14 DAY TRIAL // Users of Internet Explorer 9 and IE8 now have a much simpler way to delete Flash cookies, provided that they’re running the latest version of the technology, v10.3. With Flash Player 10.3 Release Candidate, Adobe has embraced support for application programing interfaces that Microsoft made available when it launched IE8, allowing customers to control their privacy when it comes down to Local Shared Objects (LSOs).
Flash Local Shared Objects (LSOs), referred to as Flash cookies, can now be removed via the Delete Browser History feature in IE9 and IE8, explained Andy Zeigler, Program Manager, Internet Explorer.
“Adobe recently announced that Flash Player 10.3 integrates with Delete Browsing History. This means that when you delete your cookies with Delete Browsing History, Flash Player will automatically clear your Flash cookies as well. We applaud the change. It resolves a longstanding privacy issue,” he stated.
While Delete Browsing History is bound to be familiar to IE8 and IE9 users, fact is that until now it only covered HTTP Cookies.
Both HTTP Cookies and Flash cookies are used to store data locally, information which can, in some scenarios, lead to privacy issues.
“Internet Explorer users are accustomed to deleting their cookies via Delete Browsing History,” Zeigler added.
“However, because Flash is an add-on and not part of standard HTML content, browsers have not been able to delete Flash cookies the same way they delete HTTP cookies.
“When we released IE8, we added APIs for Internet Explorer so that add-ons such as Flash can respond to Delete Browsing History and InPrivate Browsing, allowing consumers to delete Flash cookies along with other data in browsing history.”
Microsoft released the first taste of Internet Explorer 10 at MIX11 earlier this year, with developers now having the opportunity to test the platform advances in IE beyond IE9.
Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) Platform Preview 1 (PP1) is available for download here.
Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 is available for download here.