Firefox to disable nearly all plug-ins by default

In an effort to boost online security, Mozilla decided to disable nearly all third-party plug-ins by default. Previously Firefox would automatically load plug-ins when requested by a website, but with the new Click to Play implementation, users will have to make a click to confirm they want to load a particular plug-in.

Click to Play will be adopted for all third-party plug-ins, only the latest version of Flash Player receives an exemption from the rule.

Mozilla is changing the way Firefox loads third party plugins such as Flash, Java and Silverlight. This change will help increase Firefox performance and stability, and provide significant security benefits, while at the same time providing more control over plugins to our users.

Previously Firefox would automatically load any plugin requested by a website. Leveraging Click to Play Firefox will only load plugins when a user takes the action of clicking to make a particular plugin play or the user has previously configured Click To Play to always run plugins on the particular website.

Source: Mozilla Blog