Adobe Flash Player Questions

[Old Sparky]

The question is 'Why would some websites, e.g. the BBC Weather Forecast Video section state that 'To view this content you must Install Adobe Flash Player'?, when, to the best of my knowledge it  is installed.    In fact I did an update only a couple of days ago.  Another question concerns  Samsung's 'Intelli-Studio', which makes use of Flash Player to allow the viewing of still pictures uploaded from a camcorder.   Despite having done the update as mentioned above, 'Intelli-Studio' won't allow direct viewing of individual pictures, but states that you have to 'open explorer' in order to view them.  Anyone know hy this is?

[ppppenguin]

We'll start by saying that the flash player is the spawn of the devil. Probably the biggest source of security and malware problems at the moment. Unfortuantely a lot of websites still use flash. Current Firefox will not allow an out of date flash player to run because they consider the security risk is too high. Updating flash is a PITA but there is a better way of doing it. This page https://rejzor.wordpress.com/adobe-flash...-download/ give links to direct downloads of flash which are a much nicer way of doing it than the usual Adobe route. Go to this part of the page and click the link that's relevant to your browser:

Optional downloads

Direct Adobe Flash Player downloads:
Windows | Firefox, Safari, Opera 12.x

Windows | Internet Explorer

Direct Adobe Flash Player PPAPI download:
Windows | Chromium based browsers

I had to do it this way after the usual instal method repeatedly failed.

[Old Sparky]

Thanks for the tip, Jeremy. Something in the back of my mind was telling me about security isues with Adobe Flash Player, so I'll uninstall that, and use one on that 'flock of sheep'(love the name!) website instead. I have just done that and the BBC Weather Website is still saying 'You need to install Adobe Flash Player!!'

[Old Sparky]

I've installed Flash Player again, using a link from that 'flock of sheeep' website, then restarted the computer, but the BBC Weather Forecast Website is still stating'You need to install Adobe Flash Player', and 'Intelli-Studio' still states 'You do not have ....flash player installed' Could it be that Firefox is still blocking the installation &/or operation of Flash Player?

[AlanBeckett]

Have you rebooted the PC since the installation?

Alan

[Old Sparky]

Have you rebooted the PC since the installation?

Alan

As I mentioned in my previous post, Alan, I shut down the computer, and put it in 'restart' mode.  Since then it has been switched off altogether until a few minutes ago, but I haven't checked whether the problems still exist yet.

[Mark Hennessy]

Have you read this thread: http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=4662

You haven't told us which browser you're using. This makes a big difference.

[Old Sparky]

I'm using the current version of Firefox. Computer is a now 13 or 14 years old Compaq Presario S7390UK, in which I upgraded the RAM ages ago to, I think 1Gb. OS is still XP with Service Pack 3

[Mark Hennessy]

OK - that's why I asked.

Firefox now blocks Flash by default. So it's not just a case of blocking out of date versions any more. It's a policy that comes from a good place - Flash is, well, you saw what Jeffrey said! - but it's used by a lot of websites...

Gradually we are moving over to HTML 5, which supports media playback natively with no need for Flash, but we're in a transition period. Things will improve over the next few months

For example, HD playback from YouTube requires Flash, so if you point Firefox towards YouTube, you will get 360p only.

Have a look at this thread: http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showt...p?t=118801 - and follow up the link I posted there. Basically, you can install an addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox...eo-player/ - but this probably only works with YouTube (I haven't tried it).

Trying Chrome instead of Firefox might improve matters.

Naturally, don't use Internet Explorer. The latest version that XP supports is well out of date. Otherwise, I still have XP on one or two machines - it's fine if you're careful how you use it.

[ppppenguin]

With a bit of luck the death of Flash will be quick: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/24/...ash_flash/

I doubt there will be many mourners at the funeral.