Adobe Flash plugin has crashed - Prevent it from happening again

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  • Creator: Michael Verdi
  • Comment: added summary and keywords
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  • Reviewed by: Verdi
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This article does not apply to Firefox on Mac, which does not yet include a plugin crash protection feature. The new feature will be available for Mac in a future Firefox release.

On Windows and Linux, Firefox 3.6.4 and later isolates plugin processes, including Adobe Flash. This plugin crash protection feature prevents crashes and hangs in Flash from taking down the main Firefox process. By default, if Flash is not responsive for 45 seconds, Firefox will terminate it and display The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed. However, some Flash-based games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars can take more time than to load, unnecessarily triggering this hang protection. This is especially true on slower computers or if you're running intensive Flash apps in many tabs or windows at once.

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Update to Firefox 3.6.6 or later

Firefox 3.6.4 had the default timeout set to 10 seconds which was too short in a number of cases. Firefox 3.6.6 extends it to 45 seconds. To update Firefox:

  1. From the Help menu, select Check for Updates...
  2. Click Update Firefox
  3. Click Restart Firefox to apply the update and restart Firefox.

Installing Firefox 3.6.6 seems to have solved the Adobe Flash plugin crashing problem. However, it may take a few attempts to fully install Firefox 3.6.6. To be sure that the install is complete, click on "Help > about Mozilla Firefox". The box will tell you which version of Firefox is installed. If it is not 3.6.6, click on "Help> Check for Updates" again, etc. Repeat as necessary.

Update Flash

Newer versions of Flash may be better optimized and perform better. Use the Mozilla Plugin Check to make sure you're using the latest version of the Flash Plugin.

Disable hang protection

You can disable hang protection to prevent Firefox from killing a hanging plugin process, regardless of how long it's taking. Crashes in the plugin will still be caught and will not terminate the browser process.

  1. Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
    A warning page may appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue to go to the about:config page.
  2. The about:config page should appear. In the Filter box, type dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs
  3. Double click the setting and change the number to -1 to disable hang protection.

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