Flash - Adobe Flash Tutorial And How I Help Folks Diagnose Their Flash Issues

-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks Yahoo Group
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Flash Trouble

Hi all,

A friend of mine has an Asus laptop with Vista Home Premium. Lately she has been having trouble with Adobe Flash. For example, going to YouTube and attempting to play a video causes the browser to freeze. Sometimes right-clicking on the task or opening the Task Manager (not even doing anything with tasks) can cause the video to start, but after a second or two, the video and/or audio chokes and stops.

Other sites like WeightWatchers (which has a Flash gizmo at a certain place on its site) just produce an error message that Flash has crashed.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Flash several times, always getting the official uninstaller and the latest version of Flash from Adobe. I have also tried disabling all other plugins in Firefox (IE has the same problem), but to no avail.

Any thoughts on this? I am stumped. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

~pt

My first reply:

Has she updated her Adobe Flash Player? This page, http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ will check your version for you and tell you if it's the latest version on the chart below. If you don't have the latest version, it should be updated as Adobe Flash is a common add-on that is attacked by hackers.

Same with Java. Java can be easily updated through the Java Applet in the Control Panel on your computer.

I use Secunia Online Scanner to check most of the common programs (Flash, Java, IM programs, Media Players, etc.) on computers to see if they have the latest, most secure versions. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/  Once you do the first scan, it will offer to email you each time new definitions come out and you can run the scan again. I like Secunia as it will also give you the file path to any OLD remnant .exe files of programs that were left behind by a previous uninstall, so you can manually remove those remnant .exe files. This is common with Adobe and can cause the problems you are seeing. Adobe also offers a clean-up tool on their site for removing the remnant files it's uninstaller leaves behind.

Have they cleaned out their Flash Cookies? CCleaner, Spybot and I'm sure other security/cleaning programs will also clean out Flash cookies. I have a blog page on how I use CCleaner since I don't use all of the default settings since I don't want to clean out some of the things it will do as a default. I also use CCleaner to manage all the other cookies that I do allow to stay on my computer.

Do you or your friend know how to set the settings on Adobe Flash to have it run well without giving it too much freedom over your computer?

Last but not least, I use Toggle Flash and turn off Flash except for when I'm on a site that I want to turn it on for, like YouTube, Hulu, etc. Otherwise, I leave Flash turned off so it doesn't cause freeze up problems when wildly surfing the net since many advertisements are based on flash and lots of malware will try attacks through unsecured Flash Players or unsecured browsers. See my blog article and review of Toggle Flash

Lenny Vasbinder

Their follow-up reply:

-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks Yahoo Group
On Behalf Of
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Re: Flash Trouble

Hi Lenny the Computer Guy,

Thanks for all the tips. I updated her to the latest version of Flash, as per Secunia. Secunia doesn't currently report any outdated or compromised software.

I was unable to find the Adobe program that cleans up old installs. How might I find it?

I installed the Flashblock (to have Flash items on a page disabled by default) and BetterPrivacy (to delete Flash cookies) extensions on Firefox. (Flash seems to be working on IE8 now, btw.) I have also used Adobe's tool to adjust Flash security settings. For good measure I ran CCleaner to delete Flash cookies (as well as over 470 MB of other junk!) and used Eusing's Registry Cleaner to clean up the registry.

However, I continue to have the same issues with YouTube. Any other thoughts?

~pt

My follow-up reply:

If you have Flashblock, I see this is a FireFox (FF) add-on, then that would be blocking the videos with YouTube... and possibly causing it to freeze. It could also be your settings to block flash cookies. I think you have to allow them on most sites that have flash features that you actually want to see. Then use CCleaner or other utility to clean the flash cookies up.

Flash, in and of itself, does cause browser freeze-ups on a regular basis, usually related to malicious ads or flash vids created with old versions or other related problems, which is why I use Toggle Flash in IE8 when doing power surfing. Then if I'm on a page where I do want to see the video or animation, I click the Toggle Flash button on my browser tab's bar, do a refresh on just that page and I'm able to see the video/animation. After I'm done, I click Toggle Flash again so Flash is turned off when I go to the next site.

I only use FF as a backup browser so I'm not as familiar with all of it's tweaks but I know there have been problems with some of the recent updates and most folks had to uninstall FF and then reinstall it to get a clean installation and then re-customize it.

While all of the add-ons are great for some folks, each add-on can also bring it's own unique set of problems in how it plays with the other add-ons or the browser itself. I know that with many other programs, add-ons are almost always the cause of problems with the main program... I'm sure it's the same with FF.

Re-run the Secunia scan and do the "Enable thorough scan..." and if it comes up clean with no old fragments of Flash.exe files, then you shouldn't be having any immediate problems related to Flash itself.

If you still have problems, http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_Uninstall, which should cleanup current and all previous versions... or you can use RevoUninstaller to really do a cleanup of Adobe Flash program and registry entries, then get the latest version here, http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and start from scratch again. That entire page in the first link in this paragraph has LOTS of other info for troubleshooting Flash problems with IE8, FF, etc.

Depending on the users download speed, you may have to go into the Flash Settings (right click on the flash video and choose "Settings" and give it more buffering capacity. For folks that do not have the fastest download speeds but do lots of YouTubing, if they have secure computers, I might give them 10MB of memory on the host computer. For most others, 1MB or less is sufficient. This needs to be tweaked from time to time depending on the situation for folks that use different internet connections like wi-fi hotspots. The downside of giving too much memory is that malicious Flash ads also have access to that memory so it's important that any computer connected to the internet be very secure.

If the above didn't answer all of your questions or doesn't work, give me more info and details related to your last paragraph, "However, I continue to have the same issues with YouTube. Any other thoughts?" Is this happening on both IE8 and FF or just FF? You said that Flash was working on IE8, so I'll presume YouTube was also working but if it's not, let me know. If your issue is only with FF, then it's likely one of the add-ons that are causing the problem. Disable them one by one until you find the culprit.

Lenny Vasbinder

Their final reply and thanks...

-----Original Message-----
From: WinTips-Tricks
On Behalf Of
Subject: [WinTips-Tricks] Re: Flash Trouble

Thanks, Lenny. It was the storage settings. They were set to 100KB, which obviously is not enough to buffer video. When I set it to 10MB, YouTube works like a dream.

~pt

Toggle Flash - A very good and simple and FREE solution for Adobe Flash IE freeze-up problems - Archived Blog - 2009-0108

Recently, while helping someone in the PCPitstop.com forums, where they were having problems with IE (Internet Explorer) freezing up, I let them know that the likely cause was Adobe Flash 10, which came out late last year (2008) and has been causing IE freeze-ups to many users. I directed them to a few other threads in the MS forums and even the Adobe Flash forums. They reported back and thanked me for telling them about Toggle Flash... but unfortunately, up until they thanked me, I had never heard of Toggle Flash before. I went and read the threads that I had directed them to and further in the threads, another poster mentioned Toggle Flash as a simple solution to the Adobe Flash freeze up problems.

It's a simple add-on to IE and with the click of a button, you can turn off the Adobe Flash add-on and then surf to your heart's content without seeing any Flash advertisements or see your IE, possibly with many tabs open, freeze up and then you lose all of your open tabs before you had a chance to read or save those pages as favorites... this has happened to me many times and then I'd have to go into my IE History and recreate my searches.

Anyhow... I decided to read up on Toggle Flash a little and then I installed it a couple of days ago from the main site at http://flash.melameth.com/togflash.html.

Here is what I've had to say about it so far in forums and emails to the developer of Toggle Flash, Daniel Melameth. I should note that he was very quick to reply to my email inquiry also!!!

FIVE STARS for that!!!

----------------

"(rgsmile @ 8:39pm Mon Jan 5 2009)

Thanks. The link, in LennyVNOLA's previous response , (I am now using Toggle Flash (freeware add-on for IE7) quite successfully: http://flash.melameth.com/ might be worth a look for me and others. Thanks to all that responded.

rgsmile"

My reply to rgsmile....

Well... after IE froze up on me last night with a lot of tabs that I did a lot of work to find and hadn't saved yet... thank God for the History search.... but anyhow.. I went ahead and downloaded and installed Toggle Flash and haven't had an IE freeze up today and I've done some serious surfing today.

The only negative thing that I can say about Toggle Flash is that it doesn't tell you whether it's off or on so you have to go to your favorite YouTube or other known flash site to see if you left it off or on before you do your major surfing so you don't get surprised with a freeze up.

I'm going to email the author of Toggle Flash and see if there's a way for the icon to display whether Toggle Flash has it turned off or on.

I did have to go into my View Menu, then Toolbars and unlock the toolbars, then close and reopen IE to get the Toggle Flash Icon to show up which the main site explains about anyhow. You might also have to go into your Manage Add-ons and enable it if you have your settings to block add-ons.

Another thing that happens... at least with me.. is each time I do a Toggle Flash, I get a little black Command Prompt window that pops up and then disappears. I didn't check the Toggle Flash site but I guess this is normal.

It works for me so far after 18 hours of power surfing.

Lenny V.

------------------

Here are my emails to/from the creator of Toggle Flash...

January 7, 2009

Daniel@Melameth...

I just started Toggle Flash and I'm glad to be free of IE freeze ups caused by quirky Flash programming.

I have a couple of questions...

Is the Toggle Flash button on the IE toolbar supposed to indicate if TF has Flash turned on or off? Is there a way other than to test it to see which mode it is in? For now, I've been just going to YouTube to check and see which mode I left it in but it would be nice to know at a glance.

Thanks for a good product.

Lenny Vasbinder

------------------

His reply....

January 7, 2009

Hey Lenny,

Unfortunately, at this time, the toolbar button just activates the toggle feature--is it not an indicator of the status of Flash. This is on my list of things to do for a future version of Toggle Flash, but Toggle Flash is extremely simple right now and getting the toolbar button to change based on the status of Flash is, actually, far more complex. As for determining the status of Flash, if you go to a page with Flash content, but Flash is disabled, IE will notify you of this in the Status Bar on the bottom of the page with an image of a little red no sign on top of a little silver cog--which is made to represent an Add-On that the site is trying to use is disabled.

I tend to always browse with Flash disabled, and only enable it when I specifically want it, so determining the state of Flash is somewhat easier for me in this case, but this is, by far, the most requested feature of Toggle Flash and I'm definitely taking it into account.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on Toggle Flash.


Cheers,

Daniel

------------

In February, 2009, Daniel sent me an email notifying me of some upgrades that were made. Here is his email.

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Melameth
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 6:58 PM
To: 'NHSNOLA'
Subject: RE: Toggle Flash


Lenny,

I remembered your email and thought I'd drop you a little note to tell you I recently made a minor update to Toggle Flash to address a compatibility issue with IE8 and, while I was here, I also changed the executable so that it no longer opens a Command Prompt window when clicked. As such, feel free to download the updated installer from the site. In addition, it appears Microsoft has given IE8 the ability to control which sites can use a specific add-on and I'm considering leveraging this feature for a future version of Toggle Flash.

Sincerely,
Daniel