Flash Player in Windows 8.1 64 bit problems .....

[Peter J Field]

Hi. I have just installed Windows 8.1, but have problems with the embedded Flash Player in Internet Explorer.

Starting Internet Explorer from the Desktop causes no problems. In particular (in case this has any bearing), going to BBC.co.uk, Sport,Formula 1, and playing videos there uses Flash Player with no problem.

Starting Internet Explorer from the Start screen (the Graphical one!) opens BBC.co.uk fine, through Sport to Formula 1 - OK. Even before I try to play any of the videos, attached to each video is a message telling me that I have the wrong vesrion of Flash Player, and invites me to download the correct one. Trying this brings an error message saying that Flash Player is an integrated part of I.E., and will not allow me to download. Attempting to "update to the latest version for Win 8.1" gives me the same message. The reported version I have is 12.0.0.77, the O.S. is Windows 8.1 (64 bit), but the Browser reported is NONE. I have checked that Flash Player is enabled, and visited Manage ..... I cannot find a problem. Can someone cast any light?

[C_F_McBlob]

Using the non-desktop version of IE11 is where we see this most often. The problem can be summed up in three words:

"User-Agent Strings"

That doesn't mean a lot, I'm sure, but it's the root of your problems, and Flash Player has nothing to do with it.

Microsoft "rewrote" the User-Agent Strings for the abomination they call their latest and greatest browser. User-Agent Strings are what websites use to identify the browser you're using and provide the proper content for it's browser engine, like ActiveX stuff, and Flash or HTML5 video. Thanks to the geniuses in Redmond, WA, the User-Agent Strings for IE11 (which has a Trident engine), ID it as either "Gecko" (Firefox) or "Webkit" (Chrome). Problem is: when the site the directs to the content for one of these two engines, the Trident engine in IE can't intepret it and the site then sees IE as an "unidentified" browser.

The problem with an unidentified browser is that the plug-ins in that browser aren't recognized either, so even though you're up to date, it says you need the latest Flash Player when you use IE11. YouTube... has converted to HTML5 video so if it doesn't detect Flash Player, it can display HTML5 (MP4) video which requires no plug-in to play. Facebook can't do that, because HTML5 doesn't apply to games... only video.

Microsoft has no plans to "fix" the mess thay've created because they think it's a great idea to block you out of the websites you visit.

They recommend using "Compatibility View" and pretending that you're using an older verison of IE... Problem with that is that it's seen limited success, and you have to enable it for EVERY page that has problems... individually.

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. I've read elsewhere that Opera in "Turbo Mode" is the best for viewing ANYTHING at bbc.co.uk. "Turbo Mode" enables proxy viewing, which apparently helps with the bbc site.