youtube not working

[Ron Victoria]

When I open a video, the play area is either blank or black. My OS is Win 7 and I use Firefox. I was searching for answers and one said to use Adobe flashplayer 11.2 or 10.3, I have 11 downloaded now. MAybe I should remove Adobe and install real player. My head is spinning.

thanks, Ron

[Wiz Feinberg]

Ron;
You don't need Adobe Flash to play videos on YouTube. There is an autodetection script on the site that should switch your browser to decipher HTML 5.0 video instead. If not, look for the clickable link to playback in HTML 5.

Mac and iPhone/iPad users have to do this to see videos, since Apple does not support Flash.

[Ron Victoria]

this is weird, I rebooted and youtube works.

ron

[Clyde Mattocks]

Same here, just tonight I am getting a notice of Adobe Flash required to play some, not all, videos.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Have you guys installed the new version of Flash Player, from adobe.com? You need the current version to stay protected from exploits in the wild. Having an unsafe, out-dated version may cause an alert that you don't have Flash installed, because your version may be blocked.

Only get Flash Player from http://www.adobe.com/go/getflash. A different version is used in Internet Exploder and Firefox. Chrome has its own custom version that requires you to upgrade Chrome itself each time Adobe patches Flash.

[Ron Victoria]

I just installed 11.5 the other day.

[Wiz Feinberg]

this is weird, I rebooted and youtube works.

ron

Ah yes, the old reboot and it works syndrome!

Here is what probably happened Ron.

When you upgraded Flash, you were using a browser to download it. If any tabs in the browser were displaying any Flash content, including Adobe.com, the browser was not updated due to the old version being in use. Now, one might think: "I'll close and re-open my browser and Flash will be up-to-date" - but it didn't go that way. In my experience, the previous copy of Adobe Flash holds on for dear life until you reboot the computer. You have to flush it from the bathroom of your computer's heart!

[Ron Victoria]

so by uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version, the old one is hanging around? Other than rebooting to watch youtube, can I fix the problem?

ron

[Wiz Feinberg]

so by uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version, the old one is hanging around? Other than rebooting to watch youtube, can I fix the problem?

ron

I would log into an administrator level account, then uninstall Flash, then reboot. Log into the admin account and download a fresh copy of Flash and install it, then reboot. When you next log into Windows from your standard user account, go to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ to make sure that your browsers have all been upgraded to the current version.

Note, that Firefox uses a different version of Flash than either Internet Exploder or Google Chrome. IE users need to download the ActiveX version of Flash. Firefox, Safari and Opera users should download the plug-in version and Chrome users need to upgrade to a newer version of Chrome.

Other than that, if you have trouble viewing Flash in your chosen default browser, clear the cache and history. Close and open the browser and try again.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Ron, or others who have computers or tablets that do not support Flash: YouTube has a clickable option to switch to HTML 5 video instead of Flash. You can use that option IF you are using a modern, HTML 5 compatible browser. These include Firefox (desktop and mobile), Google Chrome (desktop and mobile), and possibly Internet Explorer 9 and 10.

Note: I have IE 9 on W7 and went to YouTube, with Flash disabled. There was no link visible to switch it to display HTML 5 video. The video frame warned the Adobe Flash was needed to play the videos. This is a big FAIL for Internet Exploder.

I recommend users switch to Firefox or Chrome if you are having problems viewing content in IE.

Furthermore, if you use Firefox and have the NoScript Add-on installed and enabled, you must allow the domain in order for Flash to be displayed!

[Clyde Mattocks]

I got yhe Adobe Flash required message on Firefox. I dumped Adobe a couple of years ago because it constantly loaded other Adobe stuff that I didn't want. These messages have only started in the last day or so and don't apply to all videos.

[Wiz Feinberg]

It depends on the website you are viewing and who produced the video content, as for whether they will run as HTML 5 video. Plus, your computer needs to have that video codec installed, which is very common (H264...).

[james sluder]

Im looking for a good anti-virus program for my vista computer using windows IE.

I have windows defender running and melwatebytes installed ..i was using AVG but it has stopped working !

I am also wondering about CCleaner,,does it clean your pc ??.is it a no problem program to use !

Thank's for any help here !

Jim

[Wiz Feinberg]

Im looking for a good anti-virus program for my vista computer using windows IE.

I have windows defender running and melwatebytes installed ..i was using AVG but it has stopped working !

I am also wondering about CCleaner,,does it clean your pc ??.is it a no problem program to use !

Thank's for any help here !

Jim

I use Trend Micro security programs on all of my computers.

When I first install, or later on update to a new version of Trend Micro, it forces me to uninstall Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. As soon as that update or installation has completed, I reboot, then reinstall MBAM and both get along just fine.

Typically, this happens once a year, when a new version of Trend is released to paying customers.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Ccleaner removes temporary or unneeded files and orphaned Registry entries. It's job is to reduce clutter and useless files and Registry entries.

[james sluder]

Thanks Wiz,,i'll try that !

[Wiz Feinberg]

Once a month I log into my administrator level account to uninstall unwanted programs, and/or update Firefox, Flash, Reader, etc. Then I run CCleaner. Finally, I run my disk defragmenter.