How many times to I have to download Adobe Flash Player?

[RedBird1]

Some time when trying to watch a video (doesn't happen every time?), I am told I need to download the latest Adobe Flash Player.  I have now done that over and over with it telling me it was successful.   Then, I try to watch video---it tells me again to download the latest Adobe Flash Player.   I cannot find that I

even have it on my system?   I have Windows 7 and using Internet Explorer. 

[C_F_McBlob]

Is it Internet Explorer 11, by chance?

[RedBird1]

I can only find that it is Internet Explorer--don't see an 11???  Looked at the properties---anywhere else to look?

[C_F_McBlob]

Here's the thing.

Microsoft really "did a number" on IE 11. The intentionally altered the "User-Agent Strings" which websites use to identify the browser and provide the proper content. IE11's User-Ahgent Strings identify it as either Gecko (Firefox) or Webkit (Safari). The User-Agent Strings MUST match the browser engine, and IE doesn't have a Gecko ro Webkit engine.

The pages can't recognize the browser, so they don't recognize any of the plugins, like Flash Player. So far, Microsoft has made NO indication that they have any plan to fix it soon.

Microsoft's recommendation is to use Compatibility View for affected pages, and "pretend" you're using a different browser. Trouble with that is, it's seen limited success at best, and you have to individually enable it for EVERY page that has problems.

I'm not big on "pretending" so I recommend actually using another browser.

Firefox (from Mozilla)

Opera (from Opera)

Safari (from Apple)

Chrome (from Google)

ANY of those will work where IE11 won't, with the Flash Player Plug-in (For all other browsers), and Chrome doesn't even need that because it has its own Flash Player plugin built in.