You can check whether the add-on is enabled or disabled here:

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Add-ons

Check both the Extensions and Plugins categories. If it is already enabled, hopefully someone who uses the add-on can add their thoughts.

I have done that and more, still no solution. I think it is an issue between Firefox and Realplayer. Really disappointing.

Are you using the "Browser Record" feature of RealPlayer, or the separate RealDownloader add-on (http://www.real.com/realdownloader)?

Is the problem that the button doesn't appear above the video, or that the button doesn't do anything when you click it?

I think it is the built in "Browser Record" as I haven't downloaded extras for RealPlayer. And no, the button doesn't appear above the video as if Realplayer has stopped recognizing Firefox.

I suspect this is deliberate, although I have no idea why. Realplayer keep coming up with a downloader that does work with FF, and at the next revision FF have made it incompatible again. This has been happening for so long now that I'm certain that this is a game of cat and mouse.

I just wish someone would tell me why.

Hi JJMMWGDuPree, add-on developers can mark their add-ons has having both a minimum and maximum version. When you go into your add-ons lists and try to Enable it, is that impossible? Are you sure you have the latest version?

orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Add-ons > Extensions category
orange Firefox button or classic Tools menu > Add-ons > Plugins category

I've just downloaded the latest version.of FF, and I upgraded Realplayer a couple of weeks ago.

When this problem first occurred way back in the mists of time I could go into 'Tools' and enable the downloader with no detectable ill-effects, but over the last few FF upgrades the 'Enable' button has vanished.

I think I agree with you on this. Funny how RealPlayer downloads videos fine when I upgrade Internet Explorer but not when I upgrade Firefox. This latest version of Firefox is the slowest and worst I've ever used. It locks up pages, won't load pages, can't download videos..........it's a mess!

If Mozilla keeps coming out with this garbage, I'll have no choice but to switch to something else that works the way Firefox used to.

If you download and try to install RealPlayer Downloader while you still have RealPlayer on your hard drive, it will not install.

Hi alpha_1, what versions of Firefox did you upgrade between? What is your current Flash plugin version?

Flash version: orange Firefox button or Tools menu > Add-ons > Plugins

I upgraded Firefox from the latest to the latest. I have all the current flash plugins and reverted to RealPlayer 15 because I'd lost all my thumbnails in Windows explorer with RealPlayer 16.

Funny how RealPlayer 15 works fine with Internet Explorer and not Firefox. Everything worked very well up until this current cycle of continuous upgrades with FF and the addons. Two upgrades ago (on everything) everything worked perfectly. Now, everything is questionable.

Believe me, I have tried everything, every combination to fix this without something else going haywire and it can't be done at this point.

If I want to download vidoes in RealPlayer I use Internet Explorer 8, for everything esle I try to use Firefox, but quite frankly it's slower than Internet Explorer.

Hi alpha_1, I find IE8 to be quite slow to use, although quick to start up.

Have you tested Firefox using a clean profile (with your Real add-ons of course) to see whether accumulated cruft or other add-ons might be affecting your experience?

I suspect you are familiar with how to start Firefox up in the profile manager to create and switch between profiles but, if not, see: Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles.

Hi dued; I'm 67 years old, an old DOS Hacker, learned computing the hard way. I'm tired and retired now and all I want is for things to work the way they're advertised.

I've never even heard of Firefox profiles. Are you telling me that if I do this profile thing you're talking about that my RealPlayer downloader will work again?.....and that I'll still have thumbnails in my Windows Explorer? Now that would be a miracle. Actually, when I downloaded and installed IE8, my thumbnails came back and I want to keep it that way. I'll give that a read, though. Right now I'm so frustrated, I'll try anything.

I have to say here that YouTube is partly to blame for this mess. They change something and everybody else has to scramble. I get the feeling that a lot of the newer upgrades are not well thought out or implimented.

Hi alpha_1, I can't really make any promises about whether the downloader will work in a clean profile. (Which is a Firefox personal settings folder.) I suggested it as a diagnostic tool, and maybe it will point the way toward a solution.

You can also look at this extension:

• Video DownloadHelper: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/

Wow! I clicked on your link and it started loading adult porn movies instead of your supposed video.......no thanks

Hi alpha_1, which link gives you that result? These are all clean for me at the moment:

• http://www.real.com/realdownloader
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/

If those links are being redirected to adult content, you might have some malware on your computer.

No malware. Of that I'm pretty certain. For now I've got Internet exlorer 8; Firefox 16, and realplayer 15 installed. Nothing works any better than with RealPlayer 16 and Firefox 17.

For now I'm gonna just go with the flow. As an aside I'd downloaded Google Chrome and installed it, didn't like it, so took it out. Lo and behold, the google uninstaller screwed up all the hyperlinks on my computer. I found a solution for that one, though.

This is ridiculous. Is there not any collaboration between all these outfits? It seems to me they're all rushing ahead with both feet firmly planted in midair, trying to keep up with each other, and everything is getting screwed up because of it.

We shouldn't have to be developers to download and install their products and have them work properly.