Summary: Adobe Flash is a nearly ubiquitous tool for displaying video on the web. You must install if, of course, but often that's not enough.
How to I turn on Flash Player? When I go to the download site for Adobe the banner says that I have flash installed. Then I go to a website that I know has flash and it says "This site requires that you have flash player." I have already tried re-formatting to no help.
•
Wow. Reformatting sure seems like overkill for a problem like this. Reformatting's a pretty major step, and not something I'd recommend without investigating things deeply.
I'm not sure what might be the problem in your specific case, but I can tell you this: there's at least one excruciatingly simple reason that Flash might not show up on many web sites, even though you've installed it.
In a word: JavaScript.
•
What most sites don't tell you is that yes, you need Flash installed, but you also need JavaScript enabled. This might not be true for all sites, but it's certainly true for the vast majority using Flash that I visit.
In my case, I run the FireFox extension "NoScript" which disables Javascript on all sites, except for those that I explicitly allow. So each time I visit a new site that uses Flash, I get the message "You must install Flash", when in fact all I need to do is tell NoScript to enable Javascript. Doing that the page and Flash video work just fine.
In most cases, Javascript is enabled by default. But just in case, let's review how you turn on Javascript in IE7 and in FireFox.
Enabling Javascript in IE7
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click on the Security tab. This dialog should result:
Click on Custom Level.... In the resulting dialog scroll down until you see Active Scripting:
Make sure that Active Scripting is set to Enable.
Enabling Javascript in FireFox
Click on the Tools menu, and then the Options menu item. Click on the Content tab and you should see something similar to this:
Make sure that Enable Javascript is checked.
Risks?
In my opinion, Javascript is not risky, unless you're regularly visiting risky or questionable sites, so I typically recommend people go ahead and run with it enabled. However, we've even recently seen a theoretical scary vulnerability in most routers that could be exploited via some malicious Javascript, so I might consider rethinking that stand.
As I mentioned above, I recently started using NoScript, an extension for the FireFox browser which makes managing Javascript on a per-site basis a snap. Javascript is disabled on all sites except those you specifically allow. When you visit a site, you can quickly and easily add it to the allow list or return it to the block list with just a couple of clicks.
You can do roughly the same in Internet Explorer by adding sites to the "Trusted Sites" list, but the advantage of NoScript is simply ease of use. Literally a couple of clicks to add or remove a site from block list, and you're on your way.
Related:
-
Ask Leo! - What is Javascript and why do i need it?
-
Ask Leo! - Is Javascript dangerous?
Article C2960 - March 12, 2007
ive done what you said, and when i checked everything was on already and i still get the message, can anyone help me as its really fustrating :(
Posted by: yasmin at August 5, 2009 10:14 AMTried all recommended in this article. Nothing worked. Even downloaded Firefox. Flash would not work thee either. I'm completely baffeled.
Posted by: Curtis Spell at December 7, 2009 1:08 PMI read your article but it won't work for me. I have not been able to see movies because of IE 7 & 8. I have to view them in Firefox. Everything that is suppossed to be installed is installed. Java, Adobe flash etc. The browser will not let Adobe flash go on. When I install it the browser blocks the final installation where you can see that it is installed. I am using Windows 7 now and I still cannot view these things. There are little red X in the boxes for videos or what ever. I already had my settings as you suggested to enable scripting nothing seems to work. Please help. Thanks
Posted by: Connie at January 30, 2010 6:26 PMThe link "Posted by: Gerold_Becker at March 28, 2007 3:47 AM " gave on page 2 is bogus. You have download the software. It is not a patch. It scans your computer, tell you that you have 300+ error that need fixing and if you click to fix it won't fix the problem unless you buy the software, what a scam.
Posted by: Connie at January 30, 2010 6:38 PMAre you running a 64 bit browser? Flash does NOT support 64 bit. Adobe is waaaayyyyy behind the 64 bit curve. Flash will only work in a 32 bit browser. I just don't bother with flash websites since they haven't bothered to stay current with technology.
Posted by: Mark at February 8, 2010 7:07 PM