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Unresponsive Pluggin.

  • 2 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by smoore2024

smoore2024
smoore2024
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Greetings,

Shortly after opening Firefox 47.0, we receive an unresponsive Plugin message. Our OS is Win 10 Pro. It does not seem to matter which web site we visit. There is no reference as to which plugin has become non unresponsive. If we click the stop plugin button the error message just returns within a few seconds and Firefox becomes non responsive. Other than displaying that message over and over again it is completely useless and must be shut down from task manager.

We've tried refreshing Firefox, using the Firefox plugin management page to ensure that plugins are current. un-installing and re-installing Firefox., and tried a complete un-install and re-install in which we uninstall Firefox and delete the Mozilla folder from the apptata\local directory.

Nothing Works. The same thing happens when we start Firefox in safe mode., which I understand in theory runs Firefox will all plugins disabled.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greetings, Shortly after opening Firefox 47.0, we receive an unresponsive Plugin message. Our OS is Win 10 Pro. It does not seem to matter which web site we visit. There is no reference as to which plugin has become non unresponsive. If we click the stop plugin button the error message just returns within a few seconds and Firefox becomes non responsive. Other than displaying that message over and over again it is completely useless and must be shut down from task manager. We've tried refreshing Firefox, using the Firefox plugin management page to ensure that plugins are current. un-installing and re-installing Firefox., and tried a complete un-install and re-install in which we uninstall Firefox and delete the Mozilla folder from the apptata\local directory. Nothing Works. The same thing happens when we start Firefox in safe mode., which I understand in theory runs Firefox will all plugins disabled. Thanks in advance for your help.

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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A number of users have reported this strange message about an unnamed plugin. We think it's something about the new release of Flash, but it doesn't affect everyone, so it could be an interaction with particular other software such as security software.

Firefox's Safe Mode doesn't disable plugins, just extensions, so you can minimize the trouble -- avoid unnecessary pain on sites where Flash is not actually essential -- by setting Flash to Click-to-Play ("Ask to Activate"). This will delay Flash from starting on a page until you approve it.

To set "Ask to Activate", open the Add-ons page using either:

  • Command+Shift+a (Windows: Ctrl+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. On the right side, find "Shockwave Flash" and change "Always Activate" to "Ask to Activate".

With this setting, when you visit a site that wants to use Flash, you should see a notification icon in the address bar and usually (but not always) one of the following: a link in a black rectangle in the page or an infobar sliding down between the toolbar area and the page.

The plugin notification icon in the address bar typically looks like a small, dark gray Lego block. When the page wants to use a blocked plugin, the icon turns red to alert you to the concern.

If you see a good reason to use Flash, and the site looks trustworthy, you can go ahead and click the notification icon in the address bar to allow Flash. You can trust the site for the time being or permanently.

But some pages use Flash only for tracking or playing ads, so if you don't see an immediate need for Flash, feel free to ignore the notification! It will just sit there in case you want to use it later.

Not a solution, but hopefully will help a bit until someone figures this out.

smoore2024
smoore2024 Question owner
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Thanks, jscher2000

I did as you suggested and set Flash to "ask to activate". I then browsed to CNN and clicked on a link to a video about the North Korean missile launch. Inside the video frame appeared an icon that said "activate flash?" I clicked on it and the video played without any problems or error messages. I then browsed to Kahn Academy and their videos played without any prompts and without any error messages. I closed Firefox and reopened it and set flash to "always activate" and repeated the same procedure as above with no errors or problems what so ever. So I don't know what happened. Yesterday morning at 8:30 PST it was not working. And today it is. The plug in manager tells me that flash was last updated yesterday 6/20/16 and that the current version is 22.0.0.192. I know that the version I was running yesterday morning was version 22 but I don't know what came after that. I don't think any of the steps I took yesterday morning would have updated Flash and it Firefox was still displaying that message when I stopped working on it. Perhaps it updated spontaneously sometime after that and the update fixed it.