It always perplexes me that people despise Adobe Flash, but ignore the fact that Microsoft Office combined with Adobe Acrobat and Reader have contributed just as many, if not more vulnerabilities, than Flash ever did. So why not kill off Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat ? It's way over-due.
No ? Why is that ? Because the business and academic worlds have enslaved themselves to these softs. Self-victimization at its finest. Let's not even get into Windows.
The smartest way to prevent exploits is not to use the commonly exploited software. If you justify that you have to use it, and your system is infected via one of the application exploits, that's on you and no one else. If other parties make it such that they place your system at-risk because they insist on certain software or its functionality, and the system is compromised as a result, then you have an issue with that party.