YouTube videos skip and stutter with 21.0.0.213 in Firefox

[waltg52342632]

I have Adobe Flash 21.0.0.197 with Firefox 46.0 and Windows XP (32-bit, SP3), HP Mini-110 netbook.  YouTube works OK, but when I upgraded to Adobe 21.0.0.213, YouTube music videos stutter and skip horribly.  Luckily, I created a System Restore point and was able to get back to 21.0.0.197.  Why won't the latest Adobe Flash work with Firefox 46 and Windows XP?  (When I use Chrome browser, YouTube works well with Adobe Flash 21.0.0.216.)  I would like to update Adobe Flash for Firefox, but I'm afraid to do a Flash uninstall, then new install, fearing that if it doesn't work I might lose 21.0.0.197 for keeps.

Oddly enough, when I installed 21.0.0.213 with Firefox 45.0.2, it crashed my YouTube ("No results found", "An error occurred").  With Firefox 46.0 and 21.0.0.213 I get the constant skips or the video freezes.

[jeromiec83223024]

If you haven't rebooted since you've started seeing the performance problem, I'd start there.

We're continuously doing work to harden Flash against malware.  That work generally comes at a computational cost, and it's quite possible that trailing-edge machines will be unable to keep up.

In general, YouTube is serving HTML5 video, although they may choose to use Flash for Firefox users, for instance, if it was more reliable than Firefox's native HTML support for the aggregate population.

By running an old version of Flash (and XP for that matter), you're leaving yourself at significant risk for malware infection.

In general, if you're seeing performance problems with video playback, it's either network contention or CPU contention.  You should be able to determine CPU contention by looking at Task Manager.  If the CPU is pegged at 100%, that's your answer.  If it's anything less than 100%, then it's probably network.

You can experiment with disabling hardware acceleration by working through our video troubleshooting guide:

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html

Aside from that, I don't have any great advice beyond the guidance that it's time to retire that XP machine.  We're at a point now where I'm not even allowed to have a WinXP machine in our building, much less attached to the network.  We technically support it, but it's really time to move on to a modern OS, particularly if you're doing anything sensitive, like healthcare or banking with your computer.

[waltg52342632]

Thank you for your detailed reply.  I do appreciate it.

If by "rebooting" the computer you mean reinstalling the operating system and the basics, I can't do that because my HP Mini-110 netbook didn't come with any discs.

I tried disabling Hardware Acceleration, it doesn't seem to make any difference either way.

In Task Manager, CPU Usage hovers around 50% to 75% when I play a YouTube music video.

Sometimes there is no skipping on the first piece I listen to, then the skipping kicks in on the second or third video.

I appreciate your advice about Windows XP, but I don't want to buy a new computer until I have to.  In Firefox 46.0.1, most websites show me a banner at the top, "Firefox has prevented the outdated plug-in Adobe Flash from playing."  I usually check "Continue Blocking".  It's an annoying message---I'm almost tempted to upgrade Flash to 21.0.0.213 if that would make the message go away.  But the upgrade might affect other music sites besides YouTube like jango.com, which so far seem to work OK with Adobe Flash 21.0.0.197.

A number of articles assert that Adobe Flash is the single greatest vector for malware on the internet, so maybe I'd be better off disabling or uninstalling it.  Don't know how that would affect my system.  Also, I have read complaints (not only on this forum) from people who report the same or similar YouTube problems even though they have Windows 10 or Windows 7;  some report Flash upgrade problems with  Firefox or Edge or Chrome or any combination thereof.  So the problem doesn't seem to occur only with Windows XP, though maybe it occurs a lot more with WinXP than with the others.

My Chrome browser with Adobe Flash 21.0.0.216 is still working well on YouTube with no problems, so maybe I should keep my fingers crossed and play that for awhile.

[jeromiec83223024 · Accepted solution]

I actually meant turning it off and back on.

Chrome is actually your best choice from a security perspective on WinXP (they've done a lot to shore up some of the missing memory abuse mitigations in WinXP itself), and it keeps Flash updated automatically.  If it's working well for you, I'd recommend using it as your primary browser.

[waltg52342632]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I think I will give Chrome a try.  The only drawback I notice is that after I listen to an hour of music, the temporary cache gets 120 to 180 MP added to it.  But I remove it with CCleaner each time, that keeps things from getting clogged up.