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Why does mozilla plugins show 3 previous versions of adobe flash player as needing to be updated when I have the most current version?

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  • Last reply by FredMcD

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When I ck to see if my plugins are current, it indicates 3 previous versions of adobe flash player (18, 21, 22) need to be updated. They all have "Ask to Activate" setting. It is annoying to see these appear when I have the current version 23,0,0,162 which is also included on my plugins page. Should I select "Never Activate" on these outdated versions? Will this make these go away? Thanks for any info on this.

When I ck to see if my plugins are current, it indicates 3 previous versions of adobe flash player (18, 21, 22) need to be updated. They all have "Ask to Activate" setting. It is annoying to see these appear when I have the current version 23,0,0,162 which is also included on my plugins page. Should I select "Never Activate" on these outdated versions? Will this make these go away? Thanks for any info on this.

Chosen solution

Thank you all for your advice and info. I poked around as much as I was comfortable in doing. Ended up contacting geek squad and got remote fixed. The adobe uninstall program instructions were very helpful in getting the ball rolling on this. The agent was able to remove the files and all is well now. Thank you all again. :-)

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All Replies (9)

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Sometimes when a program is updated, it forgets to remove the old one.

Your System Details shows;

Installed Plug-ins

Shockwave Flash 23.0 r0 Shockwave Flash 21.0 r0 Shockwave Flash 18.0 r0 Shockwave Flash 22.0 r0
Having more than one version of a program may cause issues. You must remove the older programs. Then get the current full installer.

Flash: Grab the uninstaller from here: Uninstall Flash Player | Windows Uninstall Flash Player | Mac

Then reinstall the latest version.

Note: Windows users should download the active_x for Internet Explorer. and the plugin for Plugin-based browsers (like Firefox).

Note: Windows 8 and Windows 10 have built-in flash players and Adobe will cause a conflict. Install the plugin only. Not the active_x.

Flash Player Version: 23.0.0.162 Flash Player (Linux) Version 11.2.202.635

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ Direct link scans current system and browser Note: Other software is offered in the download.

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ Step 1: Select Operating System Step 2: Select A Version (Firefox, Win IE . . . .) Note: Other software is offered in the download.

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Thank you. I ran the uninstaller which worked; however, I was unable to delete the files noted per the instructions - I do not have permission ... How do I get permission?

I was able to reinstall the current version of adobe flash player and don't have any problems, just the annoyance of the outdated versions on my plugins page. Should I pursue trying to delete those files and reinstall?

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I think that means you do not have an administrator account. Are there still files that need to be removed?

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That's what I thought too. I don't have an administrator account - this is my personal laptop. Yes, those previous versions of adobe flash are still on my pc. They are set for "ask to activate" so at least they are not active. Should I just let this go as long as I am not having problems? Maybe Geek Squad can remove the files? Thank you for your advice.

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Adobe has released new Flash Player versions for Win/Mac and Linux yesterday.

Flash Player 23.0.0.185 (Win & Mac) Flash Player 11.2.202.637 (Linux)

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb16-32.html https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

To see where the Plugins that Firefox is making use of are located on system type about:plugins in the Location (address) bar. This and other about: urls for the version can be seen in about:about

The older 23.0.0.162 version will likely be added to blocklist within the next week or two for click to play soft block. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/blocked/

Modified by James

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Hi shibagirl, Adobe's uninstaller should already have removed the files. What remained?

If you need to administrator privileges to delete a file, you can try opening Windows Explorer using this method (not sure this works on Windows 10):

In the system-level search box (could be on the taskbar, could be on the Start menu) type expl and pause while Windows shows suggestions. One of them should be Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer).

Right-click Windows Explorer and on the context menu click Run as Administrator. Then the window that opens should have full power to remove unwanted files from protected locations.

When editing manually in:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

Please only remove Flash DLL files that have this pattern:

NPSWF32_version_0_0_number.DLL

The other files are for other purposes.

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Sometimes the Add-ons page is out-of-sync with reality. If Firefox is not updating the internal list to match what actually is on the system, it could be for one of these reasons:

Firefox not re-reading the Registry:

One possible reason for an installed plugin not to appear on the Add-ons page is if Firefox has been set NOT to scan the registry for plugins. Another is that Firefox's settings file storing plugin data has become corrupted. Here are the steps to check those possibilities:

Confirm that Firefox is scanning the registry for plugins

Firefox finds the Flash plugin from a registry entry. Some users have the scanning turned off for some reason. Here's how to check and fix that:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the filter box, type or paste scan and pause while the list is filtered

(3) If plugin.scan.plid.all is not set to its default value of true, double-click it to toggle it back to the default.

If you changed this setting, exit and restart Firefox to trigger another scan.

If you check the Add-ons page, Plugins section again, can you find "Shockwave Flash" there with the current version number?

If Firefox is set to scan but still does not find Flash and list it on the Add-ons page...

Firefox's plugin registry file corrupted:

Sometimes the pluginreg.dat file becomes corrupted. You can remove it and have Firefox re-scan for plugins.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • Help menu > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button to launch a new Windows Explorer window showing your settings files.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • File menu > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename pluginreg.dat to something like pluginreg.old

Start Firefox back up again. (If you want to restore your previous non-private session, use History > Restore Previous Session.)

When you return to the Add-ons page, is "Shockwave Flash" finally there?

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Chosen Solution

Thank you all for your advice and info. I poked around as much as I was comfortable in doing. Ended up contacting geek squad and got remote fixed. The adobe uninstall program instructions were very helpful in getting the ball rolling on this. The agent was able to remove the files and all is well now. Thank you all again. :-)

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That was very good work. Well done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem so others will know.