Check in control panel / uninstall a program , you should have 2 entries for adobe flash - plugin and activex, it is plugin (used by firefox) that needs to be 10.3 (or 11.2) this is the win.exe install, the activex (used by IE) can be 11.3 this is the winax.exe install

How to stop Adobe auto updating http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/administration-configure-auto-update-notification.html

I've been clarifying the sequence of events on other threads and it's certainly true that Firefox was updated on June 5 and was fine with 11.2 until Adobe did their infamous update on June 8th when "all hell broke loose". I actually manually updated on the 10th and everything was still OK until the update.

    So Firefox certainly didn't cause this problem but they're far from blameless. 
      
    This type of major breakdown doesn't typically happen this way unless their's poor beta testing (by Adobe) and a lack of coordination between the companies involved.  And that means Firefox and Adobe and RealPlayer's Developers. I recommended that on June 11 and got no response from FF. But little over a week ago, ,Adobe apologized (updated 6/28) and said they're now coordinating with Mozilla in a better way to prevent this from happening again. When I asked RealPlayer's Level Three Case Manager to recommend that to their Developers he said "of course". and there are realnetwork developer comments in Bugzilla clearly indicating coordination.
          
      The way Firefox has been handling this is seriously lacking. Adobe started out blaming RealPlayer resulting in their absurd recommendations to disable the RealPlayer Download and Recording feature which , even if it allowed users to view videos again, obviously makes it impossible to download videos with any browser, and disabling the extension without telling users how to download videos with another browser or a downloader was irresponsible.when the simple and ONLY appropriate workaround was available, to still use Firefox and RealPlayer - roll back the update which I advocated on June 11, or to simply switch to another browser. And Adobe's steps became Firefox's too, including to even uninstall RealPlayer, if you can't see videos! So everybody's passing the buck, I tell users to roll back, or that they can switch browsers and they say I'm a "Godsend". RealPlayer was the ONLY company that told me right from the start that some techs  already were recommending rolling back to the safer 10.3 or to change browsers or agreeing with my recommendation and got official approval for it.
        
       And, in case anybody disagrees with these points, just realize I've got a lot of users saying some of the same things and raising the same questions about beta testing, lack of coordination, and disregard of the user's needs to continue downloading videos with RealPlayer, until recently when more rollback recommendations were being made.

@macousticboy

Adblock can't cause Adobe to do an update. It's designed to block most annoying advertizing and allow reasonable stuff although you can customize the filtering. I have Adblock Plus installed, testing all three Adobe rollbacks (11.202.235, 11.202.233, and 10.3) and nothing updated automatically and I've had no problems watching Youtube vids and downloading with RealPlayer.

      Did you change the update settings to "notify me" instead of :"automatic" when you re installed the previous version? If not, you can go to the Control Panel and click on Large Icons, click on Flash Player, then the Advanced tab and dot the middle radio button which says to "Notify me..."  With the 10.3, Adobe says you won't even get a popup but you can do the same thing, except the only choice is "never check for updates".

      Also, when you did the rollback, did you run Adobe's uninstaller first before re installing the previous version?

                      Adobe uninstaller   
http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

Just updated cuz they said it was fixed.

It wasn't.

Back to 10.3.

I'm sure glad I didn't clear my Downloads list.

@OIWill,

That's funny the way you said that - but who said it was fixed? You're right, I just checked the Adobe Announcements page - there's nothing new.

CheckMate, I believe the dialog box that was asking if I wanted to update said that the update fixed security and certain stability problems with Mozilla Firefox.

Of course, I don't have that dialog box anymore but I believe that's the gist of it.

The only reason I ran the update is that I still have the Flash uninstaller and the Flash 10.3 update programs still in my download list so it's not too expensive time-wise to run the experiment.

@OlWill,

     That's what I thought, thanks. But it was reported that the prompt wouldn't even work with the 10.3 to update it.

      You can change the update setting to "Never check for updates"if you want. In the 10.3 there is no option to choose "Notify me....". 

       You can change it from the Control Panel. Just click on Large Icons, then Flash Player, then the Advanced tab and dot the lower setting to "Never check...."  and then check periodically on the forum for update info. because at this point any new update Adobe does release is going to be a beta fix no matter what they say, until it's fully tested by us. At least it's not updating automatically.

It's both an Adobe and a RealPlayer problem.

Cause since Firefox 7 there is no longer a Firefox-Icon shown in the RealPlayer VideoDownload-Preferences (not yet in v15,0,5,109 too).

And since Adobe FlashPlayer 11.3 the VideoDownload-Button is no longer shown on any Firefox-Version (to wit on Firefox versions 3.6 to 16a1).

It's not a problem of Firefox: Firefox is the main program, but Adobe FlashPlayer and RealPlayer ViedeoDownloader just the plugins/addons - they have to adjust their plugins to the softwareversions of Mozilla Firefox, when they offer these corresponding plugins!

I finally got it to work by following these steps: get the adobe uninstaller - http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

   uninstall flash
   then install the Flash 10.3 - http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/flash-113-crashes 

The problem now is realplayer will no longer play any video clips I have downloaded on my computer. It tells me it needs to install a missing component. I click okay for it to install missing component but then it stops and says I need the flash player installed. So I reinstalled the adobe 11.3 but it realplayer still will not play my vidoes. Someone please help me.

I'm pretty ignorant about this sort of thing so don't laugh but isn't there something else to try such as Windows Media Player? Or does Picasa play videos?

No, windows media player will not play video clips that have been downloaded unless they have been converted over to a format windows media player will play.

@OlWill

      I've been following closely what some of the engineers of both RealPlayer and Mozilla and also Adobe are testing and the varying and confusing results they're getting, so don't feel too bad. But I do see they're definitely making progress, so just be patient. At least they're coordinating with each other, which I suggested to RealPlayer about three weeks ago.
     
            Didn't you say two days ago that you tried the update, it didn't work, so you went back to the 10.3?  Wasn't it working again with the 10.3? When did it stop working? You said originally that the 10.3 solved the problem and everything was working fine, when you uninstalled the Downloader. Did you remember to uninstall the 11.3 update before you reinstalled the 10.3? Also, if you did run the Adobe uninstaller first, you also have to reinstall the Active X version for Internter Explorer also because the Adobe uninstaller uninstalls both versions and the one for Internet Explorer is needed for RealPlayer to run. See my updated instruction on this with the link to how to get the uninstaller and the direct link to both versions that I'm posting.  Try it again. 

       To answer your other question, none of this effected either RealPlayer or Flash working with the other browsers, only Firefox so you can certainly change browsers till this is fixed, to either Internet Explorer or Chrome.

Can you repost the link for Active X for IE? Thanks

You can find the latest Flash players on this page.

• http://www.adobe.com/special/products/flashplayer/fp_distribution3.html

See also:

• http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1022066
• http://forums.adobe.com/thread/889580

@Dakota66

Hi Dakota66,

     I was just about to answer your first post but I had to change the link.There was something wrong with it.

      Here's the direct links page for the 10.3 for both versions. It's also a better, more direct link for the uninstaller. If you happened to click on the link to the page "How to revert to an earlier version of Flash Player just ignore the choice of the 11x series. They're zip files which are too cumbersome and prone to mistakes if you don't know what you're doing.

     The instructions you followed were basically correct except they don't tell you that the uninstaller uninstalls ALL versions of Flash and that you therefore have to reinstall both of them. I brought that up and the Firefox Support article is being corrected to include that important Note.
   
      Also, I think it might help you to read my full explanation and instructions on this issue which I'm re-posting now from another thread. Unless you did everything else right, you'll probably still have problems because the real problem is with the RealPlayer Browser Download plugin extension in Firefox, but you also need the Active X for IE for RealPlayer to work properly. Just want to make sure you're aware of all this.

        But from what you said in the first post, it does sound like you just need to reinstall the 10.3 for  Internet Explore. Internet Explorer doesn't need the earlier version, but it's easier to just reinstall the same 10.3.

To Uninstall Adobe Flash http://forums.adobe.com/message/4041846#4041846

To Install 10.3 versions http://forums.adobe.com/thread/889580

Hi To All Freaked Out Firefox and RealPlayer users,

     This is the proper workaround for the problem of not being  able to see videos after the Adobe defective 11.3 update (either the 11.3.300.257 or the latest 11.3.300.262) and  not being able to download them with the RealPlayer Browser  Record Plugin extension because Firefox disabled it.You can  enable it but you won't be able to see videos unless you roll  back the defective update and disabling the extension doesn't even work  for some users to even let you see videos, much less download them. 

    I successfully tested   uninstalling adobe's update 11.3  and reinstalling with two  different versions  - 10.3 and 11.2 and posted this on other  threads beginning 6/11. People who have tried it have been  very grateful once they stopped listening to all the  confusing and misleading recommendations by Firefox and  Adobe. It's the ONLY one that gives full use of RealPlayer as  well as updated security on the Flash Player and I've  provided  the most direct link to that version without having  to download a cumbersome .zip file. It's a link to the 10.3  version. You will see other references to the 11.2 version on  this thread. Although I tested that first and it works  equally well, there are known critical vulnerabilities as  reported by Secunia and Adobe,so I don't recommend it unless  you have top security software. I do, and had no trouble with  it. The 10.3, however, is up to date on security and works  equally well -I've tested both. It's also easy to install - no confusing zip files, like with the 11.2 (there's a direct link for that, too , but it's harder to find and the others are all zip files). Just remember to enable the  RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin extension after you roll  back the update because Firefox tries to disable it by default now.

     Alternatively, if you want, you can simply switch browsers  'till this is fixed. And for many of you for whom  FF  disabling the RealPlayer extension does not even work to  allow you to see videos - it didn't for me, and a Level Three  Case Manager I know at RealPlayer said the same thing- obviously it's not the best solution and even if it allows  you to see videos, these geniuses at Firefox have not been  even telling you how to then download videos with RealPlayer  - they've  been too busy following Adobe's "pass the buck and blame  RealPlayer so just disable it" nonsense without telling what  to do next, or that there are other much better choices. RealPlayer is likely not the cause (although there is a conflict in the interaction with the Adobe update.

           The Best Choices are:

First Choice:
        
          Roll Back the Update to the 10.3 version - 

See links below for both Adobe's uninstaller - to first uninstall the 11.3- and for the 10.3 version. Choose the 10.3 that says "for other browsers"- this is for Firefox. The other one is for IE Active X. IE and has to be reinstalled also because the uninstaller removes both version.

    And on Adobe clean uninstall directions, step 4, that says to delete the extra files and folders is not generally necessary and you may be denied access to delete all the files. RealPlayer also says that's not necessary.I know how to create special permissions but didn't bother because most users would not know how to do that - I didn't have to, although I'm almost certain one of these Firefox gurus will tell you I'm wrong. It's fine to do the step, it just can be difficult for many and it didn't seem necessary for me or anyone else I've heard back from.

       Note: When you reinstall the 10.3 change the update  setting from automatic to "Never check for updates" to avoid any more problems until this is finally  fixed. Adobe already updated to the 11.3.300.262 for Firefox (which was designed to ONLY fix the crash problems and not the video viewing problems) and didn't even fix that -I don't trust anything Adobe says right now until this is  permanently fixed. And in the future I strongly urge you to  do the same, keeping it on "Notify me if there are updates" in a future version where that choice is available. If you forget, you can change the setting from  the control panel. Click on Large Icons, then Flash Player and on then the   Advanced tab and dot the lower radio button for "Never check....." in the 10.3  If you don't  get notified of a new version you can always check this forum  which you need to do anyway because any new version at this  point is going to be a beta version fix until we test it  thoroughly and I don't care who disagrees with me on that, or  what Firefox says either.

Second Choice:

         Change Browsers -

The Adobe problem only involves Firefox . You can view videos and download them with RealPlayer download button if you don't want to do the rollback. You can even leave the RealPlayer extension disabled (if that allows you to see videos) and use another browser to download (just copy and paste the video URL onto the address bar) and the RealPlayer download button will work.

To uninstall 11.3

     http://forums.adobe.com/message/4041846#4041846

To Install Flash version 10.3

     http://forums.adobe.com/thread/889580  
   

Important Note: Remember, you have to reinstall both versions, the one for Firefox and for Internet Explorer because the uninstaller removes both.

     This has worked perfectly for many others I've heard back  from - hope it works for you.

Modified July 6, 2012 10:56:24 PM PDT by CheckMate Solution chosen 6 out of 6 people found this reply helpful.

I've downgraded to 10.3 though I think it's ridiculous to have a program DOWNgraded to accommodate another program UPgraded, the video and downloading do come back with Realplayer re-enabled, but my Moyea FLV player is no longer working. I've it reinstalled and it works only sometimes though the seek bar/slider never moves. I've also for trying installed 2 other FLV players respectively ie. the youtube2008 flv player, and the sothink flv player, to play the flv videos downloaded from youtube with RP , and both couldn't play and reported "missing something from flashplayer". I'm not sure what it is missing.

Dakota66,

This is exactly what is happening to me after downgrading flashplayer to 10.3. All flv players I've tried can't play videos downloaded using Realplayer, said something from flashplayer is missing, and other players like WiindowMedia Player/Realplayer all reporting problems like "missing component(s)", "you need to install Active so and so", "please upgrade your flash/active so and so in order to play this video" ....etc. This is frustrating.

CheckMate, Yes, everything is working fine with 10.3.

I have never downloaded any videos so I don't know if I could play those or not.

Thanks for your long post above. I downloaded the install for IE activex and ran that so I won't be surprised if I ever use IE.

Thanks again for your concern.