Zep, thank you for helping. Just before I read your last post I went to the Adobe forum and other people were having the same problems tonight. Someone had already posted links using a 32 bit download so I tried that and it worked and the regular Shockwave Plug in showed up on my plug in page as enabled. I don't know what 32 bit or 64 bit means or even if I need the 64 bit but I will see if this works. You helped me a few years ago with a computer problem I had so thank you again. Anne

Thanks Mikie, again! It is the same one I tried to install. It has their toolbar. Its almost impossible to get rid of it once installed. They have made it mandatory to take their seach toolbar with the free ZA. Probably even throw it in with the paid version. Last year you could install by clicking 'skip all offers' but even clicking it installs the search toolbar. I'm running Win XP and need a firewall. Jane

I found some step by step instructions from AumHa Forums. A caveat before you start...back up the registry before making any changes. If you don't know how to do this, please ask and I will offer step by step instructions. The steps to uninstall non functioning Adobe Flash Player and replace it with Adobe Flash Player 9 Stand Alone: Download the following two applications: Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_14157 Adobe Flash Player 9 Stand-alone Installer (NB: Link to the Direct Download of the updated executable): http://www.macromedia.com/go/full_flashplayer_win_ie Check in Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, for any entry "Adobe Flash Player Active X" and uninstall the entry. With no other application running, run the Uninstaller you downloaded earlier. In the Registry editor (regedit), navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Code Store Database\DistributionUnits\(D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000) In the Left-hand pane, right-click on the key (folder) named (D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000), and choose Delete. Exit the registry editor. Reboot your computer. With no other application running, run the Adobe Flash Player 9 stand-alone installation you downloaded earlier. Reboot your computer. Open IE and Test. Be sure to check under Tools, Manage Add-ons, that the Flash Player 9 is enabled. Pam Here is a link that might be useful: AumHa Forums

Well, that's a loaded question. Do you need Flash? It's basically built into many browsers now (Microsoft Edge, Chrome and derivatives) so you don't need to "get it". For Firefox and IE, you still need to download separately, but make sure you're actually using sites that need it. It's probably the most common way to get a virus browsing the web today and is a major pain to keep installing updates (sometimes daily) and restarting your browser to get the new version. If you don't need it, it's pretty simple to not install it. If you do need it, or it's part of the browser you're using, you should consider getting a flash blocker extension so you can only enable the actual flash content you want - much safer.