Problems with flash

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I installed avast4 pro yesterday and since then I have been having problems with flash on windows 7/firefox.

In certain windows (for instance a music player) it says that I need to install the most recent version of adobe flash player even though I have the latest version. I reinstalled it anyways and it still says I do not have the latest version.

A window also keeps popping up that asks me something about entering a url for debugging ( I don’t remember the exact message) I select cancel yet it keeps coming back while browsing.

How do i resolve this? This has only been happening since my avast install yesterday.

Thanks,

Brett

2

Hi Brettvaz,
What was the previous AV installed on your computer, and how was it removed, please?
What Firefox version do you use?
Can you post the URL to a site that shows this problem. Please sanitize the link; common convention is to replace the "tt"s in http with X’s. (So, hxxp://www. etc)

3

The previous AV I had was AVG free 9.0, I uninstalled it via the AVG uninstaller option in the AVG file folder.

I am running firefox 3.5.

This url hxxp://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1054 gives me the message that I have to install the latest flash player when i try to play the video.

4

Well, when I allow scripting in my browser (also Firefox) the video player operates. (The video won’t play, but that’s because it’s not available outside the US.)
The current Adobe shockwave flash player is 11.5, and the latest Adobe flash player is 10.0.42.34, that what you are using?
Do you have any script blocking applications/settings active? (Such as noscript)?

A thing to try: Use the AVG removal tool. Get it here, make sure you choose the appropriate version for your OS. (64 or 32 bit.)

5

I uninstalled AVG with the removal tool originally, I did it again and it said there was no trace of it. I have the latest version of flash installed, still the flash player says I need to install the latest which I have done 3 times now. I have allow scripting in firefox selected, it doesn’t make any difference. Flash still works on internet explorer but I don’t like using that browser.

Also, the window that keeps popping up says “Where is the debugger or host application running” and asks me to select either “Localhost” or “other machine” and asks me to enter an IP address, I have no idea what the hell this means.

Any other ideas? I’m considering just uninstalling avast and going back to AVG, I never had any issues with them.

6

Ok it appears it has been fixed. I installed flash player 10 for the 4th time and it did the trick.

7

Here’s the (official) page to verify you have the correct flash player installed. (Only ever install this sort of thing from the author site rather than a site hosting movies asking you to install it.)
I suggest going to www.secunia.org and have a look at teh software inspector area. There is an online scan you can do (OSI) or a program to download and have active (PSI) which will keep you advised of out of date and vulnerable software. It is possible to have more than one installation of Flash (or Java) (that’s quite common) on a computer. The older version still present can present a security issue, even when you also have the newer one installed.
I suspect that may be part of the original problem…the site you were visiting registered the presence of an older version.
Wouldn’t hurt to check.