow and Remember"):
confirmplugin.png
confirmplugin.png (13.43 KiB) Viewed 11292 times
Temporarily allowing plugins
You can temporarily allow a plugin (either one you have set to "ask", or has been set to that choice because of known vulnerabilities) by clicking the "Allow Now" button. What this does:
  • It allows the plugin to be used on the website you are on (and only on that website)
  • It will allow further pages on that same website to also use the plugin
  • It will stop allowing the plugin after an hour, and you will have to grant permission again to the plugin after that, which will once again allow it for an hour from that point forward
Permanently allowing plugins
If you allow the plugin to run permanently on a site ("Allow and Remember") then it will:
  • Store an exception for the plugin for that particular website, and from that point on, the plugin will always be allowed to run
  • No longer indicate the plugin icon in the address bar and load and run the plugin without further required action
  • Keep blocking or asking on other sites, as appropriate
If you change your mind, or want detailed control
If you have previously allowed a plugin to run on a site, and changed your mind (especially when you made it permanent), or if you want detailed control over which plugins are allowed to run on which sites, then you can set these options by:
  • Calling up the details for the site visited:
    1. Clicking the site's icon in the address bar and selecting "More Information...", OR
    2. Richt-clicking a web page and selecting "View Page Info"
  • Selecting "Permissions"
  • Scrolling down to "plugins" and selecting, per plugin, to either use the default (global setting as set in the add-on manager), or to allow/ask every time/block the plugin on that site
    page permissions.png
If you prefer the old method of click-to-play handling
If you prefer the old method of click-to-play handling (on a per-element basis), you can get this functionality by installing the Click to play per-element add-on which will use the Firefox 23 code for this feature.
Please read the instructions on the add-on page for further details and to fine-tune your plugin activation behavior.
Last edited by Moonchild on 2013-09-26, 14:01, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added per-element add-on mention.
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