After 5 years of perfect use, now the script plug-in has stopped working and crashes constantly

Some users are blaming this on a Flash update today.

As a first step, to gain control of when Flash runs, try setting Flash to Click-to-Play ("Ask to Activate"). This will delay Flash from starting on a page until you approve it.

To set "Ask to Activate", open the Add-ons page using either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
• on the Windows Start menu, paste the following into the search box and press Enter to run it: firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Then on the right side look for "Shockwave Flash" and change "Always Activate" to "Ask to Activate".

With this setting, when you visit a site that wants to use Flash, you should see a notification icon in the address bar and usually (but not always) one of the following: a link in a black rectangle in the page or an infobar sliding down between the toolbar area and the page.

The plugin notification icon in the address bar typically looks like a small, dark gray Lego block. When the page wants to use a blocked plugin, the icon turns red to alert you to the concern.

If you see a good reason to use Flash, and the site looks trustworthy, you can go ahead and click the notification icon in the address bar to allow Flash. You can trust the site for the time being or permanently.

But some pages use Flash only for tracking or playing ads, so if you don't see an immediate need for Flash, feel free to ignore the notification! It will just sit there in case you want to use it later.

Not a solution, but hopefully will help with some sites.

Other threads that might be related:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1127482 https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1127600 https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1127655

Thanks, a really informative reply, obviously from a 'techie' and it assumes I know my way around a computer and I'm barely above Luddite status. When I use Ctrl+Shift+a I get an appointments page open up in outlook. Where is my starting point please? Should I be in Mozilla? The problem with that is as soon as I open Firefox, the script crashes all other operations and interferes with everything including Mail. I'd happily dump Firefox, but it is the best browser for eBay and I trade a lot on that platform.

When you want to use a 'hot key,' make sure the right program has focus on the computer.

Hi bobcat2425, try the third method I mentioned, starting Firefox directly to the Add-ons page:

• on the Windows Start menu, paste the following into the search box and press Enter to run it: firefox.exe "about:addons"

Does that let you access Plugins without the crash?