...The bulk of this message was originally posted in Oct 2008. What
follows is updated.
Adobe is now offering a public beta of Flash Player 10.1.
When Flash 10.0 came out, Adobe did a lot of yammering about how much
better than 9 it was, etc. Our subsequent testing had mixed results.
Since then, there have been a number of updates containing bug and
security fixes - each making the plug-in slower and slower and more
unstable.
Enter Flash 10.1. I don't normally recommend that average folx run
beta test stuff, but this update really surprised me! I have, so
far, been unable to crash it! And it seems to be much faster than 9
or 10.0, even on my 300 MHz G3 Smurf! So, I'd like to recommend to
folx that they give this beta a try...
Yea, it still suffers from being crapware. Adobe's refusal to use
Apple's normal methods to accelerate video processing is dumb. If
you google around a bit, you'll run into a boatload of spoo throwing
between Apple and Adobe recently, sparked by Apple leaving Flash off
the iPad. *shrug* SSDD.
BASIC FLASH-USE ADVICE:
1) Arm your browser with a gizmo that can block Flash objects (mostly
.swf). That way if you have trouble on a particular site, you can do
something about it without having to rip out Flash altogether. In
Safari and WebKit, I like ClickToFlash. It's really amazing how fast
the web is when you kill off all the flash-based ads! I also use
SafariBlock, for general ad/url blocking. But ClickToFlash is
superior for targeting all Flash without mucking up page layout.
<http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash/>
2) Before visiting a page that you know is flash-heavy, it might be a
good idea to finish with other browser windows and tabs first. That
way you don't lose so much when you have to force quit the browser,
because Flash locked things up.
3) Have Activity Monitor already running, so you can see what's
happening when things bog or stall. Easier to force quit from there
too.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION -- WHERE FLASH LIVES...
When things go wrong, and you need to go liver ripping, target these:
/Library/Internet Plug-ins/Flash Player.plugin
/Library/Internet Plug-ins/flashplayer.xpt
~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/
I don't think there should be any pieces of Flash in your
~/Library/Internet Plug-ins/ directory, but it can't hurt to check
anyway. Some browsers (not Safari or WebKit) stash plug-ins within
their .app package, usually within a /Plug-ins/ folder. Have to fool
with them on an individual basis.
Ok - did your eyes just glaze over? Well, here's a sledgehammer:
This is THE most important Adobe tech support page ever written. It
is their Holiest of Holies... The Flash Uninstaller. Get it. Get it
NOW. Make sure you have it when you need it. There's one there for
OS X and one for the classic Mac OS. Bookmark that page because
you'll need to check it for updates next time you consider updating
your Flash.
<http://www.adobe.com/go/tn_14157>
GETTING ALL THEM FLASHY RELEASES...
Fetch the Flash 10.1 beta from here:
<http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/>
Then make sure you have the regular release, just in case you need to revert:
There have been so many releases of Flash over the years. Some
stable, some not. It gets very confusing. For developers, Adobe has
provided a Holy Grail Of Flashness -- archives that contain all the
releases, from Flash 2 up to the latest Flash 10. Grab a few, save
'em, share 'em with friends! Then you can easily install whichever
you need at will.
<http://www.adobe.com/go/tn_14266>
Good luck.
For the sake of all things sane, PLEASE remember to run backups
BEFORE installing Flash!
HTH,
- Dan.
--
- Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth
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