So my son has this new laptop with W7 on it.
Youtube videos show that it needs the latest version of Flash to play some videos.
I’ve installed the latest version directly from Adobe, but to no avail. While it thinks it’s installed, going to a test page on Adobe shows it’s not working. Some research has suggested un-installing and re-installing with Adobe’s apps for that, but it has not helped.
Add/remove programs list shows it installed, but the first thing we see on Youtube- my only example - is that the flash player needs to be upgraded.
Their troubleshootingpage actually requires flash to be working - Yossarian would be proud. It also says I need flash installed.
Called Adobe, but they don’t offer free support for flash.
[not much help at all]
I am far from a guru, so my answer is basically worthless. But I wonder if it has to do with the browser settings? What browser are you using?
Or maybe something else is interfering with it. I have a Firefox plugin called NoScript which prevents any old web page from launching scripts. If I use a web page where I want to run scripts I have to specifically allow it.
I’m so far from guru status that I don’t even know if Flash is a “script”. But I’m fairly sure that even though I have the proper version of Flash installed YouTube would not work if I hadn’t allowed scripts from them.
I know that Firefox has a plug-in check you can use to make sure everything is nice and up-to-speed. If you’re using Firefox, it might help you out with this. If not, perhaps your browser has a similar sort of thing you could try.
[/not much help at all]
Both suggestions you’ve got are good ones, but I’m going to raise another possibility.
Win7 is usually, but not always, a 64 bit OS - I’m going to guess yours is 64bit.
With a 64bit OS, you have the ability to run 64bit or 32bit applications. You don’t mention your browser, but there are 32 and 64 bit versions of IE and Firefox, for example. There are also 32 & 64 bit versions of Flash. If you’re running a 64 bit browser, but only have the 32 bit Flash installed, Flash won’t work in that browser. Usually, when you download the 64bit version of Flash, it includes the 32bit version, as well.
So, we need to know more details about what browser you’re running, if it’s 32 or 64 bit, and if it has any addons like NoScript or FlashBlock.
Be forewarned that it’s been in beta for at least a couple years and hasn’t been updated in nearly as long. They’ve focused their anti-Flash efforts on handhelds (i.e. phones and tablets).
Also note that many videos don’t work, particularly any that run ads.