Hi all,
My first post on this forum, hope someone can help me, I am in a real muddle.
I have just started using a new PC which came with Win XP SP2 pre installed.
No problems on general operations but when I try to view webpages or whatever item requiring a plugin, I only get the little icon top left of where the picture / animation should be. In IE6 this prevents to access most features of pages, chats etc as the connecting links don't show.
Some sites show the Plugin download link, I go to the webpage (Macromedia), try to download and this fails.
In IE6 I get two requests to download Active X controls, click yes, a popup tells me that a newer version of the video is available, click yes and this redirects me to the original download page where the loop restarts.
This happens with both shockwave and flash player downlad attempts.

Have tried Firefox, in this case at least chats are accessible as are most pages but there are still some showing plugin download links instead of the content that they should have.
Again I follow the link, get directed on the Macromedia homepage, click the download icon and Firefox tells me that it can not find the server ftpdownloads@macromedia.com.

Have tried going directly to the Macromedia website and download there but no success either, have tried lowering the security setups, disabled antivirus and firewalls, removed all security, re-installed both Firefox and IE6 but no changes.

In the help files of Macromedia this type of problem doesn't seem to be listed.

I am not an IT guru but can usually find my way around things except in this case, I seem to have tried everything but the result is still the same.

First I wonder why the download doesn't happen, second is Macromedia the only site where these two plugins can be obtained from?
Is there any equivalent or any way I can solve the problem?

By the way, manufacturer helpline doesn't want to know as this is a software related issue, pretty good for a week old PC!

Thanks in advance.

Is this the macromedia page you are having trouble with? http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/downl...ShockwaveFlash If you can download just make sure you untick the yahoo toolbar, its not necessary for the installation.

The best way to update activex controls is at Microsoft here. http://update.microsoft.com/windowsu....aspx?ln=en-us The site will scan your computer and see what updates are available.

Also go to internet options/security/custom and make sure the box shown below is ticked.

Thanks, very helpful.
This is now solved.

Thanks for the thanks. Glad its fixed now.