Google Chrome Plugins And How To Enable Or Disable Them

By Siusto Last updated Mar 23, 2022

The purpose of plugins for Web browsers like Google Chrome will be for processing of special types of content. Some of the most common types of plugins supported by Google Chrome include Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Java, QuickTime, Real Player, and Microsoft Silverlight.

If you are notified that you need to install or update one of these plugins, it means that you come across a webpage with special content. For this reason, you have to take note of what you need to do in order to enable these plugins on your Chrome browser.

Enabling Plugins

First thing that you need to do is to launch Chrome from your desktop or laptop computer.
Go to Settings page you can find at the upper right corner of the Google Chrome screen represented by 3 horizontal bars or 3 dots.
Go to the bottom of the list and select Show advanced settings link from there. This enables you to expand your option and show advanced settings.
Go to Privacy > Content settings where you can see settings for related Web content, such as plugins, popup, images, and cookies.
Enable plugins by clicking Run automatically (recommended) from the Plug-ins section. Chrome will now run all types of plugins you install in Chrome.

Adding and Running Plugins

Simply visit a website that requires plugins. This will be used for watching movie trailers, such as https://trailers.apple.com/ wherein you need the plugin called QuickTime.
You will be prompted if ever the plugin is not available in your browser.
If you are required to do so, you need to click the button that states Update plug-in or Install plug-in. The plugin will be downloaded and installed for Google Chrome.
You need to restart your browser if you want to complete the installation. Just close the open windows and exit from the Google Chrome browser. Go back to the website to determine if the content is now supported by the plug-in.

Disabling Plugins

In order to locate the plugins you want to disable, simply type chrome://plugins from the address bar of Chrome and hit the Enter key. Thus, a list of installed plugins will be displayed for you to choose which one to disable or keep. Upon opening the plugins page, you need to click the link named Details with a plus icon at the upper right corner. You can expand the respective plugin sections if you like to display in-depth information about each of them.

Once you have located the plugin, click on the Disable link on its side, which turns to gray when disabled. If you want to enable it again, just click on the Enable link that would appear on its side, which is indicated by its status.

Plugins are like program extensions that can add functionality to your browser. Most of the time, they are developed by third-party developers. Hence, you can control its function by simply toggling them on or off from time-to-time.