Rigby, I have a Canon A620 that's about 5 years old. It's a 7.1 MP camera, and it still takes fantastic photos. I can't speak for every brand, but unless you have the most basic of cameras, you should be able to turn off your flash. Usually, there's a button on the back of the camera, or some other indication on the thumbwheel (if it has one) that looks like a lightning bolt...this is the flash control. Press that, and you should see an icon on your screen that has the lightning bolt with the international NO sign (the circle with the bar through it) in it. That will be the indicator that your flash has been disabled.
Of course, there's always the operator's manual...
