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Computer help forum: Adobe Flash uninstall/reinstall

by: raduzhok February 19, 2010 8:02 AM PST

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Adobe Flash uninstall/reinstall

by raduzhok - 2/19/10 8:02 AM

Hi... I'm running eMachines with WIN/VISTA OS. My problem has to do with information I got from Yahoo help (re: problem loading some games)... They claim:

----------
"The issue seems to be related to the latest installation of Adobe Flash Player. You may need to completely uninstall and reinstall the Adobe Flash Player. Here's how:

1. Uninstall Adobe Flash Player.

On Microsoft Windows:

a. Get the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller at:
http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/uninstall_flash_player.exe

NOTE: Before running the uninstaller, please be sure to close ALL
running applications, including all Internet Explorer or other browser windows, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, or other instant messaging applications.

b. Click the "Start" menu and select "Run."

c. Type in "%WinDir%\system32\Macromed\" and click "OK."

d. Right-click the "Download" folder and select "Delete."

e. Right-click the "Flash" folder and select "Delete."

2. Reinstall Adobe Flash Player from here:

http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer/

3. You should now verify that Adobe Flash Player is working correctly. To do this, please visit:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome/

Once you see the animation in Adobe Flash Player and the words
"Installation Complete" then that's it, you're done.

Once you've completed the reinstall of Adobe Flash Player, please try to reproduce the problem you were experiencing. If you still encounter this issue, please reply back to this email with any additional information you may have so we may further assist you."
---------

My question regards the steps where I am supposed to

(b. Click the "Start" menu and select "Run."

c. Type in "%WinDir%\system32\Macromed\" and click "OK."

d. Right-click the "Download" folder and select "Delete."

e. Right-click the "Flash" folder and select "Delete.")

It's a precautionary question. I usually only have to go to control panel and uninstall from add/remove programs option.

Is their recommendation safe to do?

I tried doing the above, without following that part of it, mainly because I couldn't find the RUN op, which has been removed in Vista - but I found out how to get it back on the START menu. But the uninstall/reinstall, didn't solve the problem. So before I try to do as suggested, I wanted to get advice on the safety of doing the delete of the two folders.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

Thanks

Rad


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Well, that's confusing

by MarkFlax Moderator - 2/19/10 1:45 PM

In Reply to: Adobe Flash uninstall/reinstall by raduzhok

I assume you copied the guidance correctly, but I find it a little confusing, as in;

Get the uninstaller, before running the uninstaller, find and delete those folders using the Run command.

If you delete those folders before running the uninstaller, then the uninstall process may have failed. It might have made better sense to close down all other programs, run the uninstaller, then search for those folders and files either using the Run command, or just navigating to the Windows/System32/Macromed folder using Windows Explorer, (eg My Computer or similar), and manually deleting them that way.

However, even though you didn't follow that part, I doubt it would have affected the re-install of Flash.

What I would try.

1] Run that uninstaller again.

2] After that, hunt down that folder and delete it. If you are using Vista 64 bit, the folder will likely be in;
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed and not the System32 folder.

3] Reboot the system. This helps to remove any registry entries and any temp files.

4] Try re-installing Flash again.

I hope that helps.

Mark


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Re: Well, that's confusing

by raduzhok - 2/19/10 3:42 PM

In Reply to: Well, that's confusing by MarkFlax Moderator

Hi Mark. Thank you for your response. Following your lead, I uninstalled flash with the uninstaller. I usually go into my file manager (window explorer) thru START (right click) and go into explore. Hunting down the folder, as recommended in your step 2:
2] ...If you are using Vista 64 bit, the folder will likely be in; C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed and not the System32 folder.

I didn't find C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64 folder - but in sys32 there was a Macromed folder. Is that Macromed folder okay to fully delete? There are many subfolders within that one.

Further up in the File Manager, there was also a Macromed folder in the AppData\Roaming (sub folder) which contained different subfolders than the WINDOWS\sys32\Macromed folder?

Just want to avoid causing any problems to how my system works. I wasn't as concerned with how the deletions would effect the flash reinstallation as much as not wanting to delete something that is more integral to the OS operation.

Awaiting your further advice.

Rad


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There Shouldn't Be Any Need To Do All That

by Grif Thomas Moderator - 2/19/10 6:29 PM

In Reply to: Adobe Flash uninstall/reinstall by raduzhok

I've just finished installing the latest version of Flash on about 60 computers.. I had no problems doing it like this:

1. Access the Control Panel/Programs and Features (Add-Remove Programs in XP), then uninstall Flash normally.

2. Download and run the newest Flash uninstaller from the site below. Yes, close all open windows when you're ready to run the uninstaller.:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html

3. Reinstall Flash using the links below:

After that's done, then download the manual Flash player installer from the link below. (Don't worry about the version number indicating the older version.. The actual download is the correct, newest version. They just need to update their text.) Download it to your desktop, then right click on the file, choose "Run as administrator" to install the newest Flash for Internet Explorer.

http://www.softwarepatch.com/internet/flash.html

Once that's done, if you're also using Firefox, visit the site below while in Firefox, then download and run (Run as administrator) the Flash plugin installer

http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/flash-standalone-installation-firefox.html

Hope this helps.

Grif


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Tried and True

by raduzhok - 2/20/10 8:28 AM

In Reply to: There Shouldn't Be Any Need To Do All That by Grif Thomas Moderator

Hello Grif, and thank you for your response. I actually followed just that method first, when I could not find in START (Vista OS) where the "run" option was (but have since added it to my start ops). I was unsure, as mentioned above, when the Game site people mentioned deleting the Macromed folder, which prompted my original post here.

While it seems now that it was not my flash that is causing the game not to load, I just wanted to make sure that I was not going to be doing something that would cause further problems down the road if I deleted the folder. I have not deleted it. And the new reinstalled flash is successfully in place.

Rad


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