Good post!

I will accept that challenge (sort of). I along with many others got along without Java, which for years I (wrongly) assumed was necessary. Turns out I didn't need it, and haven't used it or missed it for some years now. Perhaps it is now time to dump Adobe Flash as well. Certainly the frequent patching it requires is a nuisance. And perhaps, like Silverlight, it will eventually go the way of the do-do. I'm not a gamer, and tend to stay away from YouTube.

The only problem I see is I don't know which websites I use require Flash. The solution to this is to configure one's browser to invoke a "Click-To-Play" prompt to load Adobe Flash plug-in for sites that that use it, rather than the automatic loading which is the default. This can be done for all the mainstream browsers - instructions are here:
www.howtogeek.com/.../how-to-enable-click-to-play-plugins-in-every-web-browser

I have done this for my default IE 11 browser, and will try it out for a week or so, and report back my experience. If it turns out that none of the websites I consider necessary need Flash, I will uninstall it, and good riddance. If it happens I need it for certain sites, I will just continue to use the "Click-to-Play" for those sites only. Presumably a plug-in installed on my system but not loaded in my browser cannot harm me, or is at least a safer way to go.

Many pundits have suggested uninstalling Flash. I have not seen the security experts I trust recommend this yet (unlike for Java), but it seems a reasonable/reversible thing to try on for size.

A sampling of opinions from around the web I found:
www.besttechie.com/.../adobe-flash-necessary-evil
mashable.com/.../steve-jobs-flash-is-no-longer-necessary
www.theregister.co.uk/.../adobe_flash_hacking_team_update
www.inquisitr.com/.../adobe-flash-major-security-flaw-found-is-it-time-to-uninstall-it
thenextweb.com/.../rip-flash

Well, it didn't take long to find out a few things about "Click-To-Play" for Adobe Flash on my browsers.

First of all, I should note that I'm a news junkie, and a lot of the sites I visit are international news media (both print and TV). I don't usually care to view video content if the story is well-presented in print, but there are exceptions.

The first question I asked above was "which sites need Flash", but the more appropriate question I should have asked is "which sites use Flash" (i.e. will prompt you to load the plug-in, and how). And the answer is - it depends on your browser.

1) Using IE 11 configured for "Click-to-Play" on Win7, the answer is that almost all media sites (both print and TV, and YouTube) will prompt you to load Flash as soon as you visit them. This alert appears at the bottom of my screen, taking up real estate, and virtually demands a response. You are only given the option to either "Allow" or to just close the alert by clicking the "x". What is worse, is that if you decide to deny loading Flash, it only applies to the page you are viewing, not to the entire website.

Thus if I wish to read for example "The Economist", a UK magasine, I get the prompt at every page I visit, even on pages that have no video/animation content. I observed this behaviour at numerous North American media websites as well. Needless to say, this is extremely tiresome. "Click-To-Play" Flash using IE 11 is just not user-friendly, and is totally unacceptable to me.

2) By contrast, Mozilla Firefox 39.0 is far more user-friendly than IE as far as "Click-To-Play" Flash goes. First of all, the prompt to install Flash only appears non-obtrusively as a thin strip in the toolbar. Secondly, if the page you visit does not have Flash content, it does not appear at all. Thirdly, when the alert does appear, it allows you to block the plugin across the entire website.

3) My email and financial institutions do not require Flash, although my bank interestingly did prompt me to load Flash when using IE, but not Firefox. I declined, with no subsequent problems with online transactions.

4) Despite the claims of the OP, I find that most video content in both IE and FF  requires Adobe Flash, at least in the sites I visit. There are exceptions, but they seem to be in the minority.
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My thoughts to date:

1) My requirements for Adobe Flash are minimal, but not yet non-existent.
2) "Click-To-Play" for Adobe Flash is viable in Firefox, but not in IE, at least for me (too much grief). As always, YMMV.
3) Since I use both IE and Firefox, I see no harm in uninstalling the IE Active-X Flash plugin as an unnecessary risk. I can still use the "Click-To-Play" Flash in FF as needed, for any video/animation content I wish to view.

The popular press weighs in:

Should Adobe Flash be dumped?
www.torontosun.com/.../should-adobe-flash-be-dumped

It seems to be an idea that has finally arrived.

None of BBC will play back without Flash!!! under IE 11!!  Talking about developed country and Internet... BBC has a long way to go.

It's not just the Beeb. I cannot access any major internet TV channel video content without Flash, including:

CBC TV (Canada's national network)
CTV (Canada)
Global TV (Canada)
ABC TV
CBS TV
NBC TV
PBS

Some sites that don't use/need Flash to view videos:
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
New York Times
Time Magazine
National Post (Canadian Newspaper)
YouTube

Just a brief sample. It might well be that my ISP imposes the requirement to have Flash installed to view videos. Wouldn't put it past them. At any rate, I do not regret uninstalling Flash in my IE 11 browser. Most TV video content is not worth viewing, IMHO.

I don't know what to make of such statements.

Is uninstalling a Flash plugin from your browser not sufficient to ensure that risks are eliminated? I'm making a distinction here  between disabling Flash in your browser (as with "Click-to-play"), as opposed to uninstalling it altogether from Control Panel. Seems to me there is a lot of FUD here.

ky331,

Thank you for the clarification.

Rick

Rick,

1) As I understand things, Silverlight will not be part of Microsoft's new EDGE browser in Win10.   However, my further understanding is that Win10 will also include IE --- presumably allowing Silverlight --- for those who need legacy support.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/f/3522/t/19639645

2) Unless I'm overlooking or forgetting something, I have not seen any mention that javascript will lose support in Win10.   It's VBScript that will lose support.   In fact, the following article --- in the section discussing VBScript --- notes that "JavaScript has become the de-facto language of the web and is evolving quickly..."  http://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2015/05/06/a-break-from-the-past-part-2-saying-goodbye-to-activex-vbscript-attachevent/

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As Steve noted, "other video pages are serving video via HTML5 now".  Indeed, YouTube is one such video service that has switched-over to HTML5 [at least in part, if not fully].  So yes, Flash has become less "essential".

Flash used to be the standard for almost all online animations/videos.   And that's why it has become the object of so many recent attacks:   it's commonality on so many machines makes it an ideal target for hackers who wish to attack the most users with the least bit of recoding effort.

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Steve suggested uninstalling Flash.   Here's a question (and I don't know the answer):   Given that Flash is now being installed in IE 10/11 on Windows 8/8.1/10 as a Microsoft Security Update [as opposed to an optional download from Adobe], is it even possible to remove it in this instance?  On my Win8.1 tablet, Flash (ActiveX) does NOT appear under Programs & Features (Uninstall).   And it is NOT acknowledged in Control Panel's Flash Player Settings.   These facts strongly lead me to believe it's an integral part of IE which can't be deleted.   It CAN, however, be DISABLED in IE via Tools/Manage Add-ons.

[Lest there be any confusion, Flash can certainly be removed from IE in Windows 7 and earlier.]

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Joe mentioned "Certainly the frequent patching it requires is a nuisance".   No argument there.   I know that both he and I like to control what (and when) our systems update.  But perhaps it's time to make Flash an exception??? --- Allow (just) Flash to update automatically, so we don't have to be bothered keeping up with the many updates from Adobe?   While I still manually update it on one or two of my systems, I have made the concession to auto-update Flash on some other systems (both at home and at work).

I am also using MBAE (anti-EXPLOIT), which has had a good record so far of catching the 0-day exploits in Flash before Adobe has the chance to patch it.   It's a program I strongly advocate at this point. 

Between keeping Flash up-to-date (be it via manual perseverance on my part, or automatically), and relying on MBAE, I personally intend to keep Flash around... at least for the foreseeable future.   For those less "daring", I'd second Joe's suggestion to try restricting Flash to "click-and-play" status, unless/until doing so becomes too unwieldy [at which point, you would have to either fully enable it (if your decide it's still essential for your particular surfing habits) or disable it (if you've concluded you can live without it)].

I'm very interested in hearing back from Joe, after he concludes his testing.

Joe,

Reading the conversation and Steve mentioned that Netflix uses Silverlight. If I remember previous posts, Silverlight will not be supported in Windows 10, correct me if I'm wrong. If that happens, then what happens with Netflix?

I also work for a company part time and they have an employee self service website that uses javascript. In Windows 10, Microsoft is not supporting javascript, so wondering if tere is a browser and/or plugin that uses javascript. If not, then I might have to stay with Windows 7 until a solution can be found.

Rick

And it's happening yet again... another attack on Flash:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/f/3522/t/19640752

I'm running Win 10 on my Inspiron laptop. The latest pre-release build I got has Edge as the default browser.

So you will have to change that if you want IE to be the default browser. Or put a shortcut on the taskbar for IE so you can choose which browser to open, Edge or IE.

To me, Edge seems dumbed down, and takes away a lot of settings choices I want to control rather than letting MS tell me what's good for me...