Moderators DennisD Posted October 11, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 11, 2008 Sorry about the title, but I couldn't think of a better one, and excuse the length of the post but it isn't an easy thing to explain clearly, which I'm hoping I have done. It might need a couple of reads. Following on from craigs thread about content in web pages, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare which Shockwave and Flash Player Plugins different people have installed in whatever locations, and maybe make some sense of how these files are installed and used. These are all the relevant Adobe and Macromedia Flash and Shockwave Player installations I've found on my PC. C:\Windows\System 32: Contains two relevant folders - Adobe and Macromedia. 1: Adobe. Contains two sub folders - Director and Shockwave11. Director sub folder contains:- Shockwave for Director Netscape Plugin, Version 11.0.0.465. (np32dsw.dll) Shockwave ActiveX Control, Version 11.0.0.465. (SwDir.dll) Shockwave11 sub folder contains:- Shockwave for Director Netscape Plugin, Version 11.0.0.465. (Plugin.dll) Shockwave ActiveX Control, Version 11.0.0.465. (Control.dll) 2: Macromedia. Contains one sub folder - Flash. Flash sub folder contains: Adobe Flash Player ActiveX, Version 9.0.124.0. (Flash9f.ocx) Shockwave Flash Player, Version 9.0.124.0. (NPSWF32.dll) Macromedia Flash Player, Version 6.0.79.0. (flash.ocx) Adobe Flash Player Helper, Version 9.0.124.0. (FlashUtil9f.exe) Adobe Flash Player Helper, Version 9.0.124.0. (NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe) C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins. Folder contains:- Shockwave for Director Netscape Plugin Version 11.0.0.465. (np32dsw.dll) To try to answer craigs questions from all this, and satisfy my own curiosity, the three items which appear in both mine and craigs Add\Remove Programs list are:- "Adobe Flash Player ActiveX Version 9.0.124.0" and "Adobe Shockwave Flash Player Version 9.0.124.0" from the System32\Macromedia folder. "Adobe Shockwave Player 11" from the System32\Adobe folder. I actually updated my Shockwave 11 player from one download link on the 6th August '08, and I now find that all the "Shockwave" files in both of the System32\Adobe sub folders, and the "Shockwave" file in the Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugin folder, have exactly the same creation date and time, the 6th August '08, at 20:17. I was pretty surprised to learn that 5 "Shockwave" files in 3 different folders were downloaded and installed at the same time. As far as I was aware, I was simply updating one file, my Shockwave Player 11, from one download link. This now makes sense of the one "Shockwave Player 11" entry in the Add\Remove Programs list. One entry because the five separate "Shockwave" files needed for playing different content in different browsers, were part of one download. All the "Flash" files in the System32\Macromedia\Flash folder, have similar install dates in August, but were all created at different times for different browsers. When I first explored and listed the files in the C:\Windows\system32\Adobe\Director and Shockwave sub folders, I first assumed that for some unknown reason the two files in each of the sub folders were duplicates, and maybe unnecessary, but although they carry the same "properties" name, you can see from the bracketed names in the list, that they are all different dll's, I assume needed for playing different content. The only duplicated file out of all of them, is the "Shockwave for Director Netscape Plugin Version 11.0.0.465 (np32dsw.dll)", found both in the System32\Adobe\Director sub folder, and in the Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins folder. That's about it: I'm not entirely sure as to whether this will clarify anything for anyone, but the exercise has clarified some things for me. For one thing, although my post in craigs thread pointed out the different Shockwave downloads available for different browsers, it's now plain to see that the "Shockwave iExplorer ActiveX" browser plugins, and the "Shockwave Netscape" browser plugins, are downloaded and installed at the same time, and therefore have only one entry in Add\Remove. The iExplorer and the Netscape "Macromedia Flash Player" plugins, located in the "Macromedia\Flash" sub folder, are all separate downloads, for different browsers, and I couldn't find any duplicated outside of System32. So, as far as I can see, on my PC at least, all the browsers, either directly or indirectly, access the Flash and Shockwave player plugins situated in C:\Windows\System32. All except Firefox, (my FF at least), which has it's own copy of "Shockwave for Director Netscape Plugin Version 11.0.0.465 (np32dsw.dll)", identical to the one found in the System32\Adobe\Director folder. Why? I have no idea. For Opera users, the Netscape installations usually include Opera compatibility. This is the setup on my PC, and I now have a pretty good understanding of how these plugins are installed and used. Which is more than I had before I started this yesterday. It would be interesting to see how other installations compare with mine. If you find this difficult to follow, apologies, but this is the shortened version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoKenny Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I only worry about them if there is an insecure version on my system so I use Secunia Online Software Inspector to scan my PC for the most common programs and vulnerabilities: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein IE7Pro user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted October 11, 2008 Author Moderators Share Posted October 11, 2008 I bookmarked that a while ago Ken, it's a pretty slick online check. The puzzle in all this was Shockwave, which didn't come up in that scan, although I have 5 separate Shockwave plugins. It's the "I hate mysteries" thing, and the need for and the use of Shockwave plugins was a bit of a mystery until I did this bit of rummaging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corona Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 The fact that Flash and Shockwave are split up into a bazillion different 'drivers' (for lack of a better word) ticks me off. At least Java sticks to one main app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoKenny Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I don't need Shockwave but only have two Flash Player entries Adobe Flash Player 9.x is up-to-date. The detected version installed on your system is 9.0.124.0, which either corresponds to or is newer than the latest secure version released by the vendor. Installed on Your System in: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\Flash9f.ocx Adobe Flash Player 9.x is up-to-date. The detected version installed on your system is 9.0.124.0, which either corresponds to or is newer than the latest secure version released by the vendor. Installed on Your System in: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein IE7Pro user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted October 11, 2008 Author Moderators Share Posted October 11, 2008 I know your an IE user, but if you have Firefox, do you not have an "np32dsw.dll" file in the Firefox Plugins folder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigathus Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hi Dennis I hope I didn't cause to many headaches , here is a screen-shot showing what I have' compared to your list. I Installed "Adobe Shockwave Player" twice , once while using Firefox' and then again using IE7, I hope I haven't created any problems by doing that? I'm sure that others like myself will gain knowledge and find all this info helpful. Thanks Dennis for doing all the research http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds http://www.piriform.com/docs http://www.postimage.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted October 13, 2008 Author Moderators Share Posted October 13, 2008 No worries craig, I like rummaging, and looking at that screenshot and comparing it with my folders, it appears that everything in those folders should be there. There's nothing in there out of place, no "foreign bodies", and no "duplicates" from installing Shockwave twice. You're good to go, as they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony A Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I know your an IE user, but if you have Firefox, do you not have an "np32dsw.dll" file in the Firefox Plugins folder? I do not have that in my FF plugin folder. The only thing in the FF plugin folder is npnul32.dll. FireFox uses the Flash files from c/windows. Same with Opera. On FF Portable I have manually added Flash and WMP plugins to the plugin folder since I use it portable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted October 13, 2008 Author Moderators Share Posted October 13, 2008 I do not have that in my FF plugin folder. The only thing in the FF plugin folder is npnul32.dll. FireFox uses the Flash files from c/windows. Same with Opera. On FF Portable I have manually added Flash and WMP plugins to the plugin folder since I use it portable. I'm pleased you posted that Anthony, as I couldn't see the reason for that being in my FF folder, and in Sysytem32 as well. It seems like it's surplus to requirements as it's the only file duplicated on my PC. The whole point of this thread is to find out if anyones missing any files necessary to play all web content, or maybe have duplicates causing conflict. It's interesting Ken doesn't have Shockwave, and doesn't seem to have any problems viewing online video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDPower Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Incidentally Flash version 10 is now the current version: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humpty Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Has anyone done any settings for Flash Player? Had a brief look at it but dunno if it's worth changing any settings or not? Note: The Settings Manager that you see above is not an image; it is the actual Settings Manager. Click the tabs to see different panels, and click the options in the panels to change your Flash Player settings. Settings Manager Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted October 15, 2008 Author Moderators Share Posted October 15, 2008 Has anyone done any settings for Flash Player? Had a brief look at it but dunno if it's worth changing any settings or not? Settings Manager Page Hi Humpty, I've never seen that online settings manager before, but the same thing is available by right clicking in the window of any flash video. Might be worth a check to make sure it's set so that access to your mike or web cam is denied. The only other thing worth a mention is I have Hardware Acceleration enabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted October 15, 2008 Author Moderators Share Posted October 15, 2008 Incidentally Flash version 10 is now the current version: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/about/ Thanks for the heads up JD, just updated that. Here's a simple thing I've just realised, and probably last to do so. Whichever browser you access the Adobe download site with, the Flash plugin for that browser is installed. IE for the ActiveX plugin, and Opera/Firefox for the Netscape plugin. A damn site easier than using one browser and looking for the different versions, which you can also do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony A Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 The whole point of this thread is to find out if anyones missing any files necessary to play all web content, or maybe have duplicates causing conflict. It's interesting Ken doesn't have Shockwave, and doesn't seem to have any problems viewing online video. I know with Opera if you are having issues with Flash they recommend looking to see if you have duplicates and removing them if you do. Sometimes when you install Flash it will put a Flash Plugin in the Opera plugin folder. In this case Opera is looking there and in C/Windows and this causes issues. It is recommended to remove the Flash plugin from the Opera plugin folder in this case and let Opera use the one in C/Windows. Older versions of Opera needed the Flash plugin in the Opera plugin folder though because older versions of Opera didn't look in C/Windows. When I update Flash I run the Flash uninstaller from the Adobe web site and gut my machine of all Flash. I also manually look in C/Windows and each browser's plugin folder to make sure there is no Flash left and than do a fresh install of Flash. Her is the proper way to do this and the link to the official unistaller from Adobe http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewConten...rnalId=tn_14157 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigathus Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 When I update Flash I run the Flash uninstaller from the Adobe web site and gut my machine of all Flash. I also manually look in C/Windows and each browser's plugin folder to make sure there is no Flash left and than do a fresh install of Flash. Her is the proper way to do this and the link to the official unistaller from Adobe http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewConten...rnalId=tn_14157 Hi Anthony So what is the normal way to update "Flash Player" or "Shockwave Player"? Do you or should you use the official Uninstallers? and If you do is that enough? or do you have to find what (files-folders) have been left behind and remove them? Is it really necessary to uninstall Flash Player & Shockwave Player? Can't the newer updated versions just be Installed over your current versions? http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds http://www.piriform.com/docs http://www.postimage.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony A Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Hi Anthony So what is the normal way to update "Flash Player" or "Shockwave Player"? Do you or should you use the official Uninstallers? and If you do is that enough? or do you have to find what (files-folders) have been left behind and remove them? Is it really necessary to uninstall Flash Player & Shockwave Player? Can't the newer updated versions just be Installed over your current versions? I use the official uninstaller from Adobe. I than look in each browsers plugin folder and C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash and delete everything from it if anything is left after running the uninstaller. I than run the installer for Flash for IE and non IE browsers because there is two different Flash plugins for this. Is this the "normal" way? It's what I have been doing and I don't have any issues. I have read that it's best to uninstall Flash and do a clean install and the uninstaller you download from the Adobe site is the best way to do that. Maybe others install over the old version of Flash and they will comment on if they have any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoKenny Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 New Secunia Online Software Inspector results after updating Flash Player version 10 "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein IE7Pro user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbow2009 Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Thanks YoKenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators hazelnut Posted April 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted April 21, 2009 You are replying to a thread which is 6 months old. Support contact https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general or support@ccleaner.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now