PC constipated- help!

[Sea Chief]

My PC is constipated please help its 'movements'. Old dell D600 XP (yes I know). IIRC 10gb HD + 500MB RAM.

Usually works tickety-boo for all I need eg hotmail, YTube, news, ebay, iplayer works tho never quite synced. IE nothing taxing.

Recently Youtube clips glitch, then all stop at 23.17.. weird. Also I get annoying pop ups regularly esp on YTube & eBay "shockwave.. blah blah..".

Any (helpful, not sarcastic &/ or mean please) replies much appreciated. Thx SC.

[J M Fahey]

I guess basic answer is: Shockwave Flash is a mess, once you get it working they improve/update it and the problem begins again.
https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=s...i1EMOlet7uoKAC

I'm having lots of problems running W7 and my older XP machine which I keep to run old PC design software, my army of Palms, the old scanner, etc. , can't run it any more.

So maybe your machine is not "damaged" , simply can't chew the newer versions.

Just as to try "something", you might "downgrade" to an earlier version and block "automatic updates"

I even disconnected my XP machine from Internet to guarantee that, because even if you say NO some still get in touch with the base now and then.

Offered with the best wishes, probably others have better suggestions.

Personally I guess I'll have to buy another machine and build a small network mainly to share disk contents.

IF you are running Firefox, there is an extension which blocks *all* flash in any page, replaces it with small red symbols, and if you want to run/see some (such as a YT video or some ad) you click and enable it.

That said, even YT is abandoning Flash (which means it's *really* crap) and replacing it with HTML5 , whatever that is.

EDIT: this is what Flashblock publisher says.
Even if you don't install it, his description is true:

https://addons.mozilla.org/es/firefox/addon/flashblock/

Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers that takes a pessimistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content.

Flashblock currently blocks the following content types:
* Macromedia Flash
* Macromedia Shockwave
* Macromedia Authorware

[Dave H]

You could try updating the Shockwave Flash. It's always out of date. It's a real PITA. What browser are you using? I use Firefox with xP as IE can't be updated.

Edit:
I see Juan beat me to it
I also keep my xP box because it has my old CAD programs on it (Cadstar 11 and Orcad 16) as I'm not sure if I could get them working on a newer machine. I turned off automatic updates years ago. It's working fine so I don't want Microsoft screwing it up.

[big_teee]

JM, you might try Chromium, which is the open source Chrome browser.
It is supposed to have an improved player, that is not flash.
My friend Allen uses chromium, for his movie viewing, and likes it.
I still use Firefox.
Allen and I are both on Linux. There are chrome, and chromium versions for windows.
JM, you seem computer savy, I suggest you load up a drive with some form of linux.
It is fast, virus resistant, and is free.
I run a couple different versions of Ubuntu.
Food for thought.
T

[Sea Chief]

This is the error msg I get,

"Warning: Unresponsive Plugin: Shockwave Flash may be busy or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the plugin now, or you can continue to see if the plugin will complete.

[Continue] [Stop plugin]"

Anyone familiar with this?

[Sea Chief]

You could try updating the Shockwave Flash. It's always out of date. It's a real PITA. What browser are you using? I use Firefox with xP as IE can't be updated.

Ive googled the error mssg before the thread, read reams about do xy and z. But all i can see is my Adobe Flash player thing -is- up to date, so cannot update it (my adobe reader isn't, but that afaict isn't to do with "players".. and its far from easy to see how to update that anyway).

I have no idea what 'shockwave flash' means. Flash Gordon?

[Sea Chief]

JM, you might try Chromium, which is the open source Chrome browser.
It is supposed to have an improved player, that is not flash.
My friend Allen uses chromium, for his movie viewing, and likes it.
I still use Firefox.
Allen and I are both on Linux. There are chrome, and chromium versions for windows.
JM, you seem computer savy, I suggest you load up a drive with some form of linux.
It is fast, virus resistant, and is free.
I run a couple different versions of Ubuntu.
Food for thought.
T

Food for thought, but cahnging a whole operating system is a major thing for me.. Ive already recently done this to firefox from whatever the dickens I had before/ good, but took me aeons of time revconfigging. i couldnt face doing this again.

I just need to sort my firefox out as it is.

[big_teee]

I wasn't talking to you.
I said that to JM, not SC.
I know SC knows little about computers, and would never learn how to load linux.
I'm not going to advise you on how to run out dated windows.
Someone else will have to help on that.
I'm anti Bill Gates, & Linux only.

[Sea Chief]

I wasn't talking to you.
I said that to JM, not SC.
I know SC knows little about computers, and would never learn how to load linux.
I'm not going to advise you on how to run out dated windows.
Someone else will have to help on that.
I'm anti Bill Gates, & Linux only.

Right-o. Thanks for that then.

[J M Fahey]

"Warning: Unresponsive Plugin: Shockwave Flash may be busy or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the plugin now, or you can continue to see if the plugin will complete.

[Continue] [Stop plugin]"

Get it roughly once a day.
Generaly answer "stop" and then reload the page, usually this lets me go on.
If I'm seeing a movie, I remember the minutes run so far so I continue from the same point, because reloaded pages start from the beginning.

Sometimes error does not go away, (meaning warning reappears, in same or other window/tab) and it requires turning machine on and off.
I know, a waste of time .

Now I found a shortcut but I'm not suggesting it to SC , just mentioning it because somebody could comment on this: I keep a Windows Task Manager window open, always , minimized of course but instantly accessible.

Whenever I see the computer acting sluggish I check TM and often see something continuously eating 50% or more of available memory or processor time or both, it's often Shockwave Flash even after I turned it off or closed the YT window.

Or there's some fatherless svhost.exe or plugin container doing so, or I closed Firefox but Task Manager says it''s still there, or some uncalled update I did not authorize but is running anyway.
Adobe is often guilty of that.

I kill anything I don't like.
Yes, I know it's crude and brutal but often works.

Worst case, computer freezes and I have to restart ... big deal, that was the original option anyway.

As of running Linux, always interested me, but today I am using just a little Toshiba netbook, and migrating would mean getting all drivers for it, reconfiguring all, etc.

Better save that for a new `desktop box.

Of course: thanks for the suggestion.

[DrGonz78]

Good advice about Flash or shockwave to reduce the number of times it builds up on each page loaded. Basically have the system ask if you want to enable it each time and that is better than letting it be a resource hog.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/988836

If you later get interested in HTML 5 here is a good resource of info on that subject pertaining to Firefox.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/958124

Also, you only have 500mb of RAM? That is just not enough these days for anything and 1gb or higher should be the norm these days. God I have not seen a 10 gig hard drive or smaller in many years wow!

[Sea Chief]

Im not sure what Im asking to enable.. what exactly? Im not clear on the flash player shockwave thing. I know the basics of a player is needed, but thats it/ this afraict is adobe flash. Ive no idea what shockwave is. Or what an html 5 is.

I just need to get the system I had, and have, ironed out. Nothing else: no changing to xyz system, or adding tens more GB, or getting a whole new PC.

Is there any simple steps I can take to eliminate the mssg, or make the flash player work properly?

Its been working absolutlely fine before (without any mention of the word "shockwave").. so its proven that I dont need any more than the 10Gb + 500MB I have. Yes in an ideal world Id have more, but I cant see why Id need it if it works.. as it has been for years totally fine until only ~2 months ago or so.

[g1]

Try removing the flash and re-installing it.
Where you find it will depend on which internet browser you are using.
Do a google search for "remove flash player from (insert name of your browser)"
If it's a stock windows set up, the browser will be internet explorer, which ever version you are updated to, such as 11 or something.
After you get it removed, search for flash player and install the version for your browser.

[big_teee]

I just bought the new Lenovo laptop a couple of weeks ago.
It has a quad core processor, a 1TB hard drive, and 8gb of ram, and it was a little over $300 new.
The old slow computers here get given to the grandchildren.
T

[Sea Chief]

Try removing the flash and re-installing it.
Where you find it will depend on which internet browser you are using.
Do a google search for "remove flash player from (insert name of your browser)"
If it's a stock windows set up, the browser will be internet explorer, which ever version you are updated to, such as 11 or something.
After you get it removed, search for flash player and install the version for your browser.

Hi g1- thanks, taken your advice/ uninstalled (I did notice a 2nd adobe flash xyz thing, slightly dofferent wording so uninsatlled both) & redone it fresh again. I'll see how that has worked & get back tmrw.

Appreciated, SC.