Flash player was working just fine. I don't don't know what happened, but today I went to YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. and I get a message saying that I need to download flash player plug in. I do so, and it appears to load (but I do not see the rotating flash emblem) and flash player still does not work. I have rebooted my machine, and even did a system restore back to several days ago, but it still does not work. I think there is something that might have been inadvertently set wrong in the registry or something by a spybot or something. I remember this happened once before, and I found a set of cryptic instructions on something I had to reset (I think in the "tools" menu of IE - its been a while and I can't remember) and it worked. However, I cannot seem to find those steps again. Why can't working with a computer be simple? It seems that you have to have a PHD just to keep one working. It seems that you have to do more work just to keep your machine working than it takes to do the actual work you got the machine for in the first place. Can anyone help? I don't go to porno websites, and I don't open ANY email that has a sender I do not immediately recognize. However, my idiot son sometimes does.

The flash player add-on can be deleted in recent IE versions via Tools > Internet Options > Programs Tab > Manage Add-Ons and selecting the Shockwave Flash object listing and choosing Delete. Adobe also offers an uninstaller. Then attempt reinstall directly from Adobe's web site. Post back if this strategy is unsuccessful.

This is a "feature" of Windows based machines more so than other operating systems, but all architectures require diligence and maintenance to keep them operationally healthy. I think the quality of commercial software has declined over the last decade or so as well as complexity has increased. Throw in the annually increasing malicious malware and spam, communications over an IP infrastructure that was never intended to do what it's doing, disposable technology products designed to loose "standards" by thousands of manufacturers and it's amazing to me all of it works as well as it does.