Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

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CBA
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Joined: June 16th, 2008, 2:08 am

Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by CBA »

Is there a case for keeping plugins activated and if so which ones and why? Suggestions?

I have plugins deactivated and nullified in the config editor on one computer and experience no issues (I think) when compared with the computers where plugins are (partly) activated. To deactivate I followed a procedure picked up in a KB article:

1. Deactivate plugins in Add-ons manager;
2. Change about:config per the below:

mailnews.message_display.allow_plugins = false

plugin.scan.plid.all = false
plugin.scan.Acrobat = 60.0
plugin.scan.Quicktime = 60.0
plugin.scan.WindowsMediaPlayer = 60.0
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DanRaisch
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by DanRaisch »

I'd say pointless, but it's up to you.
CBA
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by CBA »

DanRaisch wrote:I'd say pointless, but it's up to you.
Please clarify.

Do you mean pointless to keep the plugins activated or pointless to deactivate some or all of them?

I'm looking for guidance (I know it's up to me...) as I don't like to keep "things" activated if they don't do anything. And I think a plugin scan at program start is a waste if it "ain't doing nothing" at all...! Thanks.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by DanRaisch »

I think what you have been doing is pointless and a waste of your time. As for the start up scan, unless you are on a dial up Internet connection, the scan takes virtually no time and obsolete plug-ins are a source of security concerns, particularly Flash.
CBA
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by CBA »

DanRaisch wrote:I think what you have been doing is pointless...
I have been trying both modes: on some setups I run with (partly) activated plugins and on others they are fully deactivated. So, what's pointless? The former (activated) or the latter (deactivated)?
DanRaisch wrote: As for the start up scan, unless you are on a dial up Internet connection, the scan takes virtually no time and obsolete plug-ins are a source of security concerns, particularly Flash.
As far as I know, the scan is local (not online). It just scans to see what plugins are already on the computer and not for updated plugins online. And, yes, on my "outback" laptop I'm sometimes using dial up and even satellite link.

Upshot: should I keep plugins (partly) activated or not? Please tick one: Yes [ ] ... No [ ] :wink:
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DanRaisch
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by DanRaisch »

Keep them activated.
CBA
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by CBA »

DanRaisch wrote:Keep them activated.
Many thanks, a recommendation at last! :lol: That said, I'm still studying the issue to become smarter .. in order to better understand what the plugins do in Thunderbird: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin_support_in_Thunderbird

In Firefox the case is pretty clear, however, in TB it's a bit fuzzy .. to me at least. So, your suggestion helps me to see through the fog...

Also see this Ghacks write-up (updated 01/2015): https://www.ghacks.net/2011/01/03/thund ... -disabled/
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tanstaafl
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by tanstaafl »

The plug-in support was mainly to support multi-media, such as playing a YouTube video within a email message. However, the standard changed from NPAPI based plug-ins to more web-centric API's, and HTML5. Some of the plug-ins that were automatically discovered and loaded never made any sense for Thunderbird (for example google update), which is why you needed to set plugin.scan.plid.all false.
CBA
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Re: Keep Plugins Activated .. or Not ?!

Post by CBA »

tanstaafl wrote:The plug-in support was mainly to support multi-media, such as playing a YouTube video within a email message. However, the standard changed from NPAPI based plug-ins to more web-centric API's, and HTML5. Some of the plug-ins that were automatically discovered and loaded never made any sense for Thunderbird (for example google update), which is why you needed to set plugin.scan.plid.all false.
Thanks, that's helpful! What you say basically confirms my own (fuzzy) thinking and is along the lines of what MB says in his write-up. As is always the case (most of the time...), mileage varies. As I use TB as a mail client only (no chat, no feeds, no calendar, etc.), and want to minimize its foot print, I'm leaning towards the deactivate plugins camp. Others may handle this differently.
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