Let's assume you start here:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Then uncheck the McAfee box and click Agree and Install Now.

Do you get a yellow infobar, just below the location bar, that requires you to approve the installation? If you allow that, you get an add-on from Adobe, which is an installer that then grabs the Flash player.

Does that make sense?

Edit: This is a direct download link I found some time back. Because you should always be very, very suspicious of direct links to EXE files on the web, make sure to scan any download before running it. In other words, do not choose OPEN, only SAVE, and then check it for safety.

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

Many thanks for the help. When I tried to open a video, I had a solution to my problem, when I was prompted to update Flash in order to view it. I went thru the process and was successful this time. It would have been difficult to go back to the original scene and work from there. I appreciate the help and the warning.