diff --git a/mobile/app/mobile.js b/mobile/app/mobile.js
index 133de8413a5..76423b8eafa 100644
--- a/mobile/app/mobile.js
+++ b/mobile/app/mobile.js
@@ -324,6 +324,10 @@ pref("privacy.item.siteSettings", true);
 
 pref("plugins.enabled", true);
 
+#ifdef MOZ_PLATFORM_HILDON
+pref("plugins.force.wmode", "opaque");
+#endif
+
 // URL to the Learn More link XXX this is the firefox one.  Bug XXX fixes this.
 pref("browser.geolocation.warning.infoURL", "http://%LOCALE%.www.mozilla.com/%LOCALE%/firefox/geolocation/");
 
diff --git a/mobile/chrome/content/browser.js b/mobile/chrome/content/browser.js
index 8f926ecfd61..a641a6586af 100644
--- a/mobile/chrome/content/browser.js
+++ b/mobile/chrome/content/browser.js
@@ -550,6 +550,12 @@ var Browser = {
       gPrefService.clearUserPref("extensions.disabledAddons");
     }
 
+    // some day (maybe fennec 1.0), we can remove both of these
+    // preference reseting checks.  they are here because we wanted to
+    // disable plugins and flash explictly, then we fixed things and
+    // needed to re-enable support.  as time goes on, fewer people
+    // will have ever had these temporary.* preference set.
+
     // Re-enable plugins if we had previously disabled them. We should get rid of
     // this code eventually...
     if (gPrefService.prefHasUserValue("temporary.disablePlugins")) {
@@ -557,10 +563,10 @@ var Browser = {
       this.setPluginState(true);
     }
 
-    // XXX temporarily disable flash
-    if (!gPrefService.prefHasUserValue("temporary.disabledFlash")) {
-      this.setPluginState(false, /flash/i);
-      gPrefService.setBoolPref("temporary.disabledFlash", true);
+    // Re-enable flash
+    if (gPrefService.prefHasUserValue("temporary.disabledFlash")) {
+      this.setPluginState(true, /flash/i);
+      gPrefService.clearUserPref("temporary.disabledFlash");
     }
 
     //dump("end startup\n");