Activating FF Plugins

[hlewton]

Since installing Microsoft’s updates yesterday I continually have to activate Adobe Flash when it is needed in Firefox even though I check the box to “Allow and remember” this plugin to run. I do have FF set to clear the History when exiting but I have always had that setting. Any ideas why clicking the “Allow and remember” now does not seem to work and how to make it work again?

Thanks.

[HansV]

Perhaps you have an outdated version of Flash Player? You can check it at Flash Player Help, or download the latest version from Flash Player Plugin.

[hlewton]

Actually I already checked that and it says it is all up to date. I made no change to any FF settings and didn't install anything except the MS updates. That is what is confusing. This is on a Win 7 machine so I checked another Win 7 machine that I updated yesterday as well and it is still working as it should. There must be some difference but I can't find it. I get a different message when starting FF on each machine because FF is not the default browser but until yesterday these dialog boxes were the same. I also checked to make sure that I had the latest version of FF and I do on both machines. The first attachment I post below is the dialog box from the machine where the Adobe Flash player continually asks my permission to run. The other attachment is from the machine that is working fine and how they both were until MS's updates.

NotWorkingFF.jpg

WorkingFF.jpg

[HansV]

If I enable the default browser prompt (I have it turned off normally), I get the dialog shown in your first screenshot, yet I have no problems with Flash Player. Both Windows and Firefox are fully updated.
I have no idea why it doesn't work for you, sorry.

[hlewton]

I have no idea why the two different dialog boxes but that did just happen yesterday.

I may have found the answer to my problem. I have been going through every setting in FF on both machines and even though all was well until the updates one setting after I changed it seems to have made both machines work again. I'll know more after using it longer but on the one that was giving me a problem the box where you choose to accept cookies from other sites was set to "Never" where the one that was still working as I was used to was set to "Always." I made the change and now it appears to be working again. This did not change the two separate dialog boxes when starting FF though but that doesn't bother me if all works the same.

[viking33]

UNcheck both dialog boxes in the screenshots that you show.
Both are really unnecessary, IMHO.

[hlewton]

Thanks for the reply.

[hlewton]

Seems I was not the only one with this problem. I just found a recent post that hopefully is the solution to my problems. Only time will tell but here is a link in case anyone else encounters this and if using FireFox they should be seeing similar problems. I'm not sure if you have to do both installations as I did or if you can skip to the second recommended one right away.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1035990

[HansV]

The direct download links for Flash Player are also available in the Other Applications forum - see Flash Player 16 released.

[hlewton]

Thanks Hans. I just installed from that link you directed me to again. I installed the one for FF but I am going to also install the one for IE. I think they are always considered two separate programs and one install does not cover both browsers as far as I see in the link I put in this post. Am I correct in this assumption?

[PaulB]

That's correct. One is a Netscape Plugin for Firefox and Chrome (maybe more) and the other is a Microsoft ActiveX plugin for IE. There is no need to install the ActiveX plugin for IE 11 as this is taken care of by Windows Update, nor is there a need to install it for Chrome as this is done automatically by the Chrome updater.

[HansV]

There is no need to install the ActiveX plugin for IE 11.

On Windows 8/8.1, that is. You do need the ActiveX plugin for IE11 on Windows 7.

[PaulB]

Oops, forgot that! Thanks, Hans.

[hlewton]

OK I understand what you said but in the past I have never updated the browsers independently and have never had a problem that I was aware of. I don't know what has changed but now if I have to update the two browsers I use, I use IE as the default, so I don't see any problem knowing when or how to update that but I'm not certain how to go about updating for FF. Even when I was getting the message making me activate Adobe Flash with each use FF's plugin check showed all plugins up to date. Obviously I know now that wasn't the case. Before posting this I tried looking for updates for Adobe Flash Player using Mozilla's FireFox. My search took me to sites that I saw no distinction between the two browsers. So when I get the message in the future to update Adobe Flash Player it will be for IE, I assume, since it is my default browser. At that point how do I find the update for FF? In the link above that Hans gave to the other post that shows two separate links to download the Adobe Flash Update I am only presented with the run or save option and I do not see a site I could save for suture use. Not sure how PaulB came up with the two separate links.

Thanks.

[HansV]

The links in Paul's post always point to the latest versions; you can download or run the .exe from the links.

You could use Secunia PSI. Depending on your preference, you can let it update your software automatically, or let it warn you if updates are available.

Or keep an eye on the Other Applications forum - new versions of Flash player are usually announced there.

[hlewton]

Thank you. I am going to save that link to PaulB's post. I was kind of hoping that was the case.

[viking33]

I use filehippo.com update checker to check for updates in most popular programs. Whenever there is an update for Flash, it shows two files. One for non IE ( Firefox,etc) and one for IE. I always DL both, since I use Firefox as default and IE as non default.

[hlewton]

I use filehippo.com update checker to check for updates in most popular programs. Whenever there is an update for Flash, it shows two files. One for non IE ( Firefox,etc) and one for IE. I always DL both, since I use Firefox as default and IE as non default.

Thank you. That is similar to the situation I am in.